THE VIDEAS HISTORY
IN THE BEGINNING
VideasFilms was born under the name of Classic Vision Productions way back in 1983, when Brian Davies of Holyhead, Anglesey bought his first video camera. After producing a number of amateur movies in the Super 8mm film format during the early 1970s, Brian was inspired to make his own video project after seeing Sam Raimi's 'Evil Dead' (because Raimi had also made movies on 8mm film). Brian's first foray into video movie making was an 18 minute short entitled 'Cursed Woods'. Considering the serious limitations of domestic video equipment at the time (long before the birth of digital video), the results were well received by the small audiences and Brian was keen to continue enjoying the new inexpensive freedom of shooting movies on videotape and to use the talents of the group of friends he had assembled, particularly those of actor and musician, Paul Roberts.
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Between 1984 and 1986 a number of experimental movies were produced. The name Videas Productions was first used in 1984 when the group made a comedy entitled 'The Strange Case Of Doctor Kelly', a film which Brian was never happy with although it did mark the debut of Peter Preston, who went on to become one of Videas Films most prolific actors. This attempt at comedy was followed by two excellent sequels, 'Dial K For Murder' in 1985 and 'The Perils Of Killkelly' in 1986. Brian said that he did learn a great deal about film-making from these projects but never considered the possibility of re-releasing them or remastering them in the future. 'The Vacancy' was produced in 1985, then in 1986 the group made the psychological thriller 'The Exhumation' - the first of their works to be entered into competition, The What Video/JVC Home Video Awards 1986, in which it won First Prize.
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Videas Films went on to produce 'Shock Ending' in 1987, 'Last Day At The Beach' in 1990 and 'Lady In Danger' in 1992.
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The Exhumation (1986)
MEDIA ATTENTION
1986 was a good year publicity wise, the success of 'The Exhumation' in competition resulted in local press coverage, which led to national television coverage, with the film's stars being interviewed on Welsh magazine show 'Arolwg' (On the Lookout).
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Throughout this period, the movies were reviewed in a number of fanzines, including Cold Sweat and Midnight In Hell and national glossies including Samhain and Video World magazines, all this leading to more features and interviews on local and national television shows including S4C's 'Heno' (Tonight) and ITV's 'The James Whale Radio Show' and 'Whale On'.
