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DEAD FORMATS 7
VHS Convention & Underground Film Swap
Saturday August 29, 2026
Holy Ground Hall (3317 E. 10th St. Indianapolis)
11AM-6PM
$10 at door $5 after 2PM
Over forty vendors from the greater Midwest, east coast and beyond specializing in vintage media (VHS, Beta, Laserdisc, CED Videodisc, etc.), ephemera, posters, t-shirts and more. Also appearing are several modern independent filmmakers who help keep the spirit of underground shot-on-video film alive.
All Dead Formats dealers are selected with the larger goal of keeping our convention unique in its focus on vintage media, VHS and underground filmmaking.
Cash bar. ATM at venue.
Friday Night Kickoff Party
August 28, 2026
Holy Ground Hall (3317 East 10th Street Indianapolis)
7PM $5 at Door
A screening of SCREAM DREAM (1989)
Sponsored by Visual Vengeance
Featuring Q&A with Donald Farmer
Kasper Melted’s biographical documentary, DONALD FARMER’S WILD RIDE will also be screening; as well as an entertaining program of shorts and trailers from Victor Bonacore, David Dawson and more.
Cash bar. ATM at venue.
2026 GUEST OF HONOR
Donald Farmer
Filmmaker, writer, publisher–living legend of the horror genre and shot-on-video filmmaking.
SPECIAL GUESTS
LOCAL LEGEND
Filmmaker Tom Barker
We are proud to welcome our first-ever LOCAL LEGEND filmmaker this year—Tom Barker at his first-ever convention appearance for Dead Formats 7 . Tom’s 1992 Indiana-made action film DEADLY DISCOVERY starring Walter Baziak and Kerol Rae set VHS-collecting communities on fire in 2026. Come meet the central Indiana man who decided to enter the direct-to-video arena amidst the golden era of action films!
Car chases, explosions, shocking double-crosses, stunt-flying, vehicular destruction via construction equipment and the cornfields of Greentown, IN make up just a few highlights of this literal barn-burner of a film.
In addition to DTV-era filmmaking at his Shelbyville IN-based company Tele-Cine Films, Tom Barker is still actively involved in Indiana film history, film preservation (including film/VHS digitization), and curates an expansive YouTube Channel (The Tom Barker Film Archives), which is dedicated to cataloging decades of central-Indiana history, culture and filmmaking.
GUEST FILMMAKER
Kasper Melted
Appearing for the first time at Dead Formats 7 is actress and filmmaker Kasper Melted (Meltedhair). It’s hard to explain the creativity of an artist like Kasper; her work is a complex, colorful manipulation of visuals, language, sound and space that leave the viewer both confounded and captivated; questioning their own perception and often times, reality itself. After acting in several films (and becoming a close collaborator with DF7 Guest of Honor Donald Farmer), Kasper shook up the shot-on-video world with a seminal directorial debut ]–BUSTED BABIES–in 2024. In 2025, she followed up with VICK AND TARSTAR’S SCARECROW FACTORY–a collaboration with Brewce Longo of Bloodsick Productions–which screened at Dead Formats 6.
Kasper is appearing at DF7 in support of her newest film, GARCHASTER’S CORNBLADE.
GUEST FILMMAKER/ CONVICTED CARTOONIST
Mike Diana
ADDITIONAL GUEST FILMMAKERS
Hugh Gallagher
John Michael McCarthy
Convention Location
CONVENTION LOCATION: Holy Ground Hall
3317 E. 10th St Indianapolis, IN 46201a
Free Parking
There is free parking in the attached parking lot on the east side of Holy Ground Hall.
There is also ample FREE STREET PARKING along the following streets
- 10th Street (both directions)
- LaSalle (Southbound)
- Tuxedo (North and Southbound)
However, you will get towed if you park in the lots in the surrounding businesses, including:
- 10th Street Diner
- Guide and Anchor
- NY Food Center
- Audrey’s Place
- Convenience Store, etc.
PLEASE BE COURTEOUS TO OUR NEIGHBORS!
Travel Planning
The venue has an attached parking lot.
dead-formats.com 