Rent The Last Video Store (2023)
2.9 of 5 from 66 ratings
1h 19min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
When her estranged father passes, twenty-something Nyla (Yaayaa Adams) is tasked with the thing she hates the most - cleaning up his mess. Left behind are a collection of VHS tapes, and with them, the burden of returning them to 'Blaster Video' a time capsule to an era in which cover art and a catchy movie title were king, run by Kevin (Kevin Martin), a human encyclopaedia of VHS history and a friend of her father. Amongst the returns is an unknown tape, a movie not even Kevin has heard of. Was this the last movie Nyla's father watched before he died? The mystery is too much to resist. But when Kevin and Nyla press play, they unwittingly activate a long-dormant curse and a series of classic cinematic villains are plucked from B-movie heaven and hell to be unleashed into the store itself! - Actors:
- Yaayaa Adams, Matthew Kennedy, Joshua Lenner, Kevin Martin, Leland Tilden
- Directors:
- Cody Kennedy, Tim Rutherford
- Producers:
- Laurence Gendron, Greg Jeffs
- Writers:
- Joshua Roach, Tim Rutherford
- Genres:
- Comedy, Horror
- Countries:
- Canada
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 09/12/2024
- Run Time:
- 79 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New audio commentary by film critics Matt Donato and Meagan Navarro
- The Videonomicon Unleashed, a new visual essay by film critic Heather Wixson co-author of 'In Search of Darkness'
- 'Nostalgia Fuel', a new visual essay by film critic Martyn Pedlar
- 'Twas the Night of the Tree Beast, a 2012 short by Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford
- M is for Magnetic Tape, a 2013 short film Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford
- The Last Video Store 2013, the original short from which the feature grew
- The Video Store Commercial, a 2019 short film by Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford
- Clips from the first attempted feature version
- Behind the Scenes
- 3 Previs Shorts
- Trailer
- Image Gallery
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Reviews (1) of The Last Video Store
A Step Into My Past is Very Welcome... - The Last Video Store review by The REAL Film Cricket
Apparently, parts of this film, particularly the shop, are based on The Lobby a video store owned by the star of the film Kevin Martin. With that knowledge it is easy to see what was already really obvious. The Last Video Store is a love-letter to that time when video shops popped up all over the world and renting video tapes of films was the thing to do. I can remember riding my motorbike into Romsey and perusing the shelves to get two films for the weekend for months, nay years, on end. It was a fun time.
With this in mind this story some of what happens and is mentioned will confuse viewers and mean nothing to as many, much like Nyla played with easy confidence by YaaYaa Adams. So, for a few younger viewers it will not appeal. Clearly made on a budget with a small cast and one set The Last Video Store works within in its limits with confidence and is fun and engaging.
I particularly enjoyed the fictional films referenced that were clearly pastiches of films that are still watched to this day. This was done with affection and love for those movies but also aware of their shortcomings. Much like this attitude, the film is at times, scary, gory in a cheap way and funny but with skilful balance. Referencing 90s thrillers and horror means that the CGI could look like that and this works perfectly whilst probably making the budget more manageable, which to my mind is bordering on genius.
The screenplay and acting are great, particularly the chemistry between Kevin and Nyla which at the start of the story was not meant to be there. The story obviously is silly, but in a fun way, which it is meant to be and for a cheaper made film with mainly two characters in a one location at no point during the run time could I say I was bored. I really wanted to see what happened to Kevin and Nyla.
For a nostalgic romp in my past of renting horror films from video shops this was perfect and well made. If you are a video rental veteran like me then I can see this very much being your cup of tea. Some will not like it, but I say embrace silly horror, low budgets and some decapitations and enjoy yourself.
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