The Video Shop

[ann22]

Re: The Video Shop

ann im surprised they did not give u nightmares reading looking at them.
and ill bet this video shop u mean had a very stale smokey smell.
most vid shops i had where i live where like that.

That particular one wasn't too bad darren, it was quite big and airy with full sized windows, however ones that appeared later, the little poky ones would've been like that. I was watching the Horror Double Bills that would be on on Saturday nights (or maybe it was Fri) from a young age, the first would be an old black and white eg 'The Bat' or 'The Beast with Five Fingers...then there'd be a Hammer film like Zoltan, Hound of Dracula or Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. I was probably immune to scary images. There were always a lot of boobies on the covers to snigger at too.

[darren]

Re: The Video Shop

can u remember how many vid shops you had i your towen etc.

we had at leat 5.
huggies and bridge video are two i remember the names of.
there was another which only opened like 2 hrs per day.

another which i forget the name of was by far the smokiest u could hardly see your feet in front of you which had tons of stars u felt like u had run as five mile run when u got to the top.

That particular one wasn't too bad darren, it was quite big and airy with full sized windows, however ones that appeared later, the little poky ones would've been like that. I was watching the Horror Double Bills that would be on on Saturday nights (or maybe it was Fri) from a young age, the first would be an old black and white eg 'The Bat' or 'The Beast with Five Fingers...then there'd be a Hammer film like Zoltan, Hound of Dracula or Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. I was probably immune to scary images. There were always a lot of boobies on the covers to snigger at too.

[memoman]

Re: The Video Shop

Strange how much more i enjoyed movies during "The Video Years",Dvd and BluRay never seemed the same?
?

[staffslad]

Re: The Video Shop

The first video rental shop I joined in summer 1980 charged £20 to join, but that money was then used for your rentals at £1 per film. From 1980 to around 2010 I was a member of at least a dozen video rental shops, all within 2-3 miles of where I live and all now gone. I would rent a couple of films nearly every week during the 1980s. One shop I often rented from charged £1.50 for 2 films, whereas others had variable charges depending on how recent the film had been released. It was great to wander around a video shop, just browsing the shelves as you never knew what you might stumble upon in some neglected corner, and I would often spend a good 30-45 minutes choosing what to rent. I used to prefer the independent shops rather than the chains as they were more quirky, and the owners would get to know you and were usually happy to spend a while chatting and advising on films.

[marc]

Re: The Video Shop

Three video shops were all I ever used. The first one was Pepper Records in Hannah Street, Porth. They sold records, rented videos and rented Atari 2600 video games. In fact, I rented games before videos. A little later, a tool hire shop, also in Porth started to rent videos and games. Another shop in one of the side streets also opened up renting videos a little later. I think the going rate to join these shops to rent videos, was £2. Most films were rented out for around £1.00-£2.50 per night. Video games at Pepper Records were 60p per night. Video games at the other shop were 50p per night. All three shops have long since gone.

[Mulletino]

Re: The Video Shop

I was Karate mad as a youngster so rented out all the Martial Arts movies our local video shop had. I think it got to a point where we'd pretty much rented most films they had, it was only a small shop.
Another video store a bit further away used to rent Atari VCS games and later Sega Megadrive games. Which our local one started doing later, along with being able to rent the consoles to play them on.

Our last nearest Bricks and Mortar video store **** down not long ago, which was a sad day as they've been replaced by those kiosks, which don't stock Blu Rays which is mega annoying.

The best video store name was here in Australia, although it shut down a good few years ago, it was called "Planet of the Tapes".

[80sChav]

Re: The Video Shop

well it happens im a big collector collector of old videos.pre cert videos.
i loved getting out of school going into the vid shops and looking at the scary covers and wondering what the films where like.

quite often id keep tapes for a week films like salems lot,jaws etc.
i was member of most of my local video shops.
lots of ti,es i was never asked my age,i was just allowed to take what took my fancy.

and u could rent vids from lots of places like radio rentals or shops that where not video shops.

one of first memories was going into my local vid shop took forever to get to the top as there must have been near 100 steps up to the actual shop.

it was so smoky you could hardly see in front of you.

i remember seeing all the pre cert videos and the famous nasties and the covers scared the life out of me.
covers like cannibal ferox,cannibal holocaust etc.

and now i collect them paying over 100 quid for individual pre certs.

