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Hundreds of VHS tapes are meticulously arranged and displayed. Garage rock tunes blare as guests scour the collections. High-spirited exchanges about “Scream” and “Halloween” fill the air. This isn’t Blockbuster in 1999. It’s a horror VHS swap in 2025.
The event took place at Slasher World, a horror-themed shop filled with life-size replicas of the likes of Freddy Krueger and Leatherface that opened in August. Apparel, action figures and accessories are for sale, but Slasher World in the Fairfax neighborhood is meant to serve as a home base for horror fans, like the so-called “tape heads” at the VHS swap.
“One of my big motives for opening [Slasher World] was, I just love the horror community so much,” says owner Kiko Bailey. “I really feel like we need a safe space — a place to meet up with like-minded people and in a nice horror vibe. I think it’s so important right now and to just bring people together.”
Slasher World opened with the return of Slashback Video, which may sound familiar to certain local horror fans. The concept began as an exhibit in 2017 at the Mystic Museum, a horror hub in Burbank. Once a temporary exhibit, which features a plethora of VHS covers, including classics like “The Shining,” “Carrie” and “Hellraiser” to the obscure like “Ghoulies,” “Dolly Dearest” and “Troll,” Slashback Video is now on permanent display at Slasher World. It has also grown to include international versions of VHS covers. Bailey, who has Japanese ancestry, says the additions underscore how horror fandom is universal.
Alex von Klemperer, a tape vendor known as Retro UFO and organizer of the swap, says the event adds a tactile element to the exhibit.
“I just thought, ‘Well, we have this exhibit where the tapes aren’t for sale; they’re for show. And we have these vendors who actually sell a lot of these tapes that are on display so that people can actually take [them] home,” he adds.
For some at the tape event, rewinding to another time is more than a hobby. It’s a way of life — one that the original Slashback Video exhibit helped enrich.
“I saw what Kiko did at Slashback the first time it opened in 2017, and it just really looked amazing and inspired me,” says Matt Landsman, a tape vendor known as Matt’s Mortuary. “I was already kind of collecting tapes, but that was the push that I needed to start collecting them more seriously.”
Today, Landsman is the film programmer at Be Kind Video, a throwback video store in Burbank, and manager of Quentin Tarantino’s Video Archives Cinema Club at the Vista.
“[Slashback Video] is like a heavenly vision of how you wish your living room could be or what it was like growing up. It’s sort of like an idealized video store, and that inspired me down a literal career path. That might not do that for everyone, but it might inspire them to write a horror movie, or it might spark some kind of nostalgic fascination,” Landsman says. “And obviously, [Bailey’s] built it out into much more than a video store. Now, it’s a community space. It’s an exhibit for horror fans.”
Tape vendors Angela Medina and Miguel Alonso of Cheap Thrill Retro have been collecting VHS tapes for five years. The thrill of coming across a hard-to-find film is fun for them, but they say, more importantly, physical media reminds them of their youth and brings them comfort.
When asked why a tape swap like this is important for the community, Alonso says, “It keeps everything alive.”
The store “feels like such a home” to Bailey. And she wants it to feel like home for those who visit too.
For the future, Bailey envisions more events, such as meet and greets, art shows and parties. One day she’d love a second location elsewhere.
“I feel like this is my life purpose,” Bailey says. “I love being that place to come hang out, make a friend, be creative, have art shows.”
Slasher World is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. It’s located at 7660 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles. Admission to Slashback Video is $13. For more information, visit the store’s website or Instagram.
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