HALLOWEEN (1978): HOME VIDEO HISTORY

Today in Home Video History, we explore John Carpenter’s horror classic, Halloween! Take a journey with us from VHS and Betamax to Blu-ray and 4K and all the goodies in between!

WEBSITE LINKS:

Donate to the channel:

Follow me!

Listen to the Films At Home Podcast!

My Home Theater:

Install the Lustre browser extension for easy home theater tech comparisons!

Films At Home Merch Store:

Sign-up For A FREE Amazon Prime Trial:

**As stated in the video, I will earn a small commission from any purchases made through my affiliate links.**

#Bluray
#Horror
#Halloween

[NoirFan]

I don't know any other movie as this that reveals so much new detail in the image with each improved format, mainly of course I'm referring to the night scenes. This is another one that I've had on so many different formats since VHS.

[layvids]

Jeff, you are freaking killing it. So glad I found your channel a few years back. You’re so knowledgeable and the videos are just enjoyable to watch. Keep up the great work!

[daviddrevicky]

I remember trying to convince friends and relatives that widescreen was the way to watch “Halloween” or any 2:35.1 film but everyone wanted their “TV screen filled up”. It was very frustrating!

[SoapNugget]

Dude that's a whole bunch of releases, I'm loving this series so far, and yes my friends ask me all the time why I spend $40 on a 4K but like you said they used to spend $100 on laserdiscs

[wrighthousemedia]

Halloween was THE movie that scared the absolute shit outta me when I was eight years old. Halloween made its debut on NBC on 10/30/81, the weekend Halloween II opened. I saw the film years later on Media Home Video & loved it. When I was working at Blockbuster, I picked up a copy of Halloween for a buck. A year later I had gotten a laserdisc player from Pioneer & got the Criterion Edition. That was great but what was even better was the 2 disc Special Edition released in 99. I still have that version w/ the lenticular cover, & of course disc 2 was the TV version w/ the new footage. ***The scene when Linda rushes into Laurie's house, saying there's an old guy out there following her. The inside is Laurie's home, but, in reality, the outside of the house is Nancy Thompson's house from a Nightmare On Street***
Right around 2002-03, during the wild west days of ebay, I placed bids on the original painting for Halloween that was used to mass produce the one sheet poster. It was on a reserve bid & I tried to find out who the seller was. It got up to sixteen grand & the only response from the seller was that it is the original painting & would come with a COA. Very weird. The painting was incredible, but, I didn't see it sell.

[unconditionalprong]

I didn't have the money at the time to get the boxset when it was in print, so my 25th Anniversary DVD was my version to watch until I got the Scream Factory 4K. That release is definitely the definitive one! A great looking disc!

[Chucknorrisatemybaby]

Before the Media orange and purple slipcase there was the Time Life mail order release, which is very rare, then the MEDA release, which was Media before it became Media. The Meda and Media look almost identical. There was also a release known as Medaween, which was a Blackenstein Meda slipcase with black and white Halloween label placed over it. That’s also very rare.

[kennethsprasky]

Jeff. Please, please, please keep these home video releases coming!! Some of the most outstanding content on YouTube!!! You rock Jeff!!

[cheekster]

Awesome! Thanks Jeff, I’ve been looking forward to the next instalment in this series! 👍🏻🙏🏻

[shaner]

As a horror fan and a VHS collector still I find this to be the most comprehensive for the Halloween releases. Excellent job on presenting it for fans of the movie. Know I’m bragging here but I was very lucky to find a non rental media VHS release maybe around 10 years back at a flea market in pristine shape for just a few bucks. One of my pride and joys of my VHS horror collection.

[Robert-kjjq]

The first time I saw Halloween was in the fall of 1980, a friend from school had cable TV and after we watched it, we where scared to go upstairs, the lights where off and we where the only two in the house at the time, my friend passed in 1985, but I'll never forget that scary night in 1980.

[MonitoMR]

I’d love to see a more general long form series on the history of home media! I think that would be a fascinating subject to learn about

[headninjadog]

So I wasn’t dreaming when I remembered seeing Halloween on TV when I was 5 and my brother and cousin on the phone with each other while it was playing? 😂 Thus starting my fear and love of the series!

[zootube]

Bought the 4K release from Shout Factory, absolutely amazing transfer. Thanks for the video, very informative!

[KnightOfNewColu]

Something about VHS makes Halloween scarier. The original VHS copy really makes it look like a found footage film found in the aftermath of a home invasion.

[kidnplay]

A man after my own heart. Thank you for saying H-20, and not H-2-0. I know it's random, but you're literally the first person I ever heard call it that and was quite satisfying 👍🏾

[R.J.Godzilla]

I only saw the extended cut once, and really wish it was more easily available because I’d love to own that version

[j.m.]

This is one of my favorite franchises. I'm so glad that we've gotten these latest versions of the first five movies. I really wish Halloween 6 could've been included, but I'll take what I can get. I'm loving this new series man... awesome video.

[treyjohnson]

Glad someone is covering the physical formats, educate the kids

[seandillon]

My favorite film of all time! I currently own at least 5 of these releases I think. My nostalgia will always be geared towards the 1997 Anchor Bay VHS release because that’s how I first watched it as a kid. Still have that tape to this day! Great video.