Continuing the Dead Media Library series, let’s take a quick look at some of the iterations of The Crush on home video. Released in theaters in April of 1993, the flick hit video cassette in the winter of the same year. This was also right around the time that VHS was blowing up in terms of direct sales to the audience, so between video store rentals and folks picking copies up in brick and mortar, the movie did exceptionally well (way better than its modest hit box office numbers.) Sadly, there isn’t a whole lot of variation in the overall design of the various home video releases were were able to dig up, but if nothing else it’s kind of cool to see some of the foreign titles of the film.
Let’s start with the standard US VHS released by Warner Home Video in 1993. Things to note, this edition of the VHS was before the lawsuit was filed against the director and the film, so Darian’s name is still intact on both the film and the copy on the box.
Scan originally posted by VHS Wasteland (click image to visit their rad site!)
Next up, let’s hop on over to the United Kingdom to scope this PAL VHS copy that was released by Warner Home Video UK Limited. There are a few things here we found a little interesting. First off, the placement of the title on the cover is a bit awkward as it overlaps Silverstone’s chin in the artwork, though we do love that they overlaid a second copy of the logo true blue which works so damn well with the pink and blue already in the artwork. The choice of stills for the back are a little spoilery, but at least this copy was also still pre-lawsuit and Darian is still intact. Lastly, the runtime is listed at only 85 minutes which makes me wonder what 4 minutes of film were cut for the UK release?
One more thing, the inside front cover of this hardcase clamshell featured a sticker advertising Silverstone’s appearances in Areosmith’s “Amazing”, “Crying” and “Crazy” music videos. So even though she had appeared in more films (including the smash hit Clueless), maybe she was still best known for this sexy video appearances.
The next video we have is the VHS released by Warner Home Video in Argentina in 1994 where the film was re-titled Pasion Sin Limite (or Unlimited Passion in English.)
Next up is this German release, also by Warner Home Video and also made available in 1994. This one comes complete with an 80s-style Warner VHS design and header which is kind of cool. It also features an “Uncut” sticker, which is odd because the runtime of the film is listed at 86 minutes, a full three minutes shorter than the original American release. The German version of the film is re-titled Das Biest, or The Beast.
The last VHS copy we were able to source was this cover of the Czech version of the film. I’m assuming it was released sometime between 1994-96 based on the other international releases, and again it was made available by Warner Home Video.
The only other dead media version we were able to track down was this copy of the US LaserDisc released in 1993 by, you guessed it, Warner Home Video. This one is kind of cool because you get some chapter title names, and of course this was the first time the film was released in it’s original widescreen aspect ratio on home video.
