Video Era VHS Gag Toys VIDEO NASTY and LITTLE DEMONS are quite possibly the coolest thing on this planet. Videovores say, "Gimme Those!"
On a recent jaunt through the world weird web I came across something posted by fellow my Videovore Adam Carl Edmonston via the totally groovy (and you should check it out if you haven’t yet) Horror VHS Collectors Unite! that totally rules and is sure to activate any Videovore's salivary glands. Though it’s not actually a VHS, it’s still one of the most anomalous and awesome artifacts to be uncovered from the analog era. And here it is: VIDEO NASTY!
Crazy Groovy, man! What VHS collector wouldn't want this?! None, I tell you - NONE. This thing RULES.
(images provided by Adam Carl Edmonston!)
That’s right: it’s just a gag! And how amazing it is! Full wrap artwork and inside… A VIDEO NASTY HIMSELF! Man, what a score and what a piece of home video exploitation history! Adam’s in the UK (where this groovy goody was uncovered), and the Video Nasties legislative debacle was still fresh in the minds of Videovores over there, so it makes perfect sense that this VHS-craze oriented toy would bear this title, and I’m sure it drove in a number of sales. Thirty years later, it’s still one of the coolest things on the planet for a VHS collector. But you know there had to be a US counterpart for this little slice of off-beat analog amusement, right? You’re DAMN SKIPPY! From my personal collection, and featured in LUNCHMEAT # 5’s Strange But True, here we have the U.S. version of this amazing little gag: LITTLE DEMONS! Here’s some fresh images of this bad boy, along with the original copy from the piece in LUNCHMEAT #5:
Bella LaGhostly? Never heard of 'em.... Wait... Ohhhh, man. This is actually the best thing ever.
BLAARRRRRGGHHHHHHHHARRGGHHHH!!
Where's my subscription to Meat Packer's Digest?! I was supposed to get an MPD Hambone phone, too!!
Little Demons (1987) Paranoid Studios Forum Novelties, INC If it’s one thing we all know, it’s that rummaging through dirt malls and junk shops certainly will lead to finding cool shit. Take for instance, this little doozy of a “VHS” which unearthed from a hole in the wall junk shop in Norma, NJ. The cover grabbed my attention immediately and I started to chuckle a bit as I read off punny names like Boris Cutoff and Vincent Slice. I asked myself what the hell it could be as I continued to look it over. I started to get the joke as I read it was filmed on location aat Mortuary Studios and it received rave reviews from a magazine entitled Better Homes & Coffins. The synopsis on the back sounded right up my alley, too: Mother feeds her kids a cereal sample that comes in the mail (hell yeah free cereal in the mail!), kids turn into murderous abominations, green eyes a’ glowing as they dance around the table chanting inhuman sounds. Sounds pretty bitchin, right!? Hell yes. But, there was no tape inside; once could plainly tell by holding it. I was bummed. I decided to pop it open anyway, just for shits. Lo and Behold, a gnarly rubber demon popped outta that sucker! Is this thing amazing or what?! Keep on diggin’, Videovores!
Released in 1987 by Forum Novelties, INC.
After these images were posted throughout the online Videovore community and received a little love from the awesome Argentinean VHS-obsessed website RaroVHS, these toys have gotten quite a bit of attention from collectors. But how the heck can you find them? That seems to be the burning question! It's obvious that these are super-hard-to-find (and hard to classify!), and may be one of the most elusive video era goodies out there. For now, a search on eBay couldn’t hurt, but you know my philosophy: go out into the wild and hunt, hunt, HUNT! That’s where I scored my “copy” of LITTLE DEMONS, in that fateful South Jersey Junk Shop, lodged between a plastic slab of Porky Pig Classics and a shredded copy of Rookie of the Year.
DIG DEEP, DIG IT and GROOVE ALWAYS.
Josh Schafer