PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’m sleeping with the covers pulled up over my head. Here are Ten VHS horror movie covers that creeped me out when I was a kid!
I really miss the old school Mom and Pop video stores that used to be around back in the day. As a matter of fact, growing up in the 80s one of my favorite things to do was to visit our local video store in my hometown (that also doubled as a carpet store because back then EVERYONE rented videos) and picking out a handful of horror films for the weekend. I would always run to the horror section and start grabbing movies to rent like there was no tomorrow, and the ones that had the creepier images on the box were the ones that I was most likely to select. While there were a lot of scary VHS covers there are ten that really stood out are forever burned into my memory.
I give you my list of ten horror VHS covers that creeped me out when I was a kid and guaranteed that I would be sleeping with the cover over my head when I went to bed that night because I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
- Link (1986)
It’s a little-known fact that I am terrified of monkeys. While I am a huge animal person and love most animals, monkeys and apes of any kind scare the living daylights out of me for some unknown reason. I remember seeing the VHS tape one Saturday morning when I was in 7th grade, and it freaked me out. Why is the monkey holding a match, and what is he going to do with it? In my mind, he didn’t have good intentions whatsoever and I pictured him chasing me around with it before he set me on fire.
I saw the trailer for it a few weeks later as it was shown before the VHS version of the Rodney Dangerfield classic film Back to School, and it basically traumatized me for life. Killer monkeys? No thank you! While this cover may not bother anyone else, it really creeped me out thanks to my unnatural fear of monkeys, and its one of those that never ceases to give me the wiggins when I see it.
- Creepers (1985)
When I first saw this cover at the video store all I could think was Oh My God! Those bugs ate half her face! Why is she still holding a handful of them as they are eating her face? I was sort of a wienie of a kid even though I loved horror movies, and the thought of a swarm of bugs eating my face didn’t sound like a good time to me. I was equally terrified and grossed out when I saw it, but at the same time I knew I had to see this movie.
While the cover is a little misleading and the movie itself wasn’t exactly about evil killer bugs flying around eating people’s faces like I thought it was going to be I still dug it and still have nightmares about this VHS cover (as well as ones that involve bugs eating half my face) from time-to-time.
- The Children (1980)
Is there anything creepier than scary-looking little kids? I had no idea what this movie was about when I first saw the cover but knew that it had to be about little kids that liked chopping people up and doing other horrible things to them. Even though I was a kid myself at the time (I was in fifth grade), these kids looked just as scary to me as adult killers like Jason, Michael, and Freddy did. There was just something about the sinister expressions on their faces (especially the little girl in the middle) that really bothered me, and I spent many a sleepless night growing up thinking about this cover and being terrified that the evil little freaks on it were going to run into my bedroom at any given moment and slaughter me. Brrr. Creepy little kids are just nightmare fuel to me.
- The Gates of Hell (1980)
This movie was a bit infamous when I was in fifth grade as a lot of my fellow classmates at school had told me about the whole bit with the woman in it puking up her internal organs at one point. I didn’t have a clue what this movie was actually about, but after seeing the zombified creep on the VHS cover I figured that it was all about him doing something to people that caused them to vomit up their lungs, hearts, and other important parts that they needed to stay alive. There is just something about the look on his face that terrified me when I was a kid, and I just knew that I never wanted to cross paths with this monster because throwing up all my organs didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me in any possible way.
Other than the face at the top of the cover, there was just something about the city scape below him engulfed in fog that bothered me too because it just looked creepy (and cool), and I knew that there was most likely some terrifying things going on in the city that I probably didn’t want to know about.
- Carrie (1976)
I love this movie and actually own the movie poster with the image from the VHS cover on it, but when I was a kid, it scared the crap out of me when I saw it at the video store. The image of Sissy Spacek looking happy and perfectly normal on one side and then looking absolutely horrifying and covered in blood on the other has stuck with me my entire life since I first saw it.
Even though it totally creeped me out when I was younger, I always made sure to seek it out at the video store because I was oddly fascinated with it and wanted to see it. I remember waking up one summer night when I was in sixth grade after having a nightmare about the cover and lying there awake for hours because I was convinced that Carrie was my closet-all drenched in blood- and was going to get me. I don’t think I was ever so thankful for the sun to finally come up that morning (Spoiler Alert: She wasn’t in my closet, thankfully).
You can read our Carrie retro review here!
- The Company of Wolves (1984)
I love werewolves and always have, but at the same time they always scared the living hell out of me. The bit with the wolf’s snout and teeth coming out of the guy’s mouth on the cover was pure nightmare fuel to me when I was a kid, and to this day it still freaks me out a bit. While it is without a doubt a scary image it is also quite awesome and just unique in general. While the movie itself is a bit of a fever dream and leaves a lot to be desired, the VHS cover is quite terrifying, and no doubt has an impact on anyone who is scared of werewolves that sees it.
- Dolls (1986)
A creepy doll holding its own eyeballs? Seriously folks, who wouldn’t be creeped out by this one? It especially bothered me because my mom had a bunch of creepy old dolls like this one and when I was a kid, I knew that at any given moment one of them was going to come alive and cut me into little pieces when I least suspected it. There was one of them that the eyes had fallen out of that I swear used to stare at me when I walked by it (even if it no longer had eyes, which made it even scarier to me).
- Deadly Friend (1986)
Sometimes it feels like I am the only person in the world who loves this movie. There is just something about it that always appealed to me, and I think part of it is that I am scared to death of robots (God help me if a robot monkey ever comes after me). The creepy expression Kristy Swanson had on her face on the VHS cover always bothered me, and the whole open door with her standing at the top of the stairs creeped me out even more. I was walking home from a friend’s house one night and started thinking about the cover to this movie and ended up running home faster than I think I have ever run in my life because I thought that Samantha/BB was going to run up behind me out of nowhere and snap my neck (sometimes I really hate having an imagination).
You can check out our Deadly Friend retro review here!
- The Beast Within (1982)
I remember seeing this VHS cover at a little store that sold and sewed clothes that my mom used to visit back in the day (I’m telling you, everyone rented video tapes back in the 80s). I didn’t know what the movie was about but assumed that it was a werewolf flick (I didn’t know how wrong I was until I finally saw it). There is just something very creepy about the way the figure on the cover is standing, and the fact that there is a big BEWARE! at the top of it let me know that this was one movie that I needed to stay as far away from as possible.
And the top VHS Horror film cover that freaked me out when I was a kid…
- Demons (1985)
When I was in 7th grade there was a kid that lived down the street from us that was about 4 years younger than me. He watched Demons one night and was so scared and bothered by it that he wouldn’t eat or sleep, or even go to the bathroom by himself after he saw it. It got so bad that his parents had to take him to see a doctor to help him get over it.
After I heard this story, I KNEW that I had to see this movie. I remember renting it soon after and being more than a little freaked out by the demon on the cover because I thought it was utterly horrifying. While the movie didn’t bother me as much as it did the kid down the street it still caused me to have my share of nightmares after I watched it, and the demon appearing on the VHS cover starred in those nightmares.
There you have it friends, my list of ten VHS covers that creeped me out as a kid (and still do to an extent even now). Let me know what you think of my list.
Honorable Mentions
- Fright Night (1985) – That face in the clouds over the house…brrrr!
- Just Before Dawn (1981) – The scary dude on the cover always gave me the wiggins.
- Clownhouse (1989) – Did I mention that clowns scare the crap out of me?
- XTRO (1982) – “When Tommy Grows up, he’s going to be just like Daddy!” No thanks!
- The Stuff (1985) – I never looked at the refrigerator again the same way after looking at this VHS Cover!
