First ever home video (any format)

[cinemaphile]

I have a copy of Star Wars (ep 4) on Beta. Don't own a player and never have, but saw it for $1 one time and thought why not add it to the 152 other versions of the movie I already have lol

[Eagle_23]

First ones that I bought were The Mummy & Gladiator on DVD from Blockbuster. That was the beginning of my movie collecting - good times.

[Camp_Crystal_Lake]

This was my first purchase of a movie on home video format. Before, I purchased the Video Treasures VHS of Sleepaway Camp, all I had for a collection was recorded horror films off of cable tv and other VHS tapes. This was my first actual label produced VHS with Box Art and descriptions on the back. I told my parents that I felt like a video store owner, with my one VHS tape, and its box.

Christmas Season of 1989, when I was a young teen, I was at K-Mart with my family doing Christmas shopping, on a week night, when K-Mart had the rolling blue light special cart. When we were in the Electronics department, in the far back left of the store, my eyes gazed upon the Sleepaway Camp Video Treasures VHS, and I couldn't believe what I saw. Sitting there, among the spinning spiral rack of various comedies, action, drama, and horror VHS tapes, was the film that I spent so much time the past summer trying to track down, and it was only priced at $9.99.

Earlier that year in the summer, I had just seen Sleepaway Camp 2 and loved it. I had my parents drive me to every video store in my town and other surrounding towns to rent the original Sleepaway Camp, but no one had it in stock any longer. I was bummed, and even asked my friends where they had rented the film 4-5 years prior. They told me the name of the store, but I had already checked that store and they no longer carried the VHS of the original. Somehow, that store still had the box out for rent, but when my dad and I took it to the counter to rent it, they went to locate the tape, and it was nowhere to be found in the front of the store with the recent returns, or in the stockroom in the back of the store. I was bummed. The one store that I knew that had the VHS tape of Sleepaway Camp at one point, in a 30 mile radius of my house, had the tape stolen or simply lost it. I left thinking I would never watch the original Sleepaway Camp. And it was at this point that the original Sleepaway Camp stopped being just a movie to me, and became a larger than life quest to find a copy and watch it. It seemed like it was never going to happen though, and I left that store looking at the VHS box art, thinking this movie is impossible to find. I became resigned to the fate that Sleepaway Camp was lost to time, and my only exposure to the movie would remain as a memory, of a school lunch period four to five years prior, when two of my friends gave me a quick synopsis of the film, and a lot of hyperbole about it being the scariest film they had ever seen.

Imagine my surprise and joy, after seeing the Sleepaway Camp VHS on the VHS rack, in the back of K-Mart that Thursday night during the Christmas season of 1989. My young teen self was giddy! I begged my parents to buy me the movie, and they agreed that they would buy me the movie and a bag of Strawberry Twizzlers if I would not complain about staying for all the blue light sales that night. I agreed to the conditions and eagerly grabbed it off the shelf, along with my bag of Twizzlers.

We stayed at K-Mart for another 2 1/2 hours to catch that rolling blue light and its sales, but I didn't say a word, I just kept looking at the movie I struggled so hard to find that summer, and I couldn't believe it was finally mine.

[bluthx]

PRERECORDED MOVIES:

first. Beta- Star Trek: the motion picture & Superman the movie.
(purchaced both at same time) $80.00 ea

first Laserdisc- Cocktail (tom cruise movie) $29.00

first dvd- Interview with a vampire & the fugitive. $20.00 ea.

first hd-dvd- transformers $24.00

first bluray- casino royale $24.00

first uhd- T.B.D.

[hifiHigh]

My first was Top Gun VHS on an Emerson 'hi-fi' VCR running through a Sears rack system.

That was all it took and I've been a film fan/buff/collector ever since!

[Leslie Dame]

VHS (1984): Purple Rain. This was one of the first VHS releases with an affordable price. The MSRP was $29 (according to a vintage magazine ad), but I remember our store had it for $24.99. VHS movies were usually priced $50 and up. I recall wanting Brain Damage (1988) so bad but it was priced at $79

Laserdisc (1995): Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and the unrated version of The Mangler.

DVD (1998): Several. Austin Powers, Boogie Nights, Dead Presidents and a few more.

Blu-ray (2009): Several. Friday the 13th (2009), Coraline, Starship Troopers Box Set and many more.

[Hubunkey]

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child when I was around 15-16

[imsounoriginal]

VHS - Aladdin
DVD - Air Force One
HD-DVD - The Good Shepherd (never adopted the format but I owned a couple of flipper discs)
Blu-ray - The Incredible Hulk
UHD - The Martian (theatrical)

[DuaneB]

Selectavision Videodisc: Star Wars
VHS: Raiders of the Lost Ark
DVD: True Romance and Tombstone
Blu-ray: Con Air, Crimson Tide, and The Rock

[october27]

It wouldn't be my first, I can't remember that, but the first and maybe only VHS I remember anticipating wanting to buy on release day was 1989 Batman. I've loved it since I saw the movie in the theater and I remember a huge promotion for the home video release. Any store that sold movies and even some that usually didn't had displays up showing the date the movie would be released and some might have even let you reserve it. I have no idea where I ended up getting it but I'm sure I got it release day and watched it over and over for a while.

[levcore]

Mad Max trilogy on VHS

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by october27

It wouldn't be my first, I can't remember that, but the first and maybe only VHS I remember anticipating wanting to buy on release day was 1989 Batman. I've loved it since I saw the movie in the theater and I remember a huge promotion for the home video release. Any store that sold movies and even some that usually didn't had displays up showing the date the movie would be released and some might have even let you reserve it. I have no idea where I ended up getting it but I'm sure I got it release day and watched it over and over for a while.

Batman was one of the first (if not, THE first) VHS release to come out at an affordable price for mass sell-through. I remember everyone and his brother had Batman on VHS, not necessarily because it was a favored movie but just because of the novelty of being able to own a VHS movie.

[kristoffer]

Lethal Weapon 2 on VHS was my first purchased film.

Later I really got into the "Widescreen" thing on VHS and got the UK versions of Die Hard and Aliens.

My first three DVDs were "Ghost in The Shell" , "2001" & "The Big Lebowski".
My first BD was "Inception"

[A Sith Lord?]

The first one I remember being present to purchase (brother bought for me) was Lion King II: Simba's Pride, opening morning. I'd been counting down the days on the calendar, and the morning of we went to Wal-Mart and I got to pick the first one from the stand (this was pre-24 hour Supercenters everywhere just the small brick & mortar).

Now my family had purchased the used tape leftovers from the rental stores after they didn't need them anymore, but Simba's Pride was the first one I could say was for me and mine!

[Talleyrand]

We had some random VHS of three Mickey Mouse shorts including one where he got decimated by a tornado.

[UFAlien]

So I got the chance to ask my parents and they're pretty sure the first VHS they bought for me was a collection of Winnie the Pooh shorts.

[C+C Muzak]

I got these at the same time

[Brightstar]

Speed Racer on VHS

[Jay H.]

The first movie I bought with my own money (earned from my first job) was a VHS of Child's Play. Fall 1989. I couldn't believe it; my favorite video store was selling previously rented tapes for only $9.99! I bought a TON of used tapes from that store.

[Winslow Leach]

I bought a lot of public domain VHS titles in the mid to late 80s, including the Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera and It's a Wonderful Life. Public domain tapes were everywhere, from department stores to supermarkets, so I had a pretty big collection. Good times.