Visiting the VHS Swap Meet

Be kind, rewind. On Sunday, Houston, Texas's Insomnia Gallery hosted the VHS Swap Meet where 21 sellers gathered to hawk VHS tapes. Jason Champion, 37, who operates a VHS video store out of his garage, organized the swap. From The Chron:

For me, its pure nostalgia, (attendee Tayvis) Dunnahoe said. When I watch a tape, its not always about just (watching) the best-quality version of the film. A lot of times its just kind of going back to that root of how I saw it the first time I watched it.

Dunnahoe, whos known among VHS collectors as Benny Junko, is all about keeping physical media alive. He and his wife, Nancy Agin Dunnahoe, operate the online shop Video Sanctum, which specializes in horror.

In fact, just about every vendor Sunday had at least a small collection of horror films, from the rare to the classic to the campy.

Were horror fanatics, said Debra Santos, 32. She and her husband, Nasario Santos Jr., bought a bag full of videos Sunday, from 1979s Nosferatu the Vampyre to Cujo, based on the Stephen King novel.

A lot of people who are into VHS are primarily horror collectors, said seller Ryan Allison. He said he recently paid a dollar at Half Price Books for a trashy horror thriller called Slash Dance, then sold it to a collector for $150.