Blue Velvet — Avant-Garde Cinema VHS

Original MGM Avant-Garde Cinema VHS release of Blue Velvet (1986), documenting the film’s early circulation as art-house home media.

Category: Curated

File Under: #AvantGardeCinema, #VHS, #DavidLynch, #HomeVideo

Description

Original VHS release of Blue Velvet (1986), directed by David Lynch, issued as part of MGM’s Avant-Garde Cinema home-video series. The program was designed to position certain titles outside mainstream rental categories, circulating them instead through art-house channels, specialty shops, and film-literate audiences.

Released on VHS at a moment when home viewing was becoming a primary site of film engagement, this edition reflects how Lynch’s work first entered domestic spaces—through physical media, repeated viewing, and informal recommendation rather than institutional canon. The tape preserves not just the film, but the conditions of its early reception: analog transfer, boxed slipcase, and the framing language of a distributor attempting to define “avant-garde” within a commercial format.

This copy remains in good vintage condition. The tape has been tested and plays cleanly.