Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 19, 2009

Categories | News, Books

I grew up in the video age and I’m still in awe of the technology that first allowed me to watch thousands of movies in the privacy of my own home. Call me sentimental and nostalgic, but when I first got wind of Jacques Boyreau’s upcoming book Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box it made me giddy with excitement. From the publisher (Fantagraphics) site:

“Harken back to those thrilling days of yesteryear when the advent of rental videos astonished the movie-going consumer who could only feed his addiction by going to the theater or watching chopped up movies in between commercials on TV. Like vinyl, here is the revenge of another analog cast-off: the VHS is once again insinuating itself into American culture, and this book celebrates the anarchic design art of those early VHS boxes.”

The design of the book is fantastic and Fantagraphics recently released a video that showcases the book’s impressive design that I’ve posted below:

Author Jacques BoyreauIf is responsible for one of my favorite film poster books, Trash: The Graphic Genius of Xploitation Movie Posters, so I suspect Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS will be just as good. If you want to know more about the book I recommend visiting Fantagraphics website where you can pre-order yourself a copy.

Many thanks to Cat for making me aware of the book!

Bonus Material:
- Read About My First VHS Purchase