Take a look here:

eBay: Frankenstein's Castle Of Freaks VHS PreCert ULTRA RARE

This tape was [previously thought to never have been issued on this particular label, but here it is...

Blimy! Pity the film isn't particularly good.

Mark - perhaps you can advise on the etiquette of this? That Seller has displayed his tapes without the VHS plastic box/case, just the tape and paper sleeve (though this is not mentioned in the listings).

I know that many company boxes were individualised worldwide - does this effect the collector price/interest? I ask as I want to try dumping VHS tapes from Oz, Japan, UK and Europe onto eBay (UK), but perhaps half are not with the original plastic box/case (due to shipping/storage decisions) and would be offered as just the tape and paper sleeve.

Only some of the companies used custom cases, many are generic amarays. Notable custom cases that add to value are those from GO Video (often with silver-foiled logo inside IIRC), VTC gold cases, Palace Video and Warner cases with embossed shield logos on the inside. Collectors are also fussy about the completness of card boxes that encased Hokushin and Intervision releases, as they were often split open to fit into amarays for display on the rental shelves. Intervision cases were simple 5-sided cases, but Hokushin had a flap with more info (like the old US Anchor Bay tapes eg. MANIAC, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS). Since sleeves and cases sometimes come up for sale, I doubt it would stop someone buying up items for their collection so you should certainly give it a shot. I've boxes and boxes of tapes waiting to find their way on ebay (including a version of the CASTLE OF FREAKS tape in the thread here - I remember there was something cool about the one I picked up but would have to look into it EDIT - IIRC it was called CASTLE OF FREAKS on the box cover unlike the subsequent certed release that may have taken offence to the term and simply called the movie FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE. I recall too that there was a video generated card for the latter title, but it disappeared just before the proper full title was properly wiped from the screen so it was a bit pointless).

Victor


PS> Maybe Marc can answer this, but one oddity I picked up in my long "career" of hunting down pre-certs during the 80 and 90s was a variant of the Kontiki release of NIGHT OF THE SEAGULLS. Kontiki released it in cut form with a hideous shiny sleeve featuring a woman astride some kind of leopard but I found one which was uncut and the front cover used a gory/cheesy still of the dismembered body on the beach (the shot with the fake head). Like the cut release, it also had the DON'T GO OUT AT NIGHT title. On the downside, the tape stock was too short and runs out just before the end of the credits. I picked it up at a car-boot sale in Cork, Ireland and have never seen another one like it, although the other versions (including the old uncut release in the blue sleeve - can't recall the label - were very common.

Do you have a picture of the other version?

Here is the "gaudy Gaudi" Kontiki release: