When I was a lad of about 6 or 7 (1985ish), my parents would take me to a place called 'The Video Station' to pick out movies; it's long gone but I still have a frisbee the owner gave me. Being a typical child, I tended to rent the same movies over and over, usual kids stuff, old Spider-Man cartoons, Speed Racer, The Last Unicorn (trauma inducing in itself). While my parents would debate what movie they were going to rent, I would slip away and sneak upstairs; yes, this video store had TWO levels. The first level was all new releases, family movies, cartoons, etc. The second level was all sci-fi and horror movies and a room with a curtain and a pink light shining from beneath. I never went in that room, but I did learn what it was years later. Anyway, I would walk through the aisles of movies I was never allowed to rent and look at the movie jackets and just scare myself silly.
The slip case for Children of the Corn scared the hell out of me, those kids with the glowing eyes in the cornfield. Same goes for Visiting Hours, all the hospital windows lit up like a skull. But there was one movie jacket that scared me the most and for the life of me, I do not know the name of the movie, so hopefully someone can help. If I remember correctly, there was a giant naked eyeball hovering in blackness and two clawed hands that held a piece of wire with blood running down the wire's length. Google searches for video jackets with giant eyes and blood result in a movie called Terror Vision which isn't the one sadly. So, anyone out there remember this relic from the VHS era? Thanks so much!
–Coffeegorilla
UNK SEZ: Thanks Cofeegorilla for this VHS-centric post! Luckily, the inside of my brain is forever lined with tape-filled shelves! I think the eyeball cover you are looking for is 1979's THE VISTOR! You can read more about that movie right over HERE!
It's amazing that I could remember everything about the movie jacket except the words The Visitor in giant white letters at the top. That is absolutely what I was trying to remember. Thanks so much, Unkle Lancifer, you're doing the lord's work, a dark nameless lord, but a lord nonetheless.
I used to do that too as a kid, sneak off and look at the horror movies I wasn't allowed to rent! I scared myself silly doing that too hehe. I sometimes dream of visiting video rental places with two levels. That would be heaven for me, nostalgia heaven <3.
I'm a strange bird…