by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden
In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford’s Canadian meta-horror The Last Video Store, part of Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Halloween.
Synopsis
A young woman (Yaayaa Adams) who is unknowingly in possession of a legendary "cursed tape" takes a collection of old video tapes to a video store. She and the store owner (real-life video store owner Kevin Martin) reawaken its curse, which leads to the release of a raft of cinematic villains.
The Good
Joseph: We often hear of “movies by movie fans for movie fans.” The Last Video Store may be the ultimate example of that, at least when it comes to the heyday of video rental stores and 1980s and 1990s b-movies, as well as those direct-to-video efforts well below “b.” Some intriguing ideas are presented here, though not necessarily the most original: a CGI extraterrestrial life form leaves the television screen to enter the real world, a character with knowledge about a slasher franchise tries to use trivia to outwit the killer, and what would happen if such a killer was challenged by an action hero? Directors Rutherford — who co-wrote the screenplay with Joshua Roach — and Kennedy went all in following their shared passionate concept with a bold approach and an obvious love for the types of films on display.
Mike: When I read the synopsis for The Last Video Store I knew that I had to check it out. Old video store? Yes. B-movie villains? Yes! Two realities interacting with one another? YES!! On paper this sounded perfect. In practice? Not as successful as I had hoped for, but still decent and worth a watch.
While there are some decent practical effects when possible, there’s also a bunch of CGI which is actually a couple of steps above the quality that one would expect in an indie movie. In fact, Kennedy and Rutherford use the budget to compliment the script (and vice versa) with the movies-within-the-movie being low budget video-store era output so the lack of budget for FX makes sense.
The greatest part about this is the absolute lengths that are gone to recreate some of the things from the era. Clips from the alt. universe versions of movies, box art, distributor promo items - the entire package is very impressive and the love that the filmmakers have for the home video era is crazily apparent. If there were a video store like this near where I lived they’d have an immediate and loyal customer right here.
The Bad
Joseph: Kennedy and Rutheford take a rather unrestrained approach to their meta valentine to genre-film fare of that era, which to me bordered on self-indulgent at times. Kennedy also edited, and he and Rutheford obviously followed their vision, but after 9 minutes into the film, I was still waiting for something resembling plot to kick in. Once it does, there are a lot of explanations about deep-cut cult film knowledge — of films that never existed but are obviously based on actual properties, which are sometimes even name-checked for good measure — and visuals that reside somewhere between the surreal and the psychedelic that go on for some time, and I’m not quite sure why.
Mike: It’s hard to pinpoint just what it is about The Last Video Store that leaves - not a foul, but maybe less-than-pleasant - taste in my mouth. It’s like you hoped for a Dr Pepper, would settle for (and sort of expected) a Mr. Pibb, but ended up getting a store brand Dr. Thunder or Mr. Popper or something like that. Not really bad, just not that good. Maybe it’s the acting which is a bit uneven, or the almost TOO in your face love of the era that makes the film a bit… self-indulgent seems like too strong a word… I guess it comes across as maybe just suffering from a lack of an impartial story editor. Perhaps Tim Rutherford and co-writer Joshua Roach couldn’t bring themselves to cut anything because nothing seemed like it SHOULD be cut.
The Verdict
Joseph: Quite simply, The Last Video Store is a very niche feature that will succeed the most with viewers old enough to have spent a good deal of time in video rental stores and watching not only beloved, well-made genre movies but also their inferior knock-offs, and who harbor the strongest of nostalgic feelings for that era.
Mike: As much as I wanted to love this, and despite having fun watching it, I am having a hard time deciding whether or not I LIKED The Last Video Store or not. It’s got a lot working for it like an interesting script, some fun effects (both practical and trippy CGI ones), and an incredible attention to detail and dedication to recreating the look and feel of the 90s video store - but it also feels like nobody could agree on specific edits to the film and thus the pacing and story both suffer a bit.
If you’re looking for a bit of nostalgic fun, this should fit the bill quite well. If your idea of the perfect film was The Last Action Hero set in a video store, this should fit the bill perfectly.
The Last Video Store
Directed By: Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford
Written By: Joshua Roach and Tim Rutherford
Starring: Yaayaa Adams, Matthew Kennedy, Josh Lenner
Run Time: 1h 30m
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2023
Unfortunately there is no trailer available at the time of our review
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