ICED (1988) Degausser Video

[jzbadblood]

On another note....ICED is a great little slasher. The characters are strong and the twist is fun. Nudity and gore deliver. It boggles my mind that somebody who likes slashers wouldn't find something to like about this. It belongs on your shelf if you like ski horror movies like Shredder and The Chill Factor.

[JoelGoodsen]

Originally Posted by jzbadblood

My buddy gave me a big box of 80s/90s obscure video store action tapes so I've got a VCR hooked up again. If these movies were available anywhere else I probably wouldn't be watching them on VHS that's for sure. If he didn't gift them to me I wouldn't have been seeking them either. It's always been a crappy format.

I'd bet it's shelf collector types or some real serious hipsters deluding themselves that it's worth upkeeping a VCR to watch movies in 4:3 dogcrap quality. Despite growing up in the video stores days I've got very little nostalgia for the format. Maybe even negative nostalgia. I was sick of tapes in 97. In 2025 once you get past the cool boxes and hooking it up the nostalgia goes away quick. I can't imagine someone sitting there enthusiastic watching bad video quality cropped versions of movies.

I still have a blast watching my VHS tapes, just like I did as a kid. Mainly just watch movies that have no disc release. Watching VHS on a high end VHS player and CRT TV is not anywhere near as bad as you are making it out to be. The quality is actually fine.

If you are trying to watch VHS on a modern TV, I wouldn't bother. That is a whole different story.....

[dubhousing]

Originally Posted by jzbadblood

I'd bet it's shelf collector types or some real serious hipsters deluding themselves that it's worth upkeeping a VCR to watch movies in 4:3 dogcrap quality. Despite growing up in the video stores days I've got very little nostalgia for the format. Maybe even negative nostalgia. I was sick of tapes in 97. In 2025 once you get past the cool boxes and hooking it up the nostalgia goes away quick. I can't imagine someone sitting there enthusiastic watching bad video quality cropped versions of movies.

The new 4K of Silent Night, Deadly Night has a hidden bonus, a transfer of the movie scanned from a VHS cassette (the same source for the cut footage, by the looks of it). I watched it for fun, out of nostalgia. However, in an era of 4K discs, Dolby Atmos, correct aspect ratios, and set-ups that can get scarily close to replicating the theater-viewing experience, it was both fun to watch and a chore to watch. It's retroactively amazing to think about what we were willing to settle for in the 1980s, because that's all there was.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by dubhousing

The new 4K of Silent Night, Deadly Night has a hidden bonus, a transfer of the movie scanned from a VHS cassette (the same source for the cut footage, by the looks of it). I watched it for fun, out of nostalgia. However, in an era of 4K discs, Dolby Atmos, correct aspect ratios, and set-ups that can get scarily close to replicating the theater-viewing experience, it was both fun to watch and a chore to watch. It's retroactively amazing to think about we were willing to settle for in the 1980s, because that's all there was.

Yeah, I am with you on this. I am 49 and a child of video stores, friends with Lunar sized Satellite Dishes with 100+ channels and good old cable TV (both stuff like AMC and HBO\The Movie Network).

I get that the box-art is especially nostalgic along with days of going to pick out a movie while mom waited in the car puffing on a Belvedere Cig.

All of that said, I have absolutely zero nostalgia for the video\audio quality and CRT sets. I collect enough other things (Comic collected editions, Vinyl, etc) and I am lucky enough to have a home with quite a bit of space.

[sb5]

Yeah, I have nostalgia for the childhood act of going to video stores, looking though the rows of VHS cases/art, picking tapes (and video games) out and having movie nights with friends/family.

But the actual watching of a movie in VHS form/quality on a small cathode ray tube? Nope, no nostalgia for that at all. In the case of something like Iced where there’s currently no other option - fine, but I’d rather be watching it taken from a print or better source.

[JoelGoodsen]

Originally Posted by sb5

Yeah, I have nostalgia for the childhood act of going to video stores, looking though the rows of VHS cases/art, picking tapes (and video games) out and having movie nights with friends/family.

But the actual watching of a movie in VHS form/quality on a small cathode ray tube? Nope, no nostalgia for that at all. In the case of something like Iced where there’s currently no other option - fine, but I’d rather be watching it taken from a print or better source.

For reference, I have a cinema room with a 65 inch pro calibrated 4K OLED and Dolby Atmos speaker setup. I have a dedicated VHS room with a 25 inch Sony Trinitron + Sony VHS player. I sit around 2 feet away. I can honestly say that I can go from watching a 4K, to a VHS in there with no issues at all. Of course VHS is a million miles from 4K's level, but I still enjoy checking out tapes and don't get distracted by the quality, as it isn't as bad as people make out, imo. I prefer watching VHS tapes in there compared to a Youtube upload.

