In these trying economic times, companies are having a harder and harder time separating fools from their money. Most have developed a strategy that involves the newest media on updated, constantly improving formats. Mondo, however, the boutique arm of the famed Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, has decided to take things in another direction, releasing movies no one has seen on a format no one watches anymore.
In an effort to prove that people will buy pretty much anything if they're told it's collectible, the company opened up a new label called Mondo Video, which will release "rare genre films in a collectible VHS format." The first one will be 1983 slasher flick Sledgehammer, which was originally filmed on VHS, so it's a fitting start to the company's new initiative to sell people a bunch of plastic before they remember that VHS quality stinks and rewinding is a pain in the balls.
Get your old Betamaxes ready. $5 says they'll be the next thing you're supposed to collect.
The movie will see its DVD debut as well as a theater screening today, Tuesday, May 10 2011 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in Austin. The VHS tape version, however, will only be available at MondoTees.com tomorrow, Wednesday, May 11 2011. As of 11:30 am there are currently no copies of the original Sledgehammer VHS tape on Ebay, so if you've got one, now would be a good time to throw it up there, because everyone knows that the TRUE collectors only buy originals, not reprints, no matter how absurdly expensive the item, or impractical the format.
Mondo Video's press release, which contains more information about the new initiative, details and background on Sledgehammer and shockingly, not a single Peter Gabriel joke, can be found over at Mondo's blog.
