Video Violence

Co-writer/director Gary P. Cohen got the idea for this film while working as a video store clerk. One day, a woman came into the store with a toddler and asked if the film I Dismember Mama (1972) was rated R for nudity. Cohen told her that he was not sure if the film contained nudity, but that it was probably rated R for graphic violence. The woman decided to rent the film anyway, saying that, as long as there was no nudity, it would be appropriate for her children to watch. This same interaction appears in the film, although this time the woman has an infant instead of a toddler and she is asking about the appropriateness of the film Blood Cult (1985).

The film was edited over the course of eight hours at a local access cable station. Originally, co-writer/director Gary P. Cohen had contracted the station's editing equipment for two time slots, both from 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM, but after the first night, the station owner informed Cohen that he would not have given him permission to edit the film there had he known what its content was. Rather than renege on the contract, however, the station owner simply changed Cohen's second time slot into 12:00 AM to 2:00 AM.

Co-writer/director Gary P. Cohen submitted the film to eight different distributors, but only heard back from two of them. He eventually sold the distribution rights to one of the two, Camp Motion Pictures, as it offered to create box art for the VHS tape in-house while the other distributor wanted Cohen to submit his own box art to it.

The video box spine bears a Dobbshead and the text "Approved by J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs".

Co-writer/director Gary P. Cohen and co-writer Paul Kaye are toying with the idea of making a musical film out of "Video Violence".