I spent a lot of time back in the 90s visiting a hole in the wall, small town video rental place (it was actually called “That Tape Place”) that had a dedicated customer base of Full Moon Fanatics. You had to get on a waitlist if you wanted a chance of grabbing a new release within weeks of its release.
Saying the quality of releases was hit or miss would be being kind, but when you picked one it was a safe bet you were in for a good time. It always came across like they had a lot of fun making them. Which was apparent is you stick around after the credit for “VideoZone” a very innovative, at the time, behind the scenes featurette included on most videos: Full Moon Video Zone - Dr. Mordrid - YouTube
Anybody else have any memories from the rental shop? Any favorite Full Moon releases?
Doctor Mordrid was actually one of my faves, as well as Bad Channels & Trancers 2, both which are truly bonkers beyond description.
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Full Moon has some great classics. The Re-Animator series and anything with Tim Thomerson.
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My love of Full Moon began with Puppet Master.
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Re-Animator isn’t actually Full Moon, though it was made by Charles Band’s previous company Empire that did theatrical releases. He started Full Moon when he made the shift to direct to video.
Director Stuart Gordon did make some movies with Full Moon though, Castle Freak and Pit & the Pendulum come to mind…
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It was Blockbuster that brought MST into our lives. I was going through a phase at the time. I saw two tapes and begged my mum to rent them. It would be years until they came into my life again.
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Most of my Full Moon exposure has been through MST3K and Rifftrax, but I think I unironically love the Oblivion movies.
Gingerdead Man makes for a fun bad movie night. It’s like- a horror movie for adults, but the tone is like an episode of Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark.
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Oblivion movies really are a special sort of weird. They are that rare breed that is some mix of intentional and unintentional camp, where you can never quite tell where the line is.
ICYDK Rifftrax did both of them, and they are available as part of a “Friends” subscription…
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My brother and I were big fans of the Puppet Master films. We rented those on video frequently!!
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I’m with you on the Oblivion movies and I have no idea why. They’re such train wrecks, but they’re fun train wrecks.
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There’s a very Saturday Morning Cartoon mania to the whole thing that makes the nonsense and hammy performances just work.
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I saw Arcade on TV as a kid. It seemed so weird, it’s stuck with me since. I’ve always been curious, if it’s worth re-watching?
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What I mostly remember about Arcade was it seemed like it was “Coming Soon” forever. Turns out the release was delayed because they had to re-do all the CGI after getting sued by Disney because it looked too much like Tron. 
The cast might make it worth a rewatch alone, though. It was pretty interesting and included: Megan Ward, Peter Billingsley, John de Lancie, & Seth Green
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My first exposure to Full Moon was when an ex and I stumbled across Blood Dolls back in college, which instantly became a bad movie night staple. Everyone we showed it to loved it, to the point where one refused to call it a “bad” movie. So after that I had to seek out more, though there are several I haven’t seen. I had always wanted to see MST3K takle some of their oeuvre, and I’m so happy they are! Doctor Mordrid was a new one to me, and it was a blast (I also like seeing another alumnae of Kindred: The Embraced show up in a riffed flick)!
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