On opening night, Saturday, Sept 9th, the lines were already forming early for entry. The line for those who pre-ordered tickets was already long, but the one for general admission started to circle the building. All waited at a chance to be reunited with their loved ones, cult classic horror movies in a classic independent video store.
Filled to the brim with fans of horror movies and passed T-shirts and other merch, housed in the Bearded Lady's Mystic Museum was an honest to goodness ol' fashioned video store. The cashier, played by Ryan Turek, behind creating Slashback Video, was wearing a purchasable, Slashback Video employee tee. He had free mini-posters he handed out with Surge and Crystal Diet Pepsi behind the counter. With horror posters on the wall and inflatable corn cob in the corner promoting "Children of the Corn III," it was a sight to see. That is if you can stand going at a snail's pace as everyone wanted to take it all in.
The big line outside, made its way inside, so simply scanning for your favorite films or trying to find new ones was a little hard. You could still find strange titles and look at the wonderful art that lied to your face about what the movies about. It just wasn't the most easy trip in and out. There were a few other downsides, but they do make sense.
Some downsides to the shop are:
-No renting
-No touching the videos (We want to read the backs!)
-No master list of all the films (We want to know what's inside!)
As you entered you would also notice some VHS very different from the rest. You see, Slashback had an entire section devoted to VHS art. So you could purchase art in the shape of a VHS of fake movies or of highly stylized covers. Shout out to the Alien VHS.
Slashback Video is a great look back at a culture of renting movies before streaming, where you could wander around the store looking for what you might want to see. I doubt any video store had ever such a devoted section to horror. It's some of the cult favorites you go looking for online and have to share with friends.
Rewind and head back in time! Go and see what it was like to choose movies and not have to look through Amazon Video's awful interface. Check out a collection of horror that might inspire you to rent some cult classics this weekend or for Halloween.
Open now through Halloween
regular business hours of the
Bearded Lady's Mystic Museum
3204 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, California
