About Us
VHSCollector.com evolved from its earlier horror-focused predecessor, SlasherIndex.com. It was conceived as an informational database for researchers and collectors around the globe. It is driven by a fervent obsession to catalog the vast sea of home video cassettes released from the late 1970's through the early 2000's. To this day, thousands of compilations, "how-to" tutorials, and other special interest type videos remain unaccounted for not only in IMDb databases, but almost anywhere else on the internet. In our pursuit to document everything recorded onto cassettes for the consumer market, we hope to catch the programs that have slipped through the cracks due to either their extreme obscurity or atypical nature.
VHSCollector.com's main purpose isn't to sell any product or earn profits from ads, but rather to inform about the most successful home video market to date - an attempt to document and preserve the colorful history of physical media. With our growing archive and distributor catalogs, visitors have access to information and images to assist in their exploration of the home video age. From the popular horror genre to the outdated "how-to" instructional videos, we aim to complete these catalogs so that you're not missing a thing. But for this to work, we must have the support and cooperation of fellow collectors.
The website funds itself through its Amazon and eBay affiliate programs and donors to our crowdfunding campaigns.
What VHSCollector.com is not or does not do:
- We do not encourage lifting images from other sources on the internet. Everything in the database should originate from a user's personal collection of which he or she took the time to scan. This is why all scans are watermarked, to ensure that if an image winds up all over the internet, it could be traced back to VHSCollector.com, and then to the user who uploaded it. The only exceptions to this would be the images posted in forums or on distributor profile pages.
- The archive isn't only an index of cover art. All images added to the database are required to have a form filled out with it, which includes the distributor, year of distribution, original title, etc. This makes the sorting and searching of data possible for researchers interested in more than only the cover art. We also encourage people to comment on the covers and distributors, submit corrections and to report any additional information.
- The archive does not intend to infringe on anyone's intellectual property. It is protected by the Fair Use Act of the U.S. Copyright Law. As mentioned, our goal is to compile and share information about video cassettes. A crucial part of this process is to make images of said video cassettes available for historical reference and to substantiate the data in the archives. We do not claim intellectual ownership to any of the artwork depicted on video packaging or promotional materials.
- We do not sell the VHS cassettes listed on this website, nor do we stream video content from our servers. Our database is an informational film resource. We only link visitors to websites that may have original copies available (particularly eBay and Amazon.com). So please do not contact us asking why we're bootlegging your movie :P
About the Founder
Paul Zamarelli is a digital archivist, film collector and home video historian. He has a bachelor's degree in cinema studies and production with a master's in library and information science, with a concentration in archives.
Interested in joining? Register now and become part of a growing community!