Tenebrae Returns to VHS as Collectors Revive the Format Once Left for Dead
Dust off your VCR and rewind your sense of nostalgia, because Dario Argento’s giallo masterpiece Tenebrae has just returned to VHS. Yes, you read that right. VHS. The format once buried beneath mountains of scratched DVDs and Blu-rays is now crawling its way out of the crypt, ready to reclaim its place on collectors’ shelves. Vice Press Home Video, the physical media arm of Vice Press, has officially released Tenebrae on fully functional VHS, proving that what was once obsolete can live again if wrapped in enough nostalgia, blood, and good design.
Vice Press is releasing Tenebrae in two glorious editions. The Slipcase Edition, limited to just 500 copies, comes housed in a sturdy cardboard sleeve featuring new artwork by Ben Turner and includes a screen-printed VHS tape that looks too good to risk chewing up in a twenty-year-old VCR. For collectors who want to go all-in, the Collector’s Edition is housed in a clear clamshell with a reversible cover, showing off Turner’s design on one side and the original theatrical artwork on the other. Both are available in PAL and NTSC formats, so whether you are in North America or Europe, your VCR can wheeze to life in perfect vintage glory.
To sweeten the deal, Turner’s artwork is also available as a 24×36-inch lithograph poster, limited to 175 prints, alongside a companion piece for Phenomena by Creepy Duck Design. It is the kind of collectible release that makes horror fans go glassy-eyed and start justifying the purchase of another shelf unit.
The return of Tenebrae on VHS feels oddly poetic. The film, released in 1982, was itself a reflection on the power of media and obsession. Argento, already established as the maestro of Italian horror, crafted Tenebrae as a slick, blood-splattered thriller about an American author whose novel inspires a string of grisly murders in Rome. It is part art film, part slasher, and part meta-commentary on violence in storytelling. With its gleaming cinematography, pounding score by Goblin, and unforgettable camera movements, Tenebrae remains a hypnotic blend of elegance and depravity.
Watching Argento’s giallo on VHS may sound primitive in the age of 4K remasters, but that is precisely the point. VHS softens edges, deepens shadows, and adds a hazy warmth to the visuals that digital clarity cannot replicate. It turns Argento’s sleek nightmare into something tactile, imperfect, and beautifully degraded, just like horror cinema was always meant to be.
This is not Vice Press’s first resurrection. The company previously released Suspiria on VHS, and if you missed that release, copies are still available. Suspiria remains one of Argento’s most visually stunning works, a witchy fever dream of colour, murder, and madness. Watching Suspiria on VHS is like viewing it through a haunted kaleidoscope — the reds become richer, the blues bleed together, and the result feels even more like a cursed artefact found in the back of an abandoned video rental shop.
The revival of VHS mirrors what happened with vinyl. Once dismissed as dead, vinyl records became coveted collector’s items, praised for their tangible connection to music. VHS is following the same path, transforming from a forgotten relic into a physical statement of fandom. In a world where streaming dominates, collectors crave something they can hold, something that hums and whirs as it plays, reminding them that cinema used to live in chunky boxes and analogue imperfections.
Of course, if you are not ready to rummage through eBay for a working VCR, you can still experience Tenebrae in its full restored glory. Arrow Video has released the film on both Blu-ray and 4K UHD, featuring an immaculate restoration that makes every drop of blood and every piece of shattered glass gleam with new life. Arrow’s edition also includes hours of extras for fans who prefer their horror pristine rather than fuzzy.
Still, there is something almost rebellious about the idea of watching Tenebrae on VHS in 2025. It is cinema as ritual, an act of resurrection for a format that refuses to die quietly. Horror has always thrived on resurrection, after all. Whether it is a masked killer returning for one last scare or a forgotten video format creeping back into the mainstream, the message is clear — nothing stays dead for long.
Vice Press’s VHS edition of Tenebrae is available directly from Vice-Press.com right now. Each version will cost £29.99, approximately $40, which seems a small price to pay to own a piece of resurrected horror history.
Rewind, press play, and let the static consume you.
