The Last Video Store

Kevin Martin plays the owner of Blaster Video, also named Kevin. The store has somehow held on into present day renting a large selection of movies on VHS tape. It has a few loyal customers but one senses it's kept open more out of love for movies than making money. Kevin has likely seen every movie in the store, some multiple times, and enjoys discussing them in-depth with customers - something you don't get as much of shopping or viewing movies online.

Our story involves a relative outsider- Nyla (Yaayaa Adams), who wanders into the store to return some tapes her dad had rented. Her dad is one of the store's loyal customers but Nyla is pretty indifferent, just hoping to drop the tapes off and leave. Kevin wastes no time enthusiastically describing the returned movies and others like them, being met with complete indifference. (I found this rather amusing as I've often tried to enthusiastically show off my vast movie collection to people only for them to give me blank stares.) She pulls a strange-looking tape out of her bag though, looking like an unused prop from an Evil Dead movie. It has red reels and a spider-web-like texture to its shell and lights up when played. She asks Kevin "You know what movie this is?" and he's immediately intrigued. He recognizes it as the "Videonomicon." Nyla is interested enough in it to watch as he plays the tape, and is greeted by odd sounds and flashing light with static- Kevin gets a good charge as he takes the tape out of the machine.

Nyla leaves at this point but the door won't open- here is where the real weirdness begins. The tape has somehow unleashed a few B-movie characters in the store which appear one by one (Kevin of course recognizes all of them). The first is a CG alien wandering through the aisles of the store. Kevin tries communicating with it, but is stabbed by one of its claws resulting in him being covered in blood for the rest of the movie. They're then greeted by characters from a slasher movie franchise called "Beaver Lake Massacre," starting with a teenage camper played by an actor obviously too old for the part, and then the killer who wears a Jason-like hockey mask but is actually versed in the sport of hockey. Kevin predicts what's going to happen as he's seen all of the movies in that franchise hundreds of times- quite humorously the camper is inevitably beheaded and Kevin examines the obviously fake severed head remarking on its poor construction.

The events tend to unfold at a rather slow pace but the movie is mercifully short at 76 minutes. Despite the low budget, a decent atmosphere is established with lighting and sound effects intensifying as the movie progresses. Kevin Martin plays an easily identifiable character as an overenthusiatic movie buff. The character of Nyla, being someone largely disinterested, likely registers more with any non-enthusiasts who may end up seeing this. As the events progress, she inevitably develops a newfound appreciation for B-movies.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-Ray
The copy we received from Arrow for review is what is known as a "check disc," in a generic package but the content should be identical to the retail release. Standard releases obviously will include a case with slipcover. The disc loads to Arrow's tried and true animated main menu and navigation system. 

The Last Video Store was obviously shot digitally, in a full-frame 1.78 ratio. The disc encoding is proper, showing no compression artifacts during the mostly-dark scenes. There is a bit of banding in one scene near the beginning, but this appears to be from the source material. There are a few other minor flaws inherent in the production visible at times, such as limitations of visual effects. Colors are strong without being overly so. There are a few creative shots such as a close-up of the inside of VCRs as tapes are loaded and played.

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix creates a great atmosphere, with ambient effects and music filling the front and rear channels. I wouldn't say the surround channels are used agressively as there are no obvious discrete voices or sound effects heard through them, but they still contribute a lot to establishing a sense of being in the situtation. Dialogue is clear and never drowned out. Brandon Boucher's synth music score is great also, although I do have to wonder why Ravel's Bolero is used recurringly.

Arrow's Blu-Ray contains their usual extensive extras:

• Audio Commentary by film critics Matt Donato & Megan Navarro has them showing their admiration for this movie without having been involved in its production. A commentary from the filmmakers would have given more practical info, but it's nice to hear the appreciation and pointing out of details one may have missed such as the many fake movie titles on the video store shelves.
• The Videonomicon Unleashed (HD, 14:10) is a "visual essay" serving as a sort of cut-down commentary, where some of the story is simply explained but the concept of nostalgia as well as "the power of cinema" are empasized.
• Nostalgia Fuel (HD, 12:51) is another "visual essay" discussing themes of the movie, this time with clips from a few other movies (such as The Purple Rose of Cairo , which had a character from a movie step off the screen and connect with a woman who has gone to see that movie several times) with similar themes that celebrate movies themselves.
•  Short Films - Earlier efforts from directors Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford which inspired their feature film are featured here: 
• 'Twas the Night of the Tree Beast   features the Kevin character closing up a different video store on Christmas Eve and being visited by an odd creature.
•  M Is For Magnetic Tape (HD, 2:46) also features Kevin, this time battling some rude customers.
• The Last Videostore (HD, 9:52) is the first attempt, shot in 2013, at what led to the feature film.
• The Video Store Commercial (HD, 4:10) starts off as a commercial for Kevin's video store, which is included in the movie. However things go wrong while shooting the commercial; the aesthetic switches between that of a low-budget TV commercial and an actual movie (including a 2.35 ratio.)
• First Attempt (HD, 4:53) is footage shot after the original short film, where they tried making it into a feature-length production. Much of this is without sound.
• Pre-Viz is a rough presentation of three scenes from the movie, done on a computer and looking like a sophisticated video game.
• Behind the Scenes (HD, 12:50) is raw footage shot during the production, including the construction of the video store set. Actors covered in green material (which could then be removed from the final movie) reveal how some of the visual effects were accomplished.
• Trailer (HD, 2:00) sells the movie with short clips and quotes from early reviews.
• Image Gallery is presented as still images that can be manually paged through, mostly stills from the movie.

As a long-time fan of home video for about as long as it has existed, The Last Video Store isn't something I would call a masterpiece, but being a rather small production it gets plenty of points for having its heart in the right place. I'm sure that obessive collectors and movie buffs will be able to identify with the main character, even if he admittedly comes off as a bit ridiculous- I probably do also to many people but I've long passed the point of caring. I've sometimes thought of what would happen if the characters from the thousands of movies in my collection somehow came to life. Arrow does its usual great job of presenting this in the best possible quality with a good amount of supplements. Worth a Look.

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