Artist creates awesome VHS boxes for Stranger Things, Rogue One, and other genre flicks

A few weeks before Halloween 2015, the IAmSteelberg account launched on Instagram with a bundle of photos a novel art form: the VHS box. Steelberg redesigns the grimy 1980s movie sleeves for recent genre films. The project is a charming cultural ouroboros, a nostalgic repackaging of modern films, many of which are sequels, reboots, or homages to the films of the VHS era.

Mad Max: Fury Road and J.J. Abram’s Star Trek look comfortable on a VHS boxes because their predecessors were printed on the format, those dusty cardboard sleeves stuffed onto the craft-shop display racks of countless family dens. And while Cloverfield, Cabin in the Woods, and Pacific Rim aren’t sequels, they are indebted to the glut of B-movies that clogged the rear aisles of once busy Blockbuster Videos.

The account’s updates haven’t been quite as dense since launch, but what does get published is especially excellent. Two weeks ago, the artist made this alternate cover for the underrated shark film The Shallows, a design that I bet would sell like hotcakes in the dorm room poster market.

And this week, Steelberg uploaded this cover for Stranger Things, Netflix’s aggressively ‘80s-inspired sci-fi thriller.

We’ve reached out to the creator for comment. Otherwise, there’s little mention of his identity beyond a Facebook page, a Mental Floss write-up, and an email address for commission requests. What movie would you want to get the Steelberg treatment? I’m torn between Edge of Tomorrow and Speed Racer. The account already has Rogue One covered.