Nothing quite says 1997 New York City like a brand-new VHS. John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic Escape From New York saw Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken drop into near-future New York City with a mission to save the President. Most of us probably first saw the film on the old school format, which just so happened to be prevalent around the time reality caught up to the movie. Now, almost 30 years later, Escape From New York is coming back to VHS, and it’s all sorts of awesome.
This Thursday, May 15, Vice Press is releasing two new VHS versions of Escape From New York. One is a 1,000-piece, limited edition slipcase featuring brand new artwork by Phantom City Creative with a specially designed tape. Then there’s a collector’s edition featuring the original theatrical poster on one side, and Matt Ferguson’s recent work on the other.
And yes, the VHS actually plays. Though, for those of us in the United States, it’s unfortunately in the UK’s PAL format. So, if you want something new from Snake’s world but not the VHS, Vice also has that brand new Phantom City Creative poster dropping on its own. There’s both a regular and variant 24 x 36 inch lithograph, each in editions of 250.
Finally, if you love Escape From New York but really are only drawn to that iconic original image by Barry E. Jackson, Vice Press has also worked with Matt Ferguson to fully restore and release that. It’s a 27 x 40 lithograph in a limited edition of 250. Here’s the iconic image.
All of these go on sale at Vice Press at 2 p.m. ET (that’s 6 p.m. GMT) on Thursday, May 15. Both versions of the VHS are £30, and the posters range between £40 and £50.
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