VHS Labels i love - IFS



Hello Folks,
Jonny T here back with the third part of my VHS Labels i love, this time i shall be sharing my memories of the truly great label Iver Film Services, now my 1st memory of this label comes from when we had our local video shop on top of the Carlton road in Nottingham where i live called "Carlton Cine and Video" that was a truly great great shop, What happened was when i was about 13 i was off school sick with glandular fever so was off for quite a while, around 6 weeks as i recall. i used to take a daily walk with my mum up to Carlton hill and whilst i left my mum shopping i would first go into a shop called Grannies Attic that was basically a junk shop(now an estate agents) and buy random Air fix plastic soldiers for around 10p a soldier, then as my mum used to take ages talking to people she knew and passing away the morning with idle chit chat she would give me my dads video rental card( basically a hand written"Carlton Cine and Video" laminated plastic card) and after Grannies Attic i would go straight next door and stand and look in the window at the latest posters as you couldn't really see into the shop, the window was just a mass of posters, i remember seeing one for Apocalypse Now and thinking i gotta see that!
So, I entered the shop, and there behind the counter was the owner, Ken his name was and i still see him now, he owns a Tobacco shop in town, never spoken to him though i have always though i may do one day and if i ever do i will let you all know what he say, he still looks the same today! And also on the subject of the posters with me obviously as i said going in everyday except Sunday as he was shut, it got to the point where he would save me the old posters, he used to just roll them up and put about 9 elastic bands around them and i would take them home never really knowing what i would have until i revealed them all to my mum by spreading them all over the living room floor, oh man i wish i still had those posters!!



So onto Iver, my very 1st contact with this label was a film called "Pigs" i remember seeing it in the horror section, the cover (below) depicts what looks like a pigs severed head and the pig appears to be smiling, i thought "I'm having that!" so i did, i honest can't remember what the film was like, probably dreadful but as with other labels i went back and looked again for some video covers with the little gold Oscar man in the bottom corner.So i went on top discover Captain Kronos, made by a studio i had never heard of called Hammer, wow that film was great, Me and my mum went to town the next day and nipped in WH Smith and she brought me a book on Hammer films, thanks to Iver i had discovered Hammer!



The one Iver film that eluded me for years was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, although Ken did have it my mum had a word with him and a i said in a previous post it was one of those that i was never allowed to rent, i remember standing there every time i went in and that cover drew my attention straight away, Leatherface literally taunted me for years.Now that particular Iver film still goes for a hell of a lot of money, there were 2 covers and i think it's the black, red and white one that fetches top dollar.
More Iver films i remember were films such as the classic British movie Tower of Evil,The insane cover of The Black Gestapo, Bloody Birthday, Venom, and the shocking covers of Torso and Night of the Bloody apes!
So there you go people, one person i would like to thank, is a Twitter Friend of mine, the one and only.... VIVAVHS aka Mr Dale Lloyd, i have spoken with him on numerous occasions and he lives here in the Midlands and is still to this day an Avid VHS collector, firstly i would like to thank him for taking the time to go through his collection and scan me some images of IFS Movies and i would ask if you click the link below to take a little time to go visit his great site, full of VHS, great stories and amazing memory Inducing photo's, Thanks Dale!

VIVA VHS OFFICIAL SITE.

http://dalelloyd.com/

So until next time i shall leave you with some images and you never know, i may just drop in and see good old Ken of the legendary (in my head anyway) Carlton Cine and Video (now a cafe, blah!!)

Jonny T.

IVER FILM SERVICES VHS COVERS.