Directed by Tim Rutherford and Cody Kennedy, The Last Video Store is a nostalgic, meta journey into the world of cult film. Blaster Video is one of the last surviving stores, weathering the format wars, streaming, and everything else the universe could throw at it. The store sees few customers and is more of a haven for cinephiles than a business. When dropping off her father’s videos takes a turn for the supernatural, Nyla (Yaayaa Adams) and manager Kevin (Kevin Martin) must unite to save themselves from the horrors of B-movie madness.
Kevin is a walking encyclopedia of film seeking to educate Nyla on the vast worlds of the VHS age. While Nyla is just trying to return her father’s movies to the store, she finds a lost VHS in her father’s collection that not even Kevin has seen. The moment the pair presses play, the VHS begins to unleash its curse, sending the two into a dangerous world of gruesome horror, cheesy sci-fi, and over-the-top action. As the story unfolds, Rutherford & Kennedy steer into their low-budget, high-attention-to-detail sensibility as our heroes battle inter-dimensional forces without ever leaving the video store.
“…the VHS begins to unleash its curse, sending the two into a dangerous world of gruesome horror, cheesy sci-fi, and over-the-top action.”
The Last Video Store is a “bottle episode” movie. Kevin and Nyla never leave the store but never need to; the monsters come straight to them. The setting works within the narrative and allows for the fun Be Kind, Rewind hijinx to feel natural to the characters. Performances and characters aren’t Oscar-worthy, but they aren’t supposed to be. Kevin Martin plays a great geeky video store clerk, primed to discuss midnight movies and dish out great recommendations. At the same time, Yaayaa Adams feeds off Martin as an excellent jaded teen facing the terrors of a morphing reality. From cast to characters, The Last Video Store is as much a love letter to modern indie cinema as it is the nostalgia trip of the late 1980s and early 90s films references.
Rutherford and Kennedy’s films within the film are stars themselves. Films like “Preystalker,” “Beaverlake Massacre IV,” and “Fury of the Viper” are perfect parodies of the video store gems of the 90s. Like Grindhouse with fake trailers, Rutherford and Kennedy have created a cinematic universe of fake films that fans will be dying to see. In addition to the mounds of fictional movies, the set is lined with indie and cult movie posters ranging from Miami Connection to Why Don’t You Play in Hell. It’s a paradise of Easter Eggs for the cult movie buff and further showcases the entire team’s commitment to the video store aesthetic.
Horror comedy is a beloved genre of the video store era. The buckets of blood, the macabre humor, and the high-concept ideas on a low-budget ethos made it a staple of local video stores throughout North America. The Last Video Store is a horror comedy featuring everything a good horror comedy should. The film leans into its imperfections, making itself worthy of the cult kings it parodies and honors. It’s ridiculous, but it’s supposed to be. The violence is cory, but it’s supposed to be. The narrative loses some steam in the final act, but the film has a built-in fan-base that will look past it and embrace its imperfections to see the creativity that went into this memory of a beloved time. Rutherford, Kennedy, Roach, and the whole team have created a fun synth-heavy look at VHS culture that is more than a pop culture journey but a film for the die-hard video store connoisseurs.
"…as much a love letter to modern indie cinema as it is the nostalgia trip of the late 1980s and early 90s films references."
