This past Saturday, The Mystic Museum in Burbank held its opening reception for its latest exhibit “Slashback Video: The Beginning,” the third iteration of the all-horror VHS art installation Slashback Video.
For those unfamiliar with the exhibit, Slashback Video started in 2017 as a small art installation in the back of The Mystic Museum that made you feel like you had been transported back to the video stores of old. Being contained in a smaller portion of the museum you felt like you were in a small mom and pop video store that only rented horror. Shelves were lined with hundreds of original VHS tapes from the heyday of the medium and as a bonus, local artists also contributed their own unique covers as a tribute to their favorite ’80s horror.
In 2018 Slashback Video returned with “Revenge Of Slashback Video,” which gave the installation a bigger footprint taking over the entire back half of The Mystic Museum and took the exhibit into the ’90s. The exhibit expanded to include not only classic horror VHS tapes, but also horror video games, and horror LaserDiscs. The contributed artwork also expanded beyond just original VHS artwork creations and included a handful of original art pieces inspired by classic ’80s horror like Halloween, Evil Dead, Hellraiser, and more.
For its latest take, “Slashback Video: The Beginning,” The Mystic Museum adds a narrative to the exhibit and built into it more interactive elements and photo ops, which have been a staple of their recent exhibits like their The Evil Dead immersive experience, and occult exhibit.
While the experience is still built around the idea that you’re walking through a video store, the creative minds behind the exhibit decided to build some lore around it. When you enter the exhibit you now enter through an employee break area where you have the opportunity not only for some new photo ops, but to watch an employee orientation video. The video starts off teaching you about basic video store responsibility and etiquette but then cuts to footage of a store employee who recorded over the video to tell you about a disappearance that she believes the store’s owner has something to do with.
When you leave the break room you enter the heart of the exhibit where again you can browse classic VHS tapes, LaserDiscs, and artwork from local artists inspired by ’80s horror. But at the back of the exhibit, next to a new A Nightmare On Elm Street photo op, there is a secret room where the story of what’s really going on at Slashback Video begins to unfold.
When you enter the tiny room a red phone rings, you pick it up and the person on the other end tells you if you want to learn more you’ll need to hang up and dial 1-800-666. You hang up, dial the number, and…well I don’t want to spoil the fun. But when you do, the secrets of Slashback are revealed.
While each new take on Slashback Video becomes less about that immersive video store experience it was at the beginning, I appreciate that they are always looking for ways to make the exhibit feel fresh while keeping the spirit of the initial exhibit alive.
My wife and I spoke with Ryan Turek, one of the creative minds behind the exhibit, on opening night and he said their plans were actually even more ambitious than what was executed and said that time and budget just didn’t allow for it. Regardless, the team found a way to keep it fresh and it has me excited to see what they have in store for Slashback Video in the future. It only seems fitting that the exhibit keeps coming back, just like the killers in the horror films it honors.
“Slashback Video: The Beginning” opened to record crowds on Saturday night and will be on display through June during The Mystic Museum’s regular operating hours. For more info and for store hours visit The Mystic Museum’s website.