I've tried watching VHS on a modern TV and it looks awful. I don't find that to be the case watching on a CRT it was meant to be watched on. Totally get people who don't dig VHS, but it still serves a purpose for me personally.

Would have also loved ICED to be from a film print. Never say never mate.

[Shane Rollins]

I've been way out of the loop on this one. Are the film elements lost, and so the tape is the best surviving copy? Or were they just not able to get the film, and the tape is the best thing VS had access to?

[Nosferatu31]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

I've been way out of the loop on this one. Are the film elements lost, and so the tape is the best surviving copy? Or were they just not able to get the film, and the tape is the best thing VS had access to?

Post from Ryan Graveface who works with Terror Vision.

Film elements exist and were available for us to grab when we were trying to license this title. It's much cheaper for them to put it on a sublabel and use a tape master as they know people will buy it regardless. So why spend the loot if you don't have to basically.

[RossD]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

I've been way out of the loop on this one. Are the film elements lost, and so the tape is the best surviving copy? Or were they just not able to get the film, and the tape is the best thing VS had access to?

I don’t know that we ever got a definitive answer. We know it was edited on video, so it would have to be re-constructed. But I’ve heard conflicting things. Not sure if they just couldn’t get them, or they were unusable, or what…

[RossD]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu31

Post from Ryan Graveface who works with Terror Vision.

Film elements exist and were available for us to grab when we were trying to license this title. It's much cheaper for them to put it on a sublabel and use a tape master as they know people will buy it regardless. So why spend the loot if you don't have to basically.

That’s what I was afraid of…

[Lurtz6]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu31

Post from Ryan Graveface who works with Terror Vision.

Film elements exist and were available for us to grab when we were trying to license this title. It's much cheaper for them to put it on a sublabel and use a tape master as they know people will buy it regardless. So why spend the loot if you don't have to basically.

Whoa I didn't realize this was a direct quote from another industry guy. Wowza makes me kinda regret buying it if it's true. Not a practice I want to support.

[Nosferatu31]

This is a rough looking disc. I ended up selling my copy and thankfully got my money back on the sale. Hopefully VS rights end sooner rather than later and another label (Terror Vision) picks it up and uses the film elements that do exist and give it a proper release.

[WesReviews]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu31

Post from Ryan Graveface who works with Terror Vision.

Film elements exist and were available for us to grab when we were trying to license this title. It's much cheaper for them to put it on a sublabel and use a tape master as they know people will buy it regardless. So why spend the loot if you don't have to basically.

This disappoints me greatly in Vinegar Syndrome and I’m surprised there hasn’t been more discussion of it.

Not only did it make their Iced product lazy and subpar, it blocked another company from actually doing Iced the right way.

I won’t be buying any more “Degausser” titles.

[Marv Inc.]

That's why I didn't bother getting. Already knowing the film is'nt great and to hear that 16mm elements were available but not used in lew of a video master. No thanks.

[WesReviews]

What's really a shame is now I'm left wondering on every VS release going forward "is this really the best it could have been?"

Whereas, I never would have questioned it before.

[Lurtz6]

Originally Posted by WesReviews

This disappoints me greatly in Vinegar Syndrome and I’m surprised there hasn’t been more discussion of it.

Not only did it make their Iced product lazy and subpar, it blocked another company from actually doing Iced the right way.

I won’t be buying any more “Degausser” titles.

Because limited collector markets will take whatever they're given and ask for more; mostly I suspect due to lack of competition. What are dedicated bluray fans gonna do, not keep buying VS? It's just the sad state of affairs.

[rillog]

And VS still claims to be a genre archive that focuses on rescuing movies. They had the chance with Iced but didn't do it. It seems that in this case they were more interested in their wallets. They have long thrown their noble goals overboard. This is reflected by their current boring mainstream releases.

[seamus11]

I don't believe VS would be so cheap to release it from a tape source if those 16mm elements were really available to them - I'm sure there had to be some issue which prevented them from using the film elements...

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by Marv Inc.

the film is'nt great

[benricci]

What is the source and context of that 'Ryan Graveface' quote? Considering the amount of work VS typically puts into restoring movies from film elements whenever possible, I'd like to confirm whether or not this is actually a true quote before just believing some random forum post with no background on where the quote originated or anything to back up that it was ever actually said, let alone that the claim being made is actually true.

"Someone said" is not super compelling, at least not in my book...I mean I could just as easily say someone from VS said something different and post it here, too.

1. What's the source of the quote?
2. How was it determined that the claim being made in the quote is actually true?