Many horror fans reminisce about the days of old, when trips to the local video store wowed them with wide-eyed wonder. Gory cover art, hefty clamshells and aisles upon aisles of dusty boxes crammed together and stacked a mile high all left a huge impression upon our twisted, horror-loving hearts. If you worship the the rare, esoteric, out-of-print and underappreciated at the altar of VHS, then you'll want to read on.

Fellow videovores Josh and Ted run Lunchmeat -- a magazine that celebrates the best of VHS. I asked them to collaborate with me on a video box art column showcasing the badassery of their personal VHS collection. This is a pic post, so think of it like a stroll through the video store. We're going to be highlighting various goodies from different releasing companies and will be mixing things up a bit in the months to come. If there's something you want to see (a theme/topic/genre) let us know in the comments section below and if they have it, you got it!

Hit the jump and travel back in time to that favorite video store haunt.

First, a word from our sponsor ...

Welcome once again lovers of Mom and Pop shop days gone by! This installment of Lunchmeat's Video Vittles serves up a treat indeed, with one of the more prolific video releasing companies, Magnum Entertainment. Now, here's a company that had a knack for producing wildly colorful and utterly striking covers. And this gallery is just a tiny taste of Magnum's vibrant buffet of video releases. Throughout their 15-year history they managed to churn out some of the best of the best video covers to ever rest on rental stores' shelves. Titles like Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism and Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter are two more great examples of how their videos will beckon you to pick them up. Other standout titles include Vengeance, Shocking Asia II, and one of LM's favs, Mondo Magic. Keep those eyelids peeled and glued, kiddies. These titles are just waiting for you somewhere in a dusty old box -- just waiting to be raised to the sky in a thrust of glory. Yes, it will be glorious.

--Josh Schafer

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