Dead Formats is an annual VHS convention and underground film and media swap celebrating obsolete formats, independent filmmaking and physical-media collecting.
Over 40 vendors from the Midwest, East Coast and beyond will offer VHS tapes, Betamax tapes, LaserDiscs, CED videodiscs, movie posters, T-shirts, ephemera and other vintage-media collectibles.
The convention also features independent filmmakers who continue the tradition of underground and shot-on-video cinema.
This year’s guest of honor is cult horror filmmaker Donald Farmer. Farmer is best known as a pioneer of extremely low-budget, shot-on-video horror and exploitation filmmaking. Some of his films include Demon Queen, Cannibal Hookers, Scream Dream.
Other special guests include Indiana filmmaker and film preservationist Tom Barker, experimental filmmaker Kasper Melted, cartoonist and filmmaker Mike Diana, Hugh Gallagher and John Michael McCarthy.
Dead Formats is especially worthwhile for collectors searching for obscure horror tapes, regional films, video-store oddities and unusual physical media rarely found at conventional comic or pop-culture events.
What: Dead Formats VHS Convention
When: Saturday, August 29, 2026
Where: Holy Ground Hall (3317 E. 10th Street, Indianapolis, IN)
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Cost: $10.00
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