Halloween and Poltergeist spearhead HMV DVD push

HMV rolls out its biggest Halloween DVD promotion this week as part of a celebration of Hollywood’s biggest horror and sci-fi movies and marking the 25th anniversaries of genre classics Poltergeist and Halloween.

As part of the push it is promoting an exclusive version of Halloween, which includes a graphic novel and two extra discs featuring previously unreleased material, as well as the anniversary edition of Poltergeist.

The Halloween marketing drive will be supported across print, online and in-store and will be tied to its recently launched Get Closer activity. Over 125 horror, gothic and sci-fi titles will be advertised in the campaign including The Shining, The Exorcist, Amityville Horror, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Alien.

HMV DVD back catalogue manager Mark Frampton says: “Prompted by heightened media focus and increased label and retail activity, Halloween keeps growing in retail importance with each year, and is becoming a significant calendar event. There’s a bit of a virtuous cycle at play here – the bigger it gets the more we can invest in it as a standalone opportunity in its own right.”