All Seasons Entertainment, Category_Collecting, Category_Groovy Stuff, Category_VHS, Category_Weirdness, CIA, Guns, Jackie Chan, Lunchmeat VHS, Mystery, Self Defense, VHS, Video Sanctum -

LUNCHMEAT and VIDEOSANCTUM.COM Try To Uncover the Magnetic Mystery of the All Seasons Entertainment title THE CIVILIAN ANTI-TERRORIST! Does This VHS Actually Exist?! Fellow Tapeheads Can Help Find the Analog Answer!

If you happened to tune in to Lunchmeat’s Spare Parts about two weeks ago, you just might be privy to a mammoth score of video era artifacts and varied video formats attained by rewind-inclined online retailer VideoSanctum.com, acquired from the one of the longest running video retail shops there ever was: Audio / Video Plus in Houston, TX. The announcement of receiving, preserving and intently purveying about 100,000 individual items was analog epic, indeed, Tapeheads, but at the closing of that update, we also announced that Lunchmeat would be teaming up with VS to share out some of the most interesting, rare and radical video era info and ephemera from their bodacious collection. For this initial installment, Video Sanctum has opened their video vaults and dug out some most curious press release information from All Seasons Entertainment concerning a home video release shrouded in some magnetic mystery. These images are shared exclusively here on LunchmeatVHS.com in order to ask YOU, my fellow Videovores, if you can help confirm that actual existence of this seemingly unavailable title. But first, here’s Benny from VideoSanctum.com with a little info regarding this analog investigation: “What you'll see here is a press release and one sheet for a "forthcoming" release from All Seasons Entertainment called the Civilian Anti-Terrorist. It was announced in mid-1987 (proposed for a Fall release) and features the first installment of the "Civilian Intelligence Action (CIA) Series." Now, read the copy and tell me a demo of the world's only fully automatic 12-guage wouldn't have been badass on the analog front??! To date, the only '87 releases we've seen from All Seasons are the four (or five) Jackie Chan martial arts flicks (slip cases). Interestingly, those use the full "All Seasons" logo (as seen on the letterhead) vs. the shortened and redesigned "ASE" logo that was featured on later releases. There may well be releases beyond '87 (but we aren't sure). This Civilian Anti-Terrorist release is stated to be available via "direct mail, gun and survival stores, and specialized wholesalers." We've never seen a copy and are only familiar with this promotion for the release. It is likely that All Seasons folded prior to this release, or faded into the direct mail world with only a few copies finding their way to market. We would like to see if any of your followers have seen or heard of this release!” For those of you who might be unaware of the All Seasons Video releasing entity, they’re a company that is probably most recognizable for titles such as Vengeance of the Zombies, Human Beasts, Street Warriors and their devilish big boxes like Exorcism and Devils Possessed. They’re predilection for violence is apparent, most likely because, hey, that stuff sells, mang! So, it makes perfect sense that in an attempt to expand their catalog out of the feature film arena, they’d dip their tape-sellin’ toes into the burgeoning market of home video self-defense / survival tapes. Now let’s get a look at these materials shall we, Tapeheads?

ASE_CivilianANTI_Adslick

The double-sided advert for All Season Entertainment's THE CIVILIAN ANTI-TERRORIST. Bad-ass? No doubt. Did it actually happen? That is the question.

ASE_SoliciationLETTER

The solicitation letter announcing the upcoming release of THE CIVILIAN ANTI-TERRORIST tape, as a part of the Civilian Intelligence Action VHS series. Please, let this surface and invade my (our) VCR.

Through my own research, I did find that the All Seasons Entertainment logo did indeed undergo change from '86 to '87, as exemplified below.

ASE_logos

The logo comparison showing the change. The revamp does seem a bit more video era appropriate. Futuristic, dude.

I also found that for those previously mentioned Jackie Chan tapes, the bulk of them did use the full classic logo, but I did end up uncovering one Jackie Chan release that employed the revamped logo from 1987. I also found that they did at least four other releases in 1987 (Free, White and 21; Street Warriors and Street Warriors 2; Runaway Nightmare; and Dracula: The Bloodline Continues) and, surprisingly, another release in 1988 called Up River.

ASE_JackieCHAN_LogoCOMP

The classic logo on DRAGON FIST with the revamp on the cover of SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN. SWM is from 1987, so it makes VHSense.

Even after all the rewind research on All Seasons Entertainment, the C.A.T. tape remains M.I.A. and the question mark remains. I will say this, though: it expressly states on the advertisement that the release is “pending approval by the C.I.A.” Now this could be some sort of ballyhoo / sales spark sort of thing, but hey, maybe… just maybe… the C.I.A. put the kibosh on this thing before it hit the duplicators. They do things like that. There’s just one thing left to do: Ask you, Tapeheads! If you own, or have even just encountered this tape in any form, let us know! VHShoot us an email at TheButcher@LunchmeatVHS.com and we’ll feature that bad boy right here and credit your radical self with solving this magnetic mystery, mang! Oh! And while we’re on topic, tell us about some super-elusive slabs of analog that are said to exist but you’ve never seen. We’d love to tackle those mystic slabs of magnetic magic here in Lunchmeat Land, man! So, go on! Slap up a comment below and let us know!! And VHStay tuned for more radical slabs of esoteric video era ephemera from the Video Sanctum archives. They got some goods, mang.

Groove and Groove and Chase the Rewind White Whale.

Josh Schafer


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