Merlin Video (UK)

Background : Merlin Video was a UK pre-cert label and a subsidiary of (at the time) West German distributor VCL around the early 80s. In Australia, their releases were distributed by CIC-Taft Video, and in Spain, the titles were distributed by VideoTer S.A.

(May 1982-March 1984)


Nicknames : "Space and Thunder", "Thunder of Doom", "Cheesy Thunder", "Cheap Thunder"

Logo : We zoom in to a starfield, until we fade in into a zooming galaxy. Then suddenly, we see lightning strike, revealing dark clouds, as the Merlin Video logo zooms in, which is a steel blue-colored shield with 6 lightning bolts protruding from the top and the bottom, with "Merlin" in a very "Shakespearean" font, and "VIDEO" in a sans-serif font. Then the background turns white.

FX/SFX : The zooming and the lightning.

Music/Sounds : The sounds of thunder.

Availability : Extremely rare. Seen on VCL and CBS/FOX pre-cert releases in the UK, and also seen on Rigby-CIC/CIC-Taft releases in Australia and VideoTer titles in Spain. It was seen on their infamous video nasties such as Zombie Creeping Flesh, The Mad Foxes, and Massacre at Central High.

Editor's Note : None.