The Video shop...

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

$7 for 7 weeklies. 50c if you forgot to rewind. Haha. Always loved going in and just seeing what's new.

I remember my local blockbuster had rewind machines in a shape of a car that you could buy.

 

[Roobs321]

Yeah there was a few of those near my place the two main franchises were Blockbuster and Video Ezy but there was one little store called Civic Video.

My dad was friends with the owner and I remember him telling us that vhs tapes will get replaced with DVD’s. my mind was blown when he told us haha.

One of them was the Jolly Green Giant, and the one that survived was The Video Spot. The chains like Civic were in the regional center, but the small towns like mine just had random ones.

My dad was friends with the owner as well.

 

[worbod]

I remember hiring Plan 9 From Outer Space and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes from video shops and discovering they really were the two worst films of all time. They weren't even "So bad they're funny". I had to stop watching about two thirds of they way through and rewind them. But discovering old titles and obscure movies was a fun activity. The best store in the Bendigo region for finding obscure titles was a store named City Flicks. Brilliant store to browse through.

 

[Gasometer]

I remember trying to borrow Richard Geres Breathless or something as a 16 year old and being told that this is R Rated and you are too young ‘Soz’ I said ‘I didn’t see that’ and trotted back to the PG/M section

Still have not watched it 35 years later come to think of it

And now I look at wat teenage Gaso Jr can watch anywhere anytime and my old head spins off it’s shoulders

FWIW does all Netflix get censored via the Australian Censorship Board? The early days of Netflix was wild west..you’d just put it on and bam..can’t be unseen

 

[Fwoy]

I remember Movieland had its internal magazine and I saw an ad for Wrestlemania X. Hadn’t watched wrestling in 5 or so years, and I thought I’ll give that a crack. Didn’t know who half the wrestlers were, and saw the first ladder match (or first I’d seen) between Shawn Michaels (who was just a shitty tag teamer as far as I knew, and a guy I’d never heard of, called Razor Ramon). Blew my mind. And yes, I know it’s fake and blah blah blah.

I remember trying to borrow Richard Geres Breathless or something as a 16 year old and being told that this is R Rated and you are too young ‘Soz’ I said ‘I didn’t see that’ and trotted back to the PG/M

I hired Caligula when I was 15

So wats next to go?

I am thinking DVD/CD stores might be nervous

I used to go to JB Hifi religiously. I used to buy Blu-Ray 10 at a time off Amazon. I have shelves of CDs...all are merely wall decorations now. I don’t even have a CD player connected. Half my Blu-Rays are still shrink wrapped. Stuff we paid $30-$40 a poo can’t be given away.

 

[Fwoy]

I remember hiring Plan 9 From Outer Space and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes from video shops and discovering they really were the two worst films of all time. They weren't even "So bad they're funny". I had to stop watching about two thirds of they way through and rewind them. But discovering old titles and obscure movies was a fun activity. The best store in the Bendigo region for finding obscure titles was a store named City Flicks. Brilliant store to browse through.

Remember seeing Plan 9 at the Valhalla and throwing the obligatory plastic lollie bowls like frisbee space ships.

 

[Gasometer]

Fwoy tell me about it...piles of useless discs

Gaso Jr came home with a Jb DVD a few weeks ago to add to more of the useless stuff that Gaso Jr and ourselves don't watch and cant get rid of...$15

Why? Why? I cried

 

[Shell]

Remember the feeling as a kid as an adult or taking your kids to pick out a new release or weekly?

It was one of the best feelings that these kids today will never understand. I know this is a bit random but thought it was worth saying.

That and developing film from film and waiting over 24 hours for it to be developed.


I miss Blockbuster and to a lesser extent Video Ezy (BB was always the better of the two)

 

[Fwoy]

That and developing film from film and waiting over 24 hours for it to be developed.


I miss Blockbuster and to a lesser extent Video Ezy (BB was always the better of the two)

Blockbuster had censored movies. Nothing R-rated

 

[psychobrown]

Was just thinking about this the other day. My local VS was two levels, the basement level had arcade machines as well so going there was basically an entire afternoon. I remember being freaked out by the VHS cover of 'Legend' for so many years (Tim Curry in devil make-up), then when I finally got the guts to rent it it wasn't anywhere nearly so bad. Then I made the mistake of renting Legend of the Overfiend, it was unrated and sitting in the cartoon section with Mysterious Cities of Gold. Obviously the clerk knew nothing about it since she didn't stop me from hiring it...or maybe she did and just had a sick sense of humour. Anyway, what I saw that night could not be unseen - up until then I had thought Pirates of Darkwater had disturbing imagery.

 

[nobbyiscool]

I remember going back 15 years I'd hired a bunch of wrestling videos from a local video shop... the shop went **** up days later, and only opened up a few weeks later for a liquidation sale, so I never had to return them.

I went and bought a bunch more wrestling VHS' during the liquidation sale - knowing that they were hot property for geeks like me, I worked out a strategy with with brother when he threw up a block at one end of the aisle while I was bowling campaigners over from the other end...

Then, in the years before streaming services, you could ebay these videos for anywhere between 20 and 50 bucks. I "hired" 10 videos for 10 bucks, I bought about 10 more for 20 bucks, and I reckon I made at least $500 on ebay from selling them (after, of course, I'd hooked up 2 VCRs to record copies for myself... I even still have a handful of them despite not having a VCR. Evidence that I'm a shocking hoarder!)

 

[Shell]

I can still remember the first ever video my family rented- it was not even our own video recorder- it was our Yia yias who was in Greece, so we borrowed it.

Rented "The Big Steal" and watched it like 9 times before returning it

Lol too remember a fine for not rewinding the tape.
Love the $10 deal for 5 weeklys, had some great titles going back to the 80s.

