Robert dos Santos is making movie fans do something most new releases try to avoid: find the machine first.
His debut feature, This Is How The World Ends, is being released on VHS on June 7, before Blu-ray, DVD, cinemas, or streaming get their turn. The Guardian reported that the film is being billed as the first straight-to-VHS movie in 20 years.
That could sound like a nostalgia stunt. Dos Santos is framing it as something more deliberate: a physical-media release for a film about human survival in a world threatened by artificial intelligence.
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The Movie Comes to VHS Before Everything Else
This Is How The World Ends follows Tom Freeman, played by Josh Kempen, as he tries to bring his sister Danni home from what is described as the last party on earth.
Cult Report described the story as a sci-fi adventure set during a war between humanity and AI Machine States, with misinformation spreading as society edges toward collapse. Frances Sholto-Douglas plays Danni, while Sean Cameron Michael also stars.
The official film site describes the story in simpler terms: a young man is sent to retrieve his sister from the last party on earth while the world is ending.
The format gives that premise an extra edge. A movie about AI, collapse, and human survival is being released first through a tape format that asks viewers to buy a physical copy, find a VCR, and watch it the old way.
Dos Santos Wants Viewers to Work for It
The Guardian reported that dos Santos knows the VHS-first plan makes the movie harder to watch.
That difficulty is part of the release. He told the outlet he likes the idea that viewers have to be “part of the club” to see the film in its intended first format.
In 2016, Funai Electric, described by The Guardian as the world’s last VCR manufacturer, stopped making the machines. That leaves the film aimed at collectors, thrift-store hunters, physical-media fans, and people willing to buy or borrow a VCR for one new release.
Dos Santos told The Guardian that VHS is imperfect, but that imperfection is part of what interests him.
“I’m asking people to do a lot,” he said. “But that’s what it means to be a human.”
The VHS Release Is Tied to the Film’s Anti-AI Argument
The AI-war plot is not separate from the release strategy.
Dos Santos told Cult Report that releasing the film on VHS is “100% a statement.” He criticized AI-made art as a low-effort process and said putting the movie on tape draws a line around the kind of filmmaker he wants to be.
The official film site uses similar language, describing This Is How The World Ends as cinema “made by humans, for humans” in a digital world shaped by AI, streaming, and downloads.
That makes the VHS tape more than packaging. It is the movie’s argument in object form: inconvenient, physical, limited, and harder to separate from the people who made it.
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The Film Was Not Made to Look Cheap
The strange part is that This Is How The World Ends was not designed as a throwaway retro object.
The Guardian described it as a visually strong modern indie film rather than a deliberately trashy genre experiment. Cult Report reported that the movie was shot partly among more than 30,000 people in the Karoo, giving the desert-set story a scale that would be difficult to fake.
Dos Santos admitted to The Guardian that the VHS release means accepting image loss and a cropped picture. He said he loves the images they shot, but sees the compromise as part of the experience.
That tension is the most interesting part of the rollout. The film was made with modern detail, then sent first to a format that will blur, crop, and soften some of that work.
The VHS Plan Has Already Found Its Audience
The release strategy is narrow, but it is not invisible.
The Guardian reported that dos Santos and his team had already needed to order more VHS tapes because of demand. He also said people had sent him videos after buying VCRs so they could watch the movie.
He does not expect VHS to become mainstream again. The point is the opposite. The release is built for viewers who care enough to order the tape, track down the machine, and treat watching the movie as a physical act.
This Is How The World Ends will eventually move to other formats. The first audience dos Santos wants is the one willing to press play on a VCR.