Title: The Video Store Massacre

Author: Michael Grimala

Release date: May 15, 2026

*Huge thanks to Michael for sending me a digital copy to review!*

Where I grew up, there wasn’t a lot.

Really small town, no stores/malls, and for the most part I was my own entertainment. We had three TV channels, CBC being the staple on Saturday nights for Hockey Night in Canada. I spent a lot of time in our backyard playing sports by myself or spending time in the trees along the base of the mountain our house butted up against.

One thing we did have was a VCR. And just two houses down from us, Marilyn Scott rented VHS tapes out of her garage – think most were $1, some $2, so without fail – and several times a week – I’d grab a buck or two from my mom and walk over, in search of something to watch. Marilyn also let us run a tab, so in some cases, after we were done playing at the park across the street from her place, I’d stop in and grab something, dutifully writing down the title and how much was owed in her notebook.

Between the VHS rentals and my other neighbour lending me her Stephen King novels, this was my introduction to horror. Marilyn didn’t care what I rented. I was eight, nine, ten, and she’d look the other way if it was PG13 or Rated R. I watched everything I could get my hands on, knowing full well my younger sisters wouldn’t want to watch any of the movies.

Recently, the amazing Tony Jones messaged me about a book he thought I’d love. He raved about it, said it was an unexpected gem and that it was a throw back to the kids band together to battle an evil that dominated most of the 80s and 90s horror films. I was intrigued by it and then to my surprise, the author, Michael Grimala emailed me and offered a review copy!

What I liked: Honestly, I didn’t even read the synopsis. Tony had loosely described it and the title had me hooked. Remembering how much fun my youth was by grabbing VHS tapes purely by cover image/title, I went in decently blind.

The novel follows a new-to-town kid named Calbert, who hastily has arrived in Auburndale after his mom insisted they pack and leave their old place. He’s unsure why, and even worse, the move happened during mid-summer, so he can’t even use school to make friends. That changes though, when his mom leaves for work and he sneaks out to explore the town. His mom is very protective of him and doesn’t want him going anywhere on his own, though for why he’s unsure.

While exploring, he runs into Ray, John and Denise, three kids his age who are huge horror fans and who are planning on making their own horror movie. After getting ran out of the local movie store from an angered school principal, they end up at the abandoned Drive-In Movie Theatre, where the trio hang out and watch films in the old staff area. It’s here that Calbert learns some people believe the place is haunted, after a bunch of people were killed years prior.

It’s from there that Grimala begins to reveal the horrors. We get a lot of really fun scenes, where each of the kids need to confront and deal with their own personal fears, all the while trying to figure out the truth of what happened all those years ago. They’re desperately trying to stay alive, as the horrors begin to haunt both their waking and sleeping lives and throughout, they try to determine ‘why.’ Why now? Why them? And why is it even happening?

We start to get those answers, but in doing so, Grimala ramps up the carnage, the chaos and the volume of fake blood that’d be necessary, should this ever be adapted. Throughout though, this remained exceedingly fun, a great homage to the movies and books I read as a youth, much like many fellow readers.

The settings we experience in here also help to heighten the story. We get a school, a video store, the drive-in, a hotel and a few others I won’t mention to remain spoiler free, but each and every one worked to both entertain but also ramp up the action. I really enjoyed how the set pieces were used and utilized and added to each of the characters terror.

The ending works well, and we get a huge cinematic send-off with all of the moving components coming together and those characters who’ve survived working to overcome the last push that evil always seems to have in media such as this one.

What I didn’t like: The one thing that I noticed, that ended up dimming some of the shine of this book, was that there was very little backstory build up of the main characters. We learned very little about most of them, outside of some key details that were necessary, and because of that, the emotional connection we’d typically develop with each of them just wasn’t as significant as it could’ve been. Saying that, nobody likes to be bogged down by excessive backstory, nor seeing a book that feels well-paced, slow to a slog because an additional two hundred pages of backstory were added, so I think this might be an individual reader thing, where I wished for a bit more and others may find it was the perfect amount.

Why you should read this: ‘The Video Store Massacre’ is a fun, throwback novel harkening to the fast-paced 80s and 90s horror movies featuring a great cast of kids who you want to see overcome increasingly difficult odds. Grimala must’ve wrote this with a maniacal grin on his face, because it feels fresh and vibrant, while also paying homage to a lot of movies and books that came before it.

A debut novel that’ll stay with you long after the credits end, this is a perfect summer read for those of us who like to stay up far past our bedtimes wondering what’ll happen next. And now I wish I could walk down the street to Marilyn’s garage and rent a few tapes for the weekend!