Funnily enough I was recalling the thrilling experience of going to the video store (/Blockbuster) to Midi-chlorian Jnr earlier today.

The thrill of spending a portion of your Friday night selecting what you were going to watch based (to some degree) on reading the backs of dozens of video boxes and hazarding a guess as to what might be best. No mobile phone, average ratings, etc to assist you. Ok maybe sometimes it was an actual "blockbuster" you'd missed at the cinema or based on a review you'd read in THE PAPER! but often chosen purely on that judgement. Good or bad.

As I lamented over this golden era, wistfully wishing the time back and saying how thankful I was to have grown up experiencing this pre-digital era, they replied "So you liked picking and then having to watch rubbish films then?".

This is why I enjoy RedLetterMedia's Best of the Worst segments. (Especially when they play Plinketto.) They take a random assortment of VHS boxes, generally from the 80's and early 90's, and then watch a handful of them, followed by a roundtable. The VHS boxes and their artwork often promise much better than what the end product ends up being. I can't remember how many times I browsed the shelf at BB, or a similar video store, then--since all of the new movies were long gone--pulled the one that had the coolest artwork, which was usually a good indication that the enclosed tape would be abysmally bad.

The other interesting footnote to Blockbuster is their failure to buy Netflix when they had the chance!

@acontributor said:

I remember some really good video stores back in the '90s with a great selection of movies that are now hard to find. Now there are none.

There are not quite "none," contributor. There's this one in ATL.

@acontributor said:

Literally none in my town is what I meant.

That's cool. I agree with you guys that Blockbuster had a shitty selection of films, for the most part. This one near where I lived in Michigan had a few interesting things, but it was still no match for the independent video stores.

@Midi-chlorian_Count said:

Funnily enough I was recalling the thrilling experience of going to the video store (/Blockbuster) to Midi-chlorian Jnr earlier today.

The thrill of spending a portion of your Friday night selecting what you were going to watch based (to some degree) on reading the backs of dozens of video boxes and hazarding a guess as to what might be best. No mobile phone, average ratings, etc to assist you. Ok maybe sometimes it was an actual "blockbuster" you'd missed at the cinema or based on a review you'd read in THE PAPER! but often chosen purely on that judgement. Good or bad.

As I lamented over this golden era, wistfully wishing the time back and saying how thankful I was to have grown up experiencing this pre-digital era, they replied "So you liked picking and then having to watch rubbish films then?".

Yes, that feeling of taking a "chance" on a flick based on the cover was a cool feeling. I noticed the NICER the cover art was, the sh*ttier the movie was Still, movies like Phantasm, Evil Dead, Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th...the list goes on and on...rented at my local mom & pop on VHS!

I still remember my cousin coming over with this VHS tape one morning he "coin toss" rented...it was called "Dead Alive" directed by some nobody from New Zealand called Peter Jackson....it was an Unrated cut...we couldn't believe what we saw and I instantly fell in love!!!! Ah, those were the days!

Funny you said that - As I was reading your list of horror films I started thinking back to some of the horror videos me and my friends rented back in the day - The Re-Animator films were brilliant, Hellraiser, and also one from Peter Jackson - Bad Taste! We used to love that film, I must find that and give it a watch again...

But these were all pre Blockbuster hires in our town. The first place that did video rentals were we lived was the local garage!