Entertainment
Raunchy, Unrated Thriller Is A Perfect 80s Throwback
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
Remember the era of the VCR? The Last Video Store remembers it fondly in this horror movie tribute to the age of the video tape.
Nyla (Yaayaa Adams) walks into Blaster Video to return some VHS tapes her father rented and to inquire about a mysterious tape that was in his collection. Kevin (Kevin Martin), the store owner, is a huge movie buff and immediately sits down to view the strange video. The cassette opens a portal to the movie world that traps Nila and Kevin in the store as characters from their videos come to life. Things go even further off the rails when they summon an action hero from his worst movie to come save the day.
So Self-Aware It Hurts
If this sounds like The Last Action Hero, that’s entirely fair. The “Videonomicon” stands in for the Golden Ticket from the self-referential Schwarzenegger spoof, although the movies come to Nila and Kevin rather than them going inside. But The Last Video Store is more than just an action-movie knock-off: it is a loving tribute to the era of movie rentals, Blockbuster Video, and the camaraderie that renting a video can bring.
Blockbuster and its localized brethren were truly magical places, especially for a teenage movie fan with a rental card, which was almost as powerful as having a driver’s license back in the 80s and 90s. This movie recalls that majesty while simultaneously lamenting its decline.
Embrace The Throwback Format
From the very beginning, the movie is given the appearance of being watched on from a video tape on a VCR, zooming in on the television as a Star Wars-style scroll screen explains the “Format Wars,” which heralded the demise of the video store. Blaster Video, illustrated throughout the actual movie through clever throwback commercials, is a holdout from this bygone era. Kevin himself is a throwback, a nerdy, weird-looking, and almost sinister guide through the realm of cinema, reminding us constantly of the video store mantra, “Be Kind, Please Rewind.”
Kevin is also the representative of the movie logic that overtakes the store after they watch the evil tape. It is obvious that it doesn’t take much to convince Kevin to view it, and as the mayhem unfolds, he is there to offer important advice, like “Don’t worry, it can’t hurt us. It’s just CGI,” and “The only thing that matters is the power of friendship!” His guidance is also illustrated imaginatively through exposition set to the classical music piece “Bolero” and presented as trailers from his Blaster Video commercials. Given the attention placed on soundtrack music in the movie, the regal song highlights that Kevin is King here.
Meta Humor That Would Make Scream Proud
Meanwhile, the entrance of a Jason knock-off named Castor is heralded when Nila starts hearing eerie music, which a frightened Kevin explains, “It’s his theme… he’s coming.” Fellow movie character Viper (Josh Lenner), a handsome tanktop-clad martial artist action hero, also has not only his own theme song, but an entire montage dedicated to 80s action hero training sequences from movies featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme or the Lethal Weapon duo.
Attention to detail is so focused that even the movies themselves are hilariously named, familiar titles like Bed of the Dead, Gremloids, Beaver Lake Massacre, and Fury of the Viper. Whoever sat down and made all the spoof cassette tapes and movie posters that make the set had a lot of time on their hands, a wicked sense of humor, and a deep admiration for the source material. The closing credits roll over a TV screen as it displays its attached VCR taking Kevin’s advice and rewinding the movie we just watched.
The movie is aware of itself at every moment, folding in upon itself with layer after layer of references, jokes, and themes. And a doorknob steals the show as such a major influence on events that it’s practically a character.
Rewind Or Pay The Price!
The Last Video Store probably had a very low budget (that information has not been publicly disclosed), but the special effects show they applied that budget well. Yes, they’re cheesy, but it’s in a deliberately-80s style that calls back classic fantasy and sci fi from the era, like Beastmaster or the 1984 version of Dune. Even the film quality of the movie is stylized to resemble that of a video cassette tape, complete with tracking (remember having to “track” your movies to get them to play clearly? The Last Video Store does!).
It also doesn’t take too long to pack a punch: clocking in at just 78 minutes, the movie doesn’t waste any time making its point, keeping its flow strong as it weaves the various movies together into a genre-crossing chaos. A lot manages to happen in so short a running time, leaving viewers with time to say, “oh yeah!” in familiarity but not much more before sweeping us away into the next scene and the next adventure. The movie embraces its logic, and we embrace the movie logic right alongside because by the time there is time to think about its themes, the movie is over and you’re thinking about it for days instead.
The Last Video Store is streaming on Shudder and is its #3-rated movie on th platform as of this writing. There is a lot to see in this short film, so watch it a few times to make sure you get it all!