The bit you mention about the Video Shop being Smokey Darren - I so so agree with you!

I was in 2 Video Shop's growing up - one was fairly well known before=-hand then became a Blockbuster and the other one was situated in a Industrial Estate and I can see inside his Shop now - it looked like the Carpet had not been swept etc since 1950 and this was in the 1980s! Saying this you could argue he had a better choice as an independent but he was known as a "local try any kind of business guy" where none of his company's lasted. He also sold Chocolates etc/Can's of Pop way before Blockbuster (and the major Companies caught on to this idea) or at least in my area anyway - no other Video Shop did back then!!!!

80sChav

[Richard1978]

Re: The Video Shop

I remember one of the video shops near me was also a sweet shop, which I only used for buying sweets.

Some of my friends used to go there as they rented games & consoles, as well as buying & selling games.

By the mid 1990s it had shut down, & the building was empty for ages before anything else moved in.

[staffslad]

Re: The Video Shop

I remember when the fuss about video nasties was at its height and there was talk about the government doing something about them. There was a scramble at the shop that I frequented at the time to rent the nasties before they could be banned.

[Richard1978]

Re: The Video Shop

A few years ago I found quite a good site about video nasties, mentioning some were re-edited to be passed by the BFCC, & then released uncut when the rules were relaxed.

I'm presuming a few shops had nasties & pirates under the counter for regulars "in the know".

[staffslad]

Re: The Video Shop

I remember seeing Contamination in its pre-cert version and really enjoying it. Then it disappeared for a while after the VRA. Scanning the shelves a few years later I was surprised and delighted to see it there again and immediately rented it. I was horrified upon viewing it to discover that it had been butchered of most of its gore effects. Similarly with Zombie Flesh Eaters, though I think both are now available intact.

[darren]

Re: The Video Shop

Both are uncut on yt. Mate.

Are any of your local video shops still about i mean even the actual building itself.

One of mine is just across the road from me.

i remember seeing contamination in its pre-cert version and really enjoying it. Then it disappeared for a while after the vra. Scanning the shelves a few years later i was surprised and delighted to see it there again and immediately rented it. I was horrified upon viewing it to discover that it had been butchered of most of its gore effects. Similarly with zombie flesh eaters, though i think both are now available intact.

[DemonEyeX]

Re: The Video Shop

They are both available uncut.
What I find amusing is that these films were once supposed to be responsible for the downfall of society.
Now Contamination is a 15 certificate & Zombie Flesh Eaters has been shown uncut on TV.
How things change eh !

What pre certs have you paid £100 & over for Darren ?

[staffslad]

Re: The Video Shop

Thanks for the info on Contamination and Zombie Flesh Eaters. Darren, I think most of the video shops I used to frequent are still in existence, though none now trade as video rental shops. A few are boarded up but most are now small shops, selling various things. I really miss not having a video shop.

Demoneyex, absolutely right. It's a way of finding a scapegoat for the ills of society. A simple solution...just ban video nasties and those ills will go away...only they didn't. It is far from being a new phenomenon, though. In the mid 1800s, crime and bad behaviour was blamed on penny dreadfuls. In the 1950s, it was horror and crime comics that were lambasted for the rise in teenage crime. Video nasties got the blame in the 1980s and a little later violent video games were the thing that was resulting in vilent crime. Doubtless, this scapegoating will continue in the future.

[angliaknight]

Re: The Video Shop

Ah video nasties, back in the '80s it was my goal to own them all uncut which i did and penned some reviews for a couple of fanzines.To be honest most were just low budget grade z stinkers, BLOOD FEAST by H G Lewis made back in the '60s was the oldest title on the list, he was featured on the Jonathon Ross prog' "incredible strange film show" worth checking out on youtube.
Then there was the "cannibal" genre featuring actual animal cruelty which when viewed today is horrific to say the least, i would never watch these again, the absolute worst is CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST by Deodato which ended with the producers appearing in court defending the movie over a scene involving a girl who was rumoured to be killed for real on camera.
If anyone would like any info' on any particular title on the nasties list i may be able to help.
I don't own any of these titles now , sold them off years ago and came out quite nicely, but have fond memories of trading/swapping pirate copies to get the best uncut quality possible.