Derann (UK)

Background : Derann (a.k.a. Derann Film Services, Derann Audio Visual, or Derann Video) was a small electronics store formed back in 1964 by Derek and Anne Simmonds whose first names made up the company name "Derann". Throughout the company's runtime until 2007, they were known to sell 8mm (Super 8) cutout films licensed from major movie companies. Starting in the late 70s to the early 80s, they began disturbing films on videocassettes carrying out the Derann Audio Visual logo at the time. Several titles on VHS prints released from the company such as Blood Lust, Brutes and Savages, and Cannibal were on the DPP Section 3 where they were known to be as "Video Nasties" which was a term used in the United Kingdom for films that having pretty obscene content released in the VHS pre-cert prints. This company was known for being one of the several major distributors in the pre-cert market. One of the company's founders Derek Simmonds died in 2002. After his death, his son Adrian Simmonds took over the company. In September 2011, the company closed down after their stock film sales faded away along with ongoing financial issues.

(1970s-1990s)
Nickname : "DFS"

Logo : On a smokey green background, we see a red filmstrip with DFS in red. Then, we get closer to the filmstrip before "DERANN" in white wipes itself on. The logo then fades out.

FX/SFX : The DFS logo zooming in, the words fading in. The fade out.

Music/Sounds : A loud, powerful bombastic fanfare.

Availability : Rare, bordering to extinct. This can be seen on early Super 8mm films and VHS tapes.

Editor's Note : None.

(April 1980-1986)


 Nicknames : "AV of Doom", "AV Derann", "Derann Audio Visual"

 Logo : On a space background, the letter, "A" slides from the top left corner while "V" slides from the bottom right corner and place themselves in the center. The word "DERANN" flashes in, slicing part of the letters. The logo zooms in. The letters then fade out, as it transitions to the blue outlined text "DERANN VIDEO". The background fades to black. Then the words zoom in with trails.

 Variant : Before the logo starts, a warning screen is seen in the same space background. After the warning screen fades-out, the normal logo begins.

FX/SFX : The logo forming, along with the text and the chyron trails at the end. Pretty decent 80s 2D animation actually.

 Music/Sounds : Same as the Cinerama Releasing logo, but high-pitched, likely due to PAL speedup.

 Availability : Extremely rare. This can be seen on many PAL VHS pre-cert prints of films (mostly horror). Otherwise, you can find some of these on ebay.co.uk.

Editor's Note : This logo is well known for possibly stealing Cinerama's music (unless of course, the music is stock).