Opinion | The horror! The horror! Spooky flicks on VHS can’t be beat – Waterloo Chronicle

One of the first movies I ever rented from a neighbourhood video store was the 1981 horror classic 'Ghost Story', based on the terrifying bestselling novel by Peter Straub.

I was mesmerized by the stark black-and-white artwork on the original VHS cover depicting an old house and moon eerily silhouetted, and the words: The time has come to tell the tale.

The back of the box reads: Put together a gloomy New England house, a dark night and four of Americas legendary leading men (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, John Houseman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), and you have all the ingredients for a classic ghost story.

In the movie, four men are members of the so-called Chowder Society and get together each week to share tales of horror. Soon, however, a secret terror invades the group, and one by one, they die mysteriously because of a real-life ghost story that is part of their past.

'Ghost Story' also co-stars one of my favourite actresses, Alice Krige, best known for her role as the Borg Queen in the Star Trek franchise.

As a longtime fan of the horror movie genre, I miss the days of VHS cassettes and the incredible box cover art.

As a child, there was something magical about going into the local video store on Highland Road in Kitchener and browsing the dark, atmospheric covers, wondering what films like 'The Changeling', 'The Howling', and 'The Amityville Horror' must be about.

I could spend hours in the aisles gazing at the killer box art of movies like 'Sleepaway Camp', 'Black Christmas' and 'Friday the 13th', inside those black snap cases that for me defined my first horror encounters.

My scary movie collection is vast, with hundreds of titles and personal favourites like 'The Exorcist', 'The Evil Dead', 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Repulsion', 'Rosemarys Baby', 'The Conjuring' and 'The Shining', which I consider the best horror movie of all time.

Yes, digital streaming puts entertainment at our fingertips, but it has taken away the visceral experience of browsing titles in a video store.

Read the original:
Opinion | The horror! The horror! Spooky flicks on VHS can't be beat - Waterloo Chronicle

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero