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It’s Alive! Blockbuster Video Still Lives Among Us

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If you grew up in the 1990’s you remember begging your parents to take you to the local Blockbuster Video every Friday night to rent a movie.  On nothing more than a wing and a prayer, and you’re allowance money, you hope that one special movie is still on the shelf.

Pacing down the aisles your laminated membership card is getting sweatier and sweatier by the second in your palm.  As you pray to everything holy there is a copy of that special movie left behind the Styrofoam stuffed VHS case you reach out to the shelf, hand trembling, you push the cardboard VHS case aside and… success!  One white, blue, and yellow clamshell video case remains!

Don’t you miss those memories of stalking the horror aisle, breathing in the scent of the plastic VHS cases and paying $4.99 for a three day rental?  Oh, and don’t forget that $0.99 charge for each day you’re late!  Well lament no longer, fellow thirty-somethings!  Your dreams of walking that royal blue musty carpet is just a hop, skip, and a jump away… in Alaska!

That’s right!  There is still a Blockbuster Video alive and well in the Last Frontier of Anchorage, Alaska!  While the franchise finished closing its doors to nearly 9,000 stores worldwide in 2013, franchise owner Alan Payne decided to keep his doors open.  In fact, he owns nine Blockbuster Video stores of the twelve that remain today.


While most movie lovers get their flicks from an automated machine or download it online, video store owner Payne offers the experience many younglings born after 2000 will never get to experience.  While the movies have no doubt moved over from VHS to DVD and Blu Ray, making the “Be Kind, Rewind” stickers obsolete, you can still physically browse the aisles and read the back of the cases to obtain the synopsis.

You can also enjoy the experience of candy, popcorn, and soda impulse buys in the line queue, as well as asking to keep the poster from the wall once it was taken down.  I can’t be the only one who did this… am I?  Not to mention embracing the feeling of disappointment when you find out they don’t have a copy of the movie you anticipated watching all day long.  Yet hope can be restored as you quickly walk to the front of the store and ask the clerk if a customer has recently returned said movie, and perhaps they just haven’t had the chance to return it to its proper home on the shelf yet.

All jokes aside, the video stores in Alaska are a very important corner stone to the community.  Unbeknownst to those who don’t reside in the snowy North, access to the Internet is quite expensive.  Even though the prices seem expensive in comparison to your local Red Box, they are reasonable in comparison to the prices of gigabytes.

Another benefit is, as odd as it sounds, the video store serves as a place of gathering.  In a place that has long, cold, and dark winters, it’s nice to have a place to go and socialize with other people.  In fact, this is something we have lost as a culture when looking for videos.  I can’t tell you how many times I spoke to other horror fans in the horror aisle and received great recommendations… as well as some not so great.  I don’t know where you are Blockbuster Video patron, but I Still Know What you Did Last Summer is not a scary movie!

 

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Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

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Horror Movies

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks. 

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story. 

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did. 

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD. 

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind. 

The Crow
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Lists

The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

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The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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Morticia & Wednesday Addams Join Monster High Skullector Series

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Believe it or not, Mattel’s Monster High doll brand has an immense following with both young and not-so-young collectors. 

In that same vein, the fan base for The Addams Family is also very large. Now, the two are collaborating to create a line of collectible dolls that celebrate both worlds and what they have created is a combination of fashion dolls and goth fantasy. Forget Barbie, these ladies know who they are.

The dolls are based on Morticia and Wednesday Addams from the 2019 Addams Family animated movie. 

As with any niche collectibles these aren’t cheap they bring with them a $90 price tag, but it’s an investment as a lot of these toys become more valuable over time. 

“There goes the neighborhood. Meet the Addams Family’s ghoulishly glamorous mother-daughter duo with a Monster High twist. Inspired by the animated movie and clad in spiderweb lace and skull prints, the Morticia and Wednesday Addams Skullector doll two-pack makes for a gift that’s so macabre, it’s downright pathological.”

If you want to pre-purchase this set check out The Monster High website.

Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Footwear for Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams doll shoes
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