Background: The ABM Group was a Canadian video company founded in 1987.
1st Logo (1987–1996)[]
The ABM Group Home Video 1990s
Nicknames: "ABM in Space", "Long Space Background", "The Space Logo of Almost Nothing", "Synth Drone Logo", "Migraine ABM", "The Canadian Equivalent of PPI Entertainment"
Logo: On a zooming space background, we just sit through eight seconds of nothing until finally, more animation arrives. It begins with a pink comet shooting from the right, then, when it hits the center, an explosion appears. The letters “A”, “B”, and “M” zoom in and spin, along with a fancy tail, all colored gold. A yellow line flashes quickly on the logo’s edges just before the explosion (now really white dust) disappears. The word “PRESENTS” in BrushScript font slowly fades in. After a few seconds, the logo fades out, and a warning scroll appears. After 13 seconds, the screen fades to black.
Variant: Sometimes, the warning scroll doesn't appear.
FX/SFX: The space background moving, comet flying, explosion, pieces flying, letters shining.
Music/Sounds: A extremely long synth drone is heard, then, when the explosion appears, a “BOOM!” is heard, then a blowing wind is heard when the letter's are flying in, a clunk when the letters come into place, followed by a bell toll, then we still hear the synth drone before the space background finally fades out. At the end of the logo, we hear a some kind of a sound that looks like a game button being pressed. Actually, the synth drone is heard in the whole logo, even heard when the sounds is heard, because we heard it in the background.
Availability: Ultra rare. Found on a Canadian VHS of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark: The Movie, as well as some public domain cartoon videos. Could be seen on re-released tapes from Kid Flicks and Starmaker Entertainment.
Editor's Note: This logo is often considered one of the worst in the history of home video, and it lasts nearly 40 seconds. To put that in perspective, the logo for Hendring Limited runs a full minute longer, and puts in far more effort. There's a lot to unpack here:
- Depending on whether or not you're watching the version with the warning scroll, this logo has anywhere from eight to twenty-one seconds of nothing happening, which could have easily been cut out.
- The actual animation isn't really that good, either, what with the odd font for the letters.
- If you have a keen eye, you'll notice the explosion is taken right from Star Wars.
- The background bears too much of a resemblance to the logo from BFS Video.
2nd Logo (1996–2005)[]
Logo: On a dark background, we see the word the in white text, Then, the words ABM Zoom in, Then, the word Group runs in, Then the logo fades out
FX/SFX: The Words “ABM” Zooming in, The Word “Group” running, The Logo fading out
Music/Sounds: The Sezondl Cinema Video music is breefily in use
Availability: Ultra rare. Only known to be seen on the 1997 release of Temple Mat.