Michael Therkelsen claims on Horror Society that “VHS is kind of making a comeback“:

“Perhaps solely due to the horror genre’s loyalty to this form of home media, independent film-makers are releasing their flicks on VHS with limited and special editions, or as perks on fundraising campaigns.”

He then links to a fascinating documentary called The King of Catalog:

It’s a documentary about the career of Jeff Baker who worked as a leading figure in the home entertainment business from the 1970s until 2015. His career, in many ways, mirrors the arc of home video, from Betamax to VHS to DVD, from the rise of Blockbuster to its fall, and from boxed sets to streaming.

I couldn’t really corroborate Therkelsen’s claim but did find Kate Hagen‘s Search for the Last Great Video Store.

This is a long but fascinating read about access to films, technology, video stores and unapologetic nostalgia. For instance, did you know the world’s largest video store has over 130 thousand titles but Netflix has less than four thousand? For comparison, the average Blockbuster had around 10,000 movies.

After outlining some of the issues with digitizing classic movies, Kate tours some great video stores, maps them on the world and concludes:

“As technology continues isolating us and pushing more of our daily interactions into the digital space, I have to believe there’s going to be a bounce-back moment for video stores just as there’s been for independent booksellers and record stores.”

My take: Victoria is lucky to have Pic-a-Flic Video! Beyond all the nostalgia here, I learned that Netflix’s DVD rental service might just make more money than its streaming service!