A closer look
The video rental aisles of the 1980s were a ruthless warzone for attention, forcing B-movie distributors to embrace absolutely unhinged gimmicks. Frank Henenlotter's glorious trash-masterpiece 'Frankenhooker' featured a cult VHS cover that housed a battery-powered voice chip inside the cardboard sleeve. Pressing a button on the front yielded the titular character cheerfully chirping an iconic, sleazy catchphrase. It was an abrasive, battery-draining piece of interactive marketing that successfully annoyed video store clerks into hiding the boxes behind the counter—which, naturally, only made teenagers want to rent the movie even more.
