Founder Derek Simmonds

Derann Vaults

Frightmare

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by

Ged Jones

This was one of the titles we picked up direct from its cult director Pete Walker! The other titles were ‘Die Screaming Marianne’, ‘The Four Dimensions of Greta’ and ‘House of Whipcord’. The deal was finalised while we were drinking coffee and relaxing in the spacous lounge of his appartment in Chelsea. Pete had some wonderful tales to recount and spoke very fondly of Sheila Keith. This title and ‘Whipcord’ sold far beyond any expectations we may have had, which did help cover the cost of so many slow sellers. The label is another example of Marianne Frosts work.

Label courtesy of Karl Scarisbrick.

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Comments

6 responses to “Frightmare”

  1. David

    Oh I used to have these on VHS (along with Cannibal amongst others 🙂 )
    Think I originally rented Frightmare from Jubilee Video, a truly remarkable place in Ashton under Lyne – a former super 8 rental library that moved into video early and amassed tens of thousands of tapes by the mid to late 80s.

    Fond memory!

    Reply
    1. Ged Jones

      Hi David, Cyril Owens was in charge at Jubilee and later his son.

      Reply
  2. Rob Young

    Hi Ged, did Derann sell mostly video titles direct to individual customers in the 80’s? Or did the rights also allow you to sell titles to video hire shops which seemed to appear on every street corner in the early 80’s.

    Or were the rights to sell a title to a shop owner, that would then be rented out, very different?

    I’m guessing that Derann sticking with super 8 was a blessing as video rental started to bloom and sales of video direct to customers surely began to decline?

    What kind of numbers would a title like Frightmare sell in?

    Best,

    Rob.

    Reply
    1. Ged Jones

      We supplied video wholesalers located around the UK, orders were taken by our reps who would phone in the orders. By this time the duplication would have been done else where so I can’t supply numbers. But I gather it was a very good seller.

      Reply
    2. Ged Jones

      We left the video market following the collapse of several wholesalers, and were lucky in having the feature films on 8mm bringing back life to the film market.

      Reply
  3. Rob Young

    Oh, I see, Ged. Fascinating. So did Derann have your own reps or did the reps sell various product from various companies to the wholesalers?

    I’m guessing the wholesalers collapsed as the big film companies started to distribute their own product?

    So a small rental shop could buy outright and then rent out a title like Frightmare, or should they still have been paying additional royalties?

    Reply

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