The Last Video Store (2023) [Arrow Video] 

Now available from Arrow Video

A man working in a video store finds out that a specific VHS player brings the films put in it to life and that not only the good characters come out of the stories. 

In a time where nostalgia is worth its weight in gold, co-writers Joshua Roach and Tim Rutherford do their best to write a script with some outlandish elements, a lot of chaos, some nerdiness, and unfortunately not a lot of real nostalgia. This piece of faux-nostalgia is co-directed by Rutherford with Cody Kennedy in an attempt to make an entertaining film where the heroes and villains of old VHS tapes come out of their movies to confront those who put their films on. These include a Jason Voorhees/Casey Jones wannabe who comes to kill, a fighter who may or may not defend the store clerk and his client, and a few other characters thrown in for good measure. The writing isn’t terrible, but a lot of the nostalgia feels forced with too many lights and too much “look how clever we are” moments. The direction works with the script and clearly wanted to keep it as written, giving the film that extra gloss over of the 1980s and 1990s that makes one question if those behind the film actually lived that era or if perhaps their memories are rose-colored a bit too much. 

The cast here does as best they can with Yaayaa Adams giving the best performance of the bunch, shining and stealing a few scenes in her short time on screen. Matthew Kennedy gives a decent performance as Taggert with that extra layer of “oh no, not that guy” that many store clerks in specialized video stores had at one point or another. Joining them are a few different actors who give ok performances but nothing to really write home about.  

While the writing, direction, and acting may be uneven at best, the cinematography and lighting here are really well done. Do they fit the dingy, grungy look of a small independent video store back in the day? No. Do they look good here and help the viewer get into the film? Yes, so not all is lost. The cinematography does well at framing and using light while showing the viewer exactly what they need to see and nothing more of course.  

The Last Video Store is thankfully (or mercifully) only 1 hour and 19 minutes long as the concept worked much better as a short film and could have worked better as a series of short films. While the story mostly work, the nostalgia here feels manufactured from the faux-films of the past on video tapes to the heavy presence of Black Fawn’s movies’ posters on the wall to the score, it all feels like it wants to push the buttons, it pushes the buttons, but something is missing. The nostalgia here doesn’t come off as genuine to this reviewer who grew up in Montreal video stores, just a day’s drive from the Toronto stores that seem to have inspired the film. The basement dwelling, backroom dealing, odd video stores that always had titles you had never heard of and even some they didn’t know they had themselves. There was something magical in these video stores that the film desperately attempts to recreate and only manages this veneer of nostalgia that takes away from the story and the characters which could have been great, but more effort was put on other things. There are good aspects to the film here with solid effects work and more than decent cinematography, but something is missing, the heart of it doesn’t seem to have been put in the right elements and it hurts the film as a whole.  Also, learning this was filmed in a real, current video store may explain why it all feels like current day with attempts at nostalgia.

The new release does try to be as solid a release as this film could get with a good high-definition transfer, good quality sound, and a whole bunch of extras. The more interesting extras here are the 3 short films set in the same location (thus proving the concept works better in a shorter format), a fake commercial from 2019, the footage of a previous attempt at making this feature, and some new writing from Anton Bitel and Alexandra West in the included booklet. Overall, this film is very much for fans of the crew behind it, and it will leave most others cold or annoyed. The extras are solid, and the presentation is good, the film itself is the weakest link in this re-release.