HUGHES WEEPS AT THE SAD DEMISE OF “THE VIDEO SHOP!”
There seems to be a kind of “who cares!” attitude to the new generation of film lovers. The easy access of streaming films for fans has brought entertainment at home to whole new level. With Netflix, Lovefilm and countless others now offering unlimited access to numerous film and TV Titles and of course with illegal sites offering a chance to watch brand new cinema releases without ever leaving your home, fans these days have never been spoilt!
So its curious to see the different attitude when it comes to the likes of “Blockbusters!” who recently announced administration and whose local store only yards from me, closed its doors for the final time this week. Whilst I walked around the place, a tradition that I did every Monday morning for many years, sadness filled my heart. Just looking at the empty shelves that were once full of DVD’s and before then “VHS” tapes, made me sigh at the end of an era.
You see people of my age remember the days when walking into a video shop just filled you with excitement. Seeing the large cardboard cut outs of the newest films was a total and utter joy. I never forget being a young lad seeing the figure of Freddy Kruger staring back at me, the iconic poster of Elm Street 2 and that yellow school bus. Even walking into the store and seeing that made me love my horror more, especially when I then begged the poor person behind the counter to give me a free film poster which many times they did and I ran home to hang the posters on my bedroom wall.
The Famous Poster that brings back so many memories for me!
There was something magical about the Video Shop. A place where on a weekend your parents would take you and you would just be amazed at the many titles staring back at you. All the Police Academy’s, all the Rocky films, numerous horror films that you never heard of, especially the many slasher films that were crying out for you to watch. For a young lad growing up it was a trip that I so looked forward too and it was a tradition that I kept for many years.
Every Monday morning at 10 o clock, I would run to my local store and just love to see the new titles on display. Yes you had the big hitting titles but it was the ones that you never heard of that caught my eye. Many titles I have seen a cover and think “What is that?” and picked it up. Just having it in my hand enticed me more and soon I was renting it out and running home just to see if it was any good. Many films like Session 9, The Torment, MaleVolence have been watched this way. If it wasn’t for the Video shop, then these unknown masterpieces of horror would nave have been watched and I owe so much to the place that seems no longer to be any use to the modern film lover. Just think HorrorCultFilms was born because the six of us saw these films and shared our love and wanted others to know about them, even we at HCF got a debt of gratitude to the “VIDEO SHOP!” around the corner!
Many might argue that I would have still watched these films by signing up to the these internet providers and they do have a point. But for me personally there is something cold about renting online. I find myself scanning many titles when I need to add to my list, its like watching TV at times. You flick over from channel to channel as you think there is nothing to watch and when I am trying to rent I do exactly the same. I just look and look and look and nothing really catches my eye. Its not the same vibe as actually walking into the store and seeing the same titles staring back at you. Also there is no banter when in comes to renting online. Many times I have been in the store and told people there how good the film was, or maybe a real good person working behind the counter would recommend a film that I hadn’t seen or heard of. Word of Mouth is so strong at times.
The new generation of film lovers probably wont shed a tear when in comes to the closure of BLOCKBUSTERS! and many other stores of that nature. I personally live in one of the biggest towns in Britain and its a sad statistic that there is not film rental place left anywhere. Those who haven’t got the internet and lets be honest there are still many who don’t are now going to have buy the films or even worse, maybe ask someone to get them a “copy!” Which we all know what that means.
You can blame the Internet and places like BLOCKBUSTERS for not moving with the times and I agree with that, but the closure of another huge brand is not good news for the film industry. The massive problem of online illegal download will only increase now thanks to the disappearance of such rental places, simply because if you can’t rent anymore, then the next logical step is to “borrow” off someone who has a film.
Illegal downloads is seriously hurting the film world, causing massive losses and stopping small films from being made. For an upcoming film director who say has put all his money into this film, any hopes of profit and a step up in the ladder are dashed if fans don’t pay to see it and just download. Its not the box office films that are getting hurt but the small titles, where so much love and hard work have gone into the process, only too see the film get downloaded, copied and passed around without a care in the world.
The sad truth in this day an age, everyone knows someone who downloads! I would say probably 99% of people who love their films have watched an illegal copy and its a problem that will never go away. Its just the effects are now beginning to bite really hard!
The sad demise of HMV and BLOCKBUSTERS is a clear indicator that we are now in a new phase of watching films You don’t have to leave your home anymore because you are just a click of a button away from seeing all the newest releases. Its great for many, there are some who only know this way, but for me, well I am just sad that another tradition has ended forever.
No more Monday morning trips, no longer getting excited to see what has come out, no more feeling disappointed because the film you wanted is not there. All I have left is memories of a place that made me become the film fan I am. I need to thank the “local Video Shop!” and I guess many others do as well. Its easy to think “who cares!” but many out there do and as the store closed its doors for the final time, I take with me the memories of those cardboard cut outs and the joys of excitement I had when I was a child……
I thank you………….
I remember going into Blockies on a Friday night with my father when I was around 8 years old, maybe even younger than that. I used to love lurking in the horror section, checking out any VHS’ that grabbed my attention with their artwork. As you said, it was exciting and magical to find films and know nothing about them, only summarise from the front art and blurb on the back of the box. Once you picked, you’d then take it home and look forward to seeing what the heck it is about.
You simply cannot do this with digital, and DVDs do not have the same effect, in my opinion. However, I much prefer to have a physical copy of a film, than to stream it or by digital copy. You want to know that you have paid for something with your hard earned cash and have something to show for it.
For me, Cash Generator has now replaced my old Blockies routine, where gems can crop up at any minute and be affordable. Even the local library now rents DVDs and Blu-Rays, so at least we have an outlet for rentals, now that Blockies has gone, in our town.
I worked in Global Video (Scotland’s rival to bloccies) for around 4 years through uni. I loved a Monday waiting for all the new releases to come in and watching them straight out of the wrapper. Perhaps the most excited I got was when Peter Jackson’s Braindead (Dead Alive) was released. Such an awesome horror film. I must have almost watched everything in that store including the Danielle Steele stuff. What a freak!
Great post, Hughesy.
Great article Hughes, and a sad one too. As you know I worked for Blockbuster for ten years, and even though I was sad to leave a few years ago, it seems it was the right decision. I have many fond memories of working there, and the fact that the video shop is becoming a distant memory is very sad indeed.
Before working for ‘Blockies’, I used to run a small video shop with my Dad, and back then in our small area we had three or four like-wise video shops to compete with, and I used to love visiting each one. I had a great time working in my video shop, each wednesday the Changeover rep would delivery a big pile of timecodes, films I had never heard of, and I watched EVERYTHING, usually with no prior knowledge, not like todays saturated market of information.
Before running the video shop, I used to love going to rent films with my parents, hiding out in the horror section, and trying desperately to slip a horror film inbetween the other three video’s we had picked up. It never worked, but that was the fun of it!
Blockbuster will be sorely missed
I probably shouldn’t say this…..but it’s in the past….but I used to be a naughty boy when I was young. We had two video players so I used to copy anything we hired out that was good, except that every now and again I’d come across a video when they’d put a copy protection thing on it and the copy would come out constantly going from light to dark to light again, or black and white. Sods!!!!!
I used to do that mate, and I had a special device that got rid of that copyright protection. As you say though, its in the past,, long gone now. I don’t even have a VHS cop of anything left anymore!