Expanding their short film of the same name, co-writers/directors Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford evoke the affection for VHS with this Evil Dead meet Clerks romp.
Kevin (Kevin Martin, also seen espousing the joys of working in a real video shop in Cult of VHS) is the custodian of Blaster Video, a geek whose social skills are as lacking as his knowledge of obscure films is vast. When Nyla (Yaayaa Adams) comes in to return some overdue tapes that her recently deceased father had taken out, a nightmarish fight for survival begins. One of the titles returned is a mysterious ‘cursed’ tape, the Videonomicon, which should never be played. Naturally, the curious Kevin pops it into his machine and presses play…
The resulting carnage sees relics of the video era blast from the cathode ray screen and into the shop, with Kevin and Nyla attempting to fend them off. It’s all a glorious ode to the schlocky titles we loved in the ‘80s, right down to the simple visual and practical effects. Think Charles Band meets early Sam Raimi, and you won’t be far off. How much you get out of this knockabout horror-comedy depends on your connection to the forgotten time that Kevin (the character and the actor) has enveloped himself in. It’s all about nostalgia, after all.
Many of us will relate to Kevin, and the enthusiasm of all involved is contagious, but The Last Video Store suffers by trying too hard. Had this come before the likes of Scream, people would be flipping out over it. As it stands, it’s a lot of fun, but we can’t help feeling that it’s all been done before. Which, we guess, could also be indicative of the plethora of titles that flooded the video shop shelves back in the golden age of rental, before the evil conglomerates got their claws into it.
THE LAST VIDEO STORE screened as part of Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Halloween.
