Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box, Vol. 1 Paperback – December 31, 2009

While goofing around on the internet the other day I read a small blurb about a book by Jacques Boyreau, titled "Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box Vol. 1". I received it today and it's now one of my favorite reference/art books on cinema. I've got tons of these books, and I know the well-known covers, it's great to see these things again, it's like being back in the mom and pop video stores back in the mid-80's. The popular consensus on this book seems to be that there should have been more horror/exploitation titles included in the book. I don't think that that would have been necessary at all. Horror fans, you've seen the cover for (insert favorite obscure title here) before, and while the book is 85% horror/exploitation, it's nice to see other forgotten titles, like videos for hunting, sports, and safety, those were in the store too, you know? After a recent move I had to get rid of most of my 1000+ VHS tapes, they take up a lot of room, and really start to smell bad after a while, and probably don't work too well either after they've been around for almost thirty years. I can't wait for Vol. 2. So my only complaint on this is the title. I understand why Boyreau had to put "Grindhouse" in the title, that word means something to the mainstream now. Ten years ago most people didn't understand what grindhouse meant, and still probably really don't, but hey, if it sells copies and allows for a volume 2, he could call it "Twilight" something, I don't care, I just wanna relive my heady adolescence in a VHS cover fugue. I would have liked to have seen "Lunch Meat" included though. Vol. 2, quick!

Growing up during the late 1980's-90's, my favorite hangout was the video store. I used to roam around the video stores, looking at the VHS covers like I was in an art gallery. Of course, my favorite sections were the Horror and Sci-Fi sections because those films had THE best cover art ever! Of course, some of them gave me nightmares (and I hadn't even watched them at all, let alone remember them). The video store experience is in part what made me such a film buff, along with reading a few Leonard Maltin books.Jacques Boyreau has recaptured the video store experience with his book PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE. Starting with a great introduction that recreates the experience of when VCRs were in vogue and when VHS was THE home entertainment format, Boyreau presents us with 200 pages worth of VHS box art! There's the familiar horror box art we know and love, a few mainstream releases, instructional videos, and some surprises. Flipping through this book brought back many memories of my youth! I sure hope that there will be a Volume 2 soon, since there is so much more to be seen!

I like the variety of movies selected (and how the selection of all sorts of movies, not JUST those that epitomize "grindhouse," reflects the variety and oddity of the early days of VHS.)Trouble is, beyond the (just OK) essay at the front of the book, there's no context to anything. More detail and commentary about the movies, or the BOXES, would've been much appreciated. There was a lot of odd packaging back in the day, with significant differences even among the "big" publishers. For instance, Paramount had simple boxes just the size of the tape itself, while Warner Home Video had these really attractive oversized "clamshell" style boxes. And some of the minor publishers had these boxes that were almost comically oversized, encasing the tape in a huge concoction of cardboard and (mostly) air. All (presumably) to stand out on the shelves more.This book would've greatly benefitted from some sort of expert commentary from people in the industry (or even retailers.) Which box art strategies worked? Which didn't? Who wrote the copy? Et cetera. As it is, the book's not much more than some guy's "Hey, look what was in this box of videos in the storage closet" collection on Flickr, but fourteen bucks pricier.

I love VHS art books, and this one is very close to being perfect! Lots of great American VHS artwork in here, but the design layout is a bit distracting at times. Still, it's VHS artwork, and you gotta love the nostalgia! It left me wanting more! So much more!

Book it's fine for the covers. I strongly reccomand to skip the intro. Author clearly knows nothing about video and i believe just a little about movies. But he pretends to know, so to justify the unjustifyable (analog video it's better than digital it's more a cinematic experience ... sic) he embarks in an philosophic metalinguistic speculation that goes nowhere, matter of fact can be reduced simply to: He likes it more.I agree with him for the following: vhs was fun, it helped to bring obscurities to everybody, bigger case were cool (laserdiscs box sets even better) but that's it. IT'S NOT BETTER.I'm the guy that was collecting movies since his childhood, when this dude was still playing with fisher price toys, and i still keep more than 2000 tapes in my collection of movies otherwise unavailable.Going back to the book, as i said the covers are cool, but there's no philologic order of any kind or intro to the movies. Looks like this guy just run his collection and scanned whatever he had. The word grindhouse in the title it's misleading: Robocop 2, Vanishing point, Network ARE NOT GRINDHOUSE FLICKS, not to mention Barbie cartoons.As an other reviewer suggested the fab press books are better, but they cover only UK releases. So if you want just a glimpse at the old vhs market in the US buy this book, otherwise just skip it.

Love this book! Fast shipping from seller!

For all those into VHS, the covers featured are bound to pop your eyes open. There are diverse and multiple covers galore. Horror, action, comedy, drama, Death Wish, My Bloody Valentine, The Legend of Hell House. Even Barbie is featured in this book. Well worth the buy.

Just a lot of pictures of old VHS boxes, nothing more, nothing less. I just love it! Great packaging too.