PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

The first time I met Jonathon Carmichael, he was carrying an armful of vintage Halloween blow molds into his horror museum.

This instantly made him my new best friend.

Last February, Carmichael and Erika Fritz (my other immediate BFF!) opened Killer Video, a nonprofit organization in Akron, Ohio, dedicated to preserving the blood and guts of the VHS era.

My era.

In 1995, I was a 15-year-old video-store clerk with braces and a soft spot for monsters. I loved my job so much, I hung out at Video Hits in Oakmont on my days off. I survived the “Titanic” double-cassette release of 1998 without breaking a sweat. I even had my high school prom photos taken outside of the store (although I totally missed the opportunity to don a “Carrie” costume).

PHOTO BY ERIKA FRITZ

Killer Video, at 453 South High Street in Akron, is a portal to my analog past, an emotional mix of good times and gore. I don’t think society has rebounded from the mass extinction of video stores. Thankfully, physical media is making a comeback at horror conventions, VHS pop-ups and full-scale businesses — such as Vinegar Syndrome Pittsburgh, opening soon on the South Side.

Whether you long to peruse the aisles of your own long-shuttered neighborhood rental shop or want to experience the cultural phenomenon for the first time, Fritz and Carmichael, who are University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University graduates, respectively, will kindly help you rewind — and the drive is only about an hour and 45 minutes from Pittsburgh.

Every weekend, the couple offers hour-long, pre-booked tours of the space, which has been meticulously designed to look like a mom-and-pop shop. There’s not a reproduction or bootleg in the joint. As a bonus, Killer Video is housed inside the spooky ol’ Selle Gear Company building, making it a veritable nesting doll of nostalgia!

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

During the museum’s official launch, Troma Entertainment Inc.’s Lloyd Kaufman, creator of “The Toxic Avenger,” was on hand to sign autographs. The fledgling organization even has a line of beers produced by Ohio’s legendary Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co. Not since Akron native LeBron James was born in 1984 has anyone made a more baller debut in town than Killer Video!

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

I joyfully drank a Tracking Error Pilsner at Hoppin’ Frog’s tasting room, where Killer Video hosts a monthly horror trivia night. The eye-catching label was created by Garofalo Designworks. Artist Chris Garofalo also produces grindhouse-style horror movie screenprints for the museum.

Although you can’t rent Killer Video’s vintage video cassettes, you’re welcome to pick them up and snap selfies with the bloody box art that emotionally scarred you as a child.

That’s what I did!

There are more than 2,000 VHS tapes arranged into sections such as “Killer Insects,” “Just the Little Guys” and “Of the Dead.” As a Pittsburgher, I was happy to see George A. Romero’s work on display.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

I also swooned over a floor-to-ceiling stack of knob-and-tube TVs, original one-sheet movie posters, standees, lobby cards, screeners, press kits, horror-adjacent games and toys (including Carmichael’s original, love-worn My Pet Monster), and a screen-used Crite from the 1986 flick “Critters” (it’s actually a bowling ball wrapped in fake fur).

There’s even a six-pack of Crystal Pepsi collecting dust at the checkout counter to add a little early-’90s authenticity. Inside the gift shop, which sells locally made horror merchandise, you can open a membership that allows you to rent DVDs and Blu-rays from the museum’s genre-spanning inventory.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

My Gen X dream is to spend 24 hours alone at Killer Video, flipping through its Fangoria magazine collection while “A Nightmare on Elm Street” flickers on a grainy TV screen in the corner.

Carmichael is the horror geek of the operation, and I admire his serial killer-level attention to detail. Like many other collectors, I hoard my spooky treasures; this guy wants to share his with the world.

Of all the relics in his collection (many of which could fetch thousands of bucks on eBay), the most poignant item I saw was a T-shirt from Roadrunner Video, the Akron video store that introduced Carmichael to the genre.

“It was a pillar of my childhood,” he said, before instinctively rattling off his membership number, “1411.”

I arrived in Akron with my old Video Hits card in my back pocket — membership number 9898.

I met Carmichael’s mom, an affable antiques dealer named Susie Kelly, at horror movie trivia night and she shattered my belief that I was his long-lost twin. She snuck in two massive sheet cakes for her son’s 45th birthday. The crowd sang to Carmichael, who was visibly moved by the surprise. Despite our love of chainsaw-wielding monsters, horror fans are some of the sappiest people around.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

After a depressing year, putting my horror knowledge to the test while eating devil’s food cake at a brewery was the dose of dopamine I needed. (Well, that and the box of treats I won from Darkly Delights Bakery.)

For the record, my birthday is Dec. 17 — the same day as Ian Petrella’s, who played Randy Parker in 1983’s “A Christmas Story.” Zack Ward, best-known as the yellow-eyed bully Scut Farkus in the holiday classic (which was partially filmed in Ohio) is the guy who helped launch Killer Video.

No, seriously. If I’m lying, you can shoot my Buckeye out!

After growing up in Akron, Carmichael moved to L.A. and spent two decades working for movie studios, all the while amassing VHS tapes and vintage promotional swag. When the pandemic hit and the Hollywood machine ground to a halt, he returned to Akron, where he reconnected with Fritz, his friend from high school.

In 2023, they met Ward at Hoppin’ Frog. Brewery owners partnered with the actor on a Christmas ale called Farkus’ Winter Warmer. During their conversation, Carmichael and Ward realized they had been neighbors in Santa Monica.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Ward gave the Killer Video crew advice on securing a nonprofit status so they could get tax-deductible donations, corporate funding and grants. Carmichael and Fritz are applying for funds that will allow them to digitally catalog the collection and create QR codes for each item that museum visitors could scan for information.

The pair have mapped out a 10-year plan for Killer Video that includes quarterly celebrity appearances, film festivals, movie theater screenings, artist collaborations, more beer releases and a multi-city tour.

My hotel room in Akron overlooked the original Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. headquarters erected in 1898. To me, that stately building represented the good years I spent inside video stores.

I’m happy to see they’re finally bouncing back.