 

[Crashy]

I remember trying to sneak a peak at the adult video covers

 

[Shell]

I still visited them weekly as an adult in the early 2010s, a lot of my cinephile consolidation was thanks to the local video stores, and when they finally started to close I stalked them greedily for those closing down sales. The one or two I frequented over several years I might as well have worked at, as when you overheard a request you could direct them to the physical location instantaneously.

The TV series rentals were fairly steep though (and unreliable, often scratched heavily). Even towards the end it was like $15 for a season, weekly return.

Some of them like Blockbuster had a really deep selection, a lot of which is unlikely to appear on various online services. Netflix by comparison is pathetic, and iTunes is fairly limited. The Australian/Foreign/Classics sections were strong.

As a kid in the 90s before DVD, I could easily spend an hour or two just perusing the shelves.

I still borrow DVDs from the library. And better still, theyre free.

 

[Roobs321]

I still borrow DVDs from the library. And better still, theyre free.

Me too, I've been doing it heavily for years - ACT, QLD, various ones in NSW. Some regional libraries have a better selection than others though. Typically a longer rental period of 3-4 weeks as well, even 8 weeks if successfully renewed.

 

[Shell]

Me too, I've been doing it heavily for years - ACT, QLD, various ones in NSW. Some regional libraries have a better selection than others though. Typically a longer rental period of 3-4 weeks as well, even 8 weeks if successfully renewed.

Yup i got some yesterday. Titles include: Everest, Detroit (hanging out to see that missed it at the movies), Carol, Blue Jasmine, The Dressmaker (not that i really love that but i just wanna see Liam Hemsworth) and It Only Comes at night and Fences.

 

[GROTTO]

I remember trying to sneak a peak at the adult video covers

lol.

Back in the day before pornhub.

 

[Shell]

Yeah i recall my BB having a pr0n section- not a back room or nothing, just a couple of rows, at the bottom near the floor and it was not marked or anything unlike "DRAMA" or "THRILLER"

 

[GROTTO]

Yeah i recall my BB having a pr0n section- not a back room or nothing, just a couple of rows, at the bottom near the floor and it was not marked or anything unlike "DRAMA" or "THRILLER"

As a kid I would wait till the coast was clear to pretend I got lost in the wrong aisle lol.

 

[Fwoy]

My parents bought a betamax and we didn’t get vhs for about 5 or so years after that. Wore out my copies of ET and The Last Starfighter...and the video store copies of Star Wars trilogy...

 

[Shell]

Hahaha BETA. Nah we bought out first VCR, VHS would have been around 1993 iirc.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

I remember Movieland had its internal magazine and I saw an ad for Wrestlemania X. Hadn’t watched wrestling in 5 or so years, and I thought I’ll give that a crack. Didn’t know who half the wrestlers were, and saw the first ladder match (or first I’d seen) between Shawn Michaels (who was just a shitty tag teamer as far as I knew, and a guy I’d never heard of, called Razor Ramon). Blew my mind. And yes, I know it’s fake and blah blah blah.

I remember going back 15 years I'd hired a bunch of wrestling videos from a local video shop... the shop went **** up days later, and only opened up a few weeks later for a liquidation sale, so I never had to return them.

I went and bought a bunch more wrestling VHS' during the liquidation sale - knowing that they were hot property for geeks like me, I worked out a strategy with with brother when he threw up a block at one end of the aisle while I was bowling campaigners over from the other end...

Then, in the years before streaming services, you could ebay these videos for anywhere between 20 and 50 bucks. I "hired" 10 videos for 10 bucks, I bought about 10 more for 20 bucks, and I reckon I made at least $500 on ebay from selling them (after, of course, I'd hooked up 2 VCRs to record copies for myself... I even still have a handful of them despite not having a VCR. Evidence that I'm a shocking hoarder!)

St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House was the first WWF pay-per-view I rented after seeing episodes of WWF Superstars (a recap show at the time) on Channel 10 which for some reason was months behind* but made things time well for renting. It seemed like the coolest thing ever to 11/12-year old me. And I think it really was cool in the specific context of late 90s culture. This was back when sitcoms other than The Simpsons were still dominated by laugh tracks and The Sopranos was only weeks old. Rented a whole bunch of them over the coming years and even the occasional WCW PPV.

*everything on TV was like that as decent speed internet was yet to disrupt the old ways

 

[Fwoy]

As a kid I would wait till the coast was clear to pretend I got lost in the wrong aisle lol.

Walk in aisle...see your dad...make eye contact...both walk away...never speak of it again...

 

[Gasometer]

The first store I can remember was around 1982 up in Fawkner; as we lived in the country we would borrow it and then drive home watch it and return it the next day. We had to make sure we were coming back to Melbourne the next day though!

My parents had no idea about the ratings system and can still remember being horrified at the river scene in the Deer Hunter as a 14 year old

 

[Ry009]

St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House was the first WWF pay-per-view I rented after seeing episodes of WWF Superstars (a recap show at the time) on Channel 10 which for some reason was months behind* but made things time well for renting. It seemed like the coolest thing ever to 11/12-year old me. And I think it really was cool in the specific context of late 90s culture. This was back when sitcoms other than The Simpsons were still dominated by laugh tracks and The Sopranos was only weeks old. Rented a whole bunch of them over the coming years and even the occasional WCW PPV.

*everything on TV was like that as decent speed internet was yet to disrupt the old ways

Pretty much exactly the same, my local would sometimes give away these cards that would give you 20 free weeklies.

Reckon I went through just about every single 'In Your House' PPV they used to have back in the day. Pretty much entirely responsible for my wrestling knowledge.

Like you they showed a trimmed down version of Survivor Series 1998 and then Superstars which is what got me into it. Late 80's to 90's certainly was the golden era of pro wrestling.