The Popular Zombie VHS Tape That Could Be Worth More Than $18,000

In the days before the internet, if you wanted to watch a movie at home on demand, you had to buy or rent it. And before DVDs became widely available in the 1990s, these movies usually came in the form of a VHS (video home system) videocassette.

Nowadays, most people find their movies on streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or YouTube. But that doesn't mean video tapes are worthless relics. There are unopened video tapes in mint condition that are prized by collectors. In fact, a number of VHS tapes have been sold for thousands of dollars. Among them was a copy of "The Return of the Living Dead," a zany 1980s classic about cannibalistic dead people that was sold online at Heritage Auction on Halloween in 2022 for $18,759. While that's not the largest amount ever sold for a tape, it may be enough to buy a used car. 

Released in 1985, "The Return of the Living Dead" is sort of a spinoff of the 1968 classic "Night of the Living Dead." Although George Romero was the main driving force of "Night of the Living Dead," its screen play was co-written by John Russo. And as explained by /Film, Romero and Russo divided up the rights for their cinematic movie franchise with Romero coming out with sequels that just utilized the word "Dead," as in "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead." Russo, on the other hand, created a series of movies with "Living Dead" in the title Thus, "The Return of the Living Dead" is a Russo movie.

"The Return of the Living Dead" isn't a bleak series that takes itself seriously like AMC's "The Walking Dead." This is a comedy-horror movie where the zombies are fond of moaning the catchphrase "brains" before lunging at a potential victim. In this film, the protagonists are Freddy and Frank, who decide to hold a party with some punk rockers at a medical warehouse facility they work at. Then a chemical is accidentally spilled that causes the dead to wake and crave brains. Hilarity and carnage ensue. Apparently, critics tended to find "The Return of the Living Dead" amusing. The movie has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

So, you can add VHS tapes among the items you may have lying around your home that could be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, such as rare coins with stamping mistakes or vintage jadeite that may or may not have trace amounts of uranium in them.

But to truly cash in on the value of a rare video tape, it must never have been watched. Viewing a VHS creates wear-and-tear thereby reducing the videocassette's value. That's why collectors prefer their video tapes still in their packaging. The reward could be huge. In 2022, a few days before "The Return for the Living Dead" traded for five figures, a copy of "Star Wars: A New Hope" was sold online at Goldin for a whopping $114,000.

Odds are though that any videotape you find has been watched at least once. After all, what is the purpose of having a video tape if not to watch it. But its always possible you may have a copy of decades old film about heading "Back to the Future" or an angry with sharp "Jaws" that you received as a gift and forgot you had. Or you find an unopened video tape in a yard sale that its owner never got around to opening. If so, get it appraised before you sell it. It might be worth the fee to unlock its true value.