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the mom and pop video store...I miss 'em
I was just at the local Blockbuster and was checking out the "horror" section and I was thinking about the days of the mom and pop video stores. When you could find 4 or 5 in a decent size town, when VHS ruled (and sometimes Beta-max). I remember finding titles such as "Return of Aliens: the Deadly Spawn" (and as far as I know, despite the "return" in the title, this was not a sequel), "Unmasked Part 25" (also, not a sequel), "X-tro", and something where Alice Cooper was a werewolf. Foreign movies...often bloody and more often hilariously bad were plentiful. Stores with names such as MovieMania, Visionex, and At Home Video. Bad horror movies...bad Conan knock-offs...bad comedies starring Linda Blair or John Ritter...these places had it all. A lot of movies I remember watching have never been released on DVD and probably never will and Blockbuster would never carry them if they were. There is EBAY but some movies are best watched once and nearly forgotten. Remember any films like this: share.
- While I was in college, there was a video store down the road from the college. Maybe a 10 minute walk total. Twas called "We Got Movies". They had EVERYTHING. To the point where if they didn't have the case out, you could actually ask at the desk because they might still have the tape! The teacher's loved it because they could ask us to do movies like Metropolis, Doctor Zhivago, etc. for review papers and know there was a place to get the tape. We liked that it was decently cheaper than Blockbuster and had a CRAZY back catalog. Unfortunately, either in the period between junior and senior year or during senior year, I went to the store and saw that there were signs up. Not only were they closing, but their inventory was for sale. If i'd had more money at the time I wouldve ravaged that place. I can say that for sure, because in October of last year, the Movie Gallery near my apartment (which also had a pretty damn good back catalog for a national chain), announced it was closing (due to rent concerns. It wasnt one of the ones that was closing while the overall company was losing money). From that one I bought I think like 8 different movies on separate trips.
I may use Blockbuster now, but that's only because I have no other options. I don't like their high prices, I don't like that they don't carry every movie that comes out (I bet Movie Gallery and We Got Movies wouldve carried Hair Extensions and Brutal Massacre, damnit). But most of all, I hate that damn Dimension exclusivity deal they have. That means their dimension rentals are only theirs, the discs have this stupid "Blockbuster exclusive" art (blue, has the title of the movie) which is stupid when you buy pre-viewed, the special features are all f'd up (Almost bought planet terror. Til I saw that the blockbuster version had virtually NO special features). I'd go so far as to call it a monopoly almost.
Um.....end rant. - I'm glad someone brought this up. I remember in the late 80's early 90's as a teenager I first started getting into horror films and it was a place around the corner from my apartment building, called Come In Video, and they had everything! I remember reading about films in Gorezone and Fangoria and then going and looking to see if they had those films in stock, and being kicked out of my friends house because his mom thought I was showing him snuff films! LOL!!! Great times great memories.
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