Attack of the Giant Horror Film Fetish: Entrepreneur Lives to Sell the Tale

Donnie Gillespie was a typical 1970s teenager who camped out at the drive-in to watch campy B-movie horror films and eagerly awaited weekends when he could catch the golden age of horror in the 1930s.

But unlike most of his peers who forgot the movies and moved on to careers and office jobs, Gillespie turned his passion for society’s forgotten films into his life’s work.

Gillespie’s store, Diabolik, caters to baby boomers looking for dusty old fright films and to a new generation of horror and cult movie fans. The store has more than 4,000 movies, most not found in a typical neighborhood video store.

The store has been busy lately as many boomers’ interest in the horror films of their youth has been reawakened by the success of this summer’s independent sleeper, “The Blair Witch Project.”

“This whole thing is just a labor of love,” said Gillespie, 42, who sports long black hair and a well-trimmed goatee and usually wears black clothes. “How many other jobs are there where you can spend your day watching horror and science fiction movies?”

Diabolik has all the trappings of a horror movie set--a skeleton in a wheelchair sits in front of the window, posters from classic Universal Pictures horror films line the walls, and a glass display case features old autopsy tools.

Available for rental are horror staples such as “The Bride of Frankenstein,” little-known horror films by Italian director Umberto Lenzi and 1950s B-films like “Attack of the Crab Monsters” and “The Giant Gila Monster.” Many films in the store are virtually impossible to find elsewhere, available only from collectors who copied the movies from 16-millimeter films.

“These films give you the same thrill as a roller coaster,” Gillespie said. “People like being scared but knowing nothing is going to happen to them.”

Gillespie also rents rare crime documentaries, sells horror and science fiction soundtracks and collects and sells old horror magazines and books.

The shop is a gathering place for film connoisseurs who often exchange movie recommendations or talk about film.

“One of the things that strikes me about the store is the comprehensiveness and intelligence of the selection,” said Jim Hurley, a film scholar and English professor at the University of Richmond. “He’s paid real attention to films that have developed powerful underground reputations and films as a rule that are very difficult to find.”

The store has attracted customers from all over the country and overseas because horror fans simply can’t find films they want to rent elsewhere. Gillespie said customers routinely drive from out-of-state to rent films for a week and then mail them back when they are finished.

Gillespie also does mail order sales and will search for rare and obscure films. If he finds one, he charges a customer based on how rare the picture is and how difficult it was to track down.

Gillespie’s passion for horror and fantasy started in his childhood in Virginia. He would watch TV shows including “Chiller Theater” and “The Outer Limits” and old pictures from the 1930s like “Dracula.”

Gillespie later found a box in the attic filled with his father’s horror comics like “Tales From the Crypt” and “Vault of Horror.” He was soon reading fantasy authors including Conan creator Robert E. Howard and searching for movies he hadn’t seen.

Gillespie collected films for years while working jobs such as record store manager and disc jockey. He started assembling his video collection after purchasing his first videocassette recorder in the early 1980s.

While living in Los Angeles, Gillespie took his gigantic personal collection and opened the Goblin Market in 1995. He returned to Virginia last year after a death in the family and opened his new store last December.

Gillespie said there are still gaps in his collection. On the top of his wanted list is the lost Lon Chaney Sr. film “London After Midnight,” the Holy Grail to horror film collectors.

Although horror and cult film devotees are naturally drawn to Diabolik, Hurley said the shop is also a strong draw to boomers who grew up with horror films produced before Hollywood marketing strategies and computer generated special effects.