Video Store Podcast

Summer is here and we’re staying indoors instead of sweating it out. We’re keeping it cool in the A/C and with some chilling horror anthology TV to help us get through the long summer days. Here are 4 horror anthology series I’ve picked for our staff picks will this week.
Tales from the Darkside (1983)
What could’ve been Creepshow: The Series became Tales from the Darkside. Created by Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero and horror producer Richard P. Rubinstein, Tales from the Darkside is a half-hour horror anthology show filled with practical effects, and crazy good folks in the director’s chair and the writer’s room. I recommend the pilot episode, “Trick or Treat” starring Barnard Hughes, if you want a good flavor for this series.
Freddy’s Nightmares (1988)
Spun off from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Freddy’s Nightmares gave many parents nightmares with its dark, disturbing, violent, and scary content being aired in syndication on broadcast TV where just anyone could watch it! Robert Englund reprises his role as Freddy Krueger and opens and closes each episode with some framing narration. The episode I think you should check out to get a taste for the show is “Killer Instinct,” which stars the great Lori Petty. It’s eerie, creepy, and frankly a bit disturbing. If you’re down for a good scare or just a big A Nightmare on Elm Street fan, Freddy’s Nightmares is well worth your time.
The Outer Limits (1995)
The 1995 The Outer Limits revival is an incredible cavalcade of acclaimed science fiction and horror writers, directors, and actors. Lasting for 152 episodes and seven seasons, The Outer Limits (1995) far outstripped its predecessor, and offers viewers a fascinating and often poignant exploration of human topics through the lens of science fiction horror. There are so many episodes I could point to for great examples from this series, but one of my favorites is the season 4 episode, “Glyphic.” Starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Brad Swaile, written by Naren Shankar, and directed by the late, great Catherine O’Hara, this is a fascinating episode that deals with an unexplainable disease with an out-of-this-world solution.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)
Finally, The New Scooby-Doo Movies from 1972 rounds out my selections for the staff picks wall this week. No, it’s not exactly what comes to mind when you think of anthology horror TV, but hear me out, I think it is. It follows in the anthology horror TV format of new guest stars every week, a new monster or ghost to figure out, a bit of mystery to uncover, but it’s wrapped in an animated comedy package. It’s anthology horror that’s fun for everyone, be they adults, kids, or teens. And it also serves as a good chaser if you need something more lighthearted after the first three recommendations. While I literally enjoy every episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, I think “The Loch Ness Mess” featuring The Harlem Globetrotters is one of the more interesting, if not strange episodes of the series.
Thanks for joining us at the Video Store Podcast for some more summer spookies! If you like these, check out my episode last year for four more Summer Spookies, perfect for this time of year.
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Welcome to the Video Store Podcast.
Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday at the Video Store
The red, white, and blue decorations are up at the Video Store as America celebrates its 250th birthday. Across the country, families are gathering for fireworks, cookouts, and long holiday weekends, and there’s no better way to mark the occasion than with a great movie.
For this special Fourth of July episode, I pulled four movies from the shelves that capture different chapters in American history. From the battlefields of the Revolution to the launch pads of the Space Race, from the cockpits of Navy fighter pilots to the occupied Rocky Mountains, these movies explore the values that have long defined the America: freedom, courage, sacrifice, and resilience.
The Patriot (2000)
To celebrate America’s birthday we should start at the beginning. Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot tells the story of Benjamin Martin, a widowed veteran of the French and Indian War who reluctantly joins the American Revolution after British forces bring the war to his home. Starring Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, and Jason Isaacs, the film transforms the struggle for independence from a distant historical event into a deeply personal story of sacrifice and revenge.
The Patriot released on VHS and DVD in October 2000 and is one of the final blockbuster releases of the VHS era.
The Right Stuff (1983)
Before America reached the Moon, there were the test pilots and astronauts who risked everything to get us there. The Right Stuff chronicles the early days of the Space Race, beginning with legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager and continuing through the Mercury Seven astronauts as America races to catch up with the Soviet Union.
Featuring an outstanding cast the film is about much more than rockets and space capsules. It’s about ambition, competition, courage, and the uniquely American belief that impossible challenges can be overcome through determination and ingenuity.
Top Gun (1986)
Few films capture American confidence and optimism quite like Top Gun. Tony Scott’s blockbuster follows hotshot Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, as he attends the elite Naval Fighter Weapons School and learns that true greatness requires more than talent, it requires sacrifice, teamwork, and humility.
Top Gun also changed the home video industry forever. When Paramount released the film on VHS in 1987 at the low price of $26.95, it sold nearly three million copies and helped establish the modern home video market.
Red Dawn (1984)
If the previous films celebrate America’s founding, ambition, and confidence, Red Dawn asks what Americans are willing to sacrifice to defend them. John Milius’s Cold War classic follows a group of Colorado teenagers who flee to the mountains after a Soviet and Cuban invasion and gradually transform themselves into resistance fighters.
Like the citizen-soldiers of the American Revolution, the teenagers didn’t fight for glory, but because they believe some things are worth defending. Red Dawn also made history as the first film released with the new PG-13 rating.
Wolverines!
🇺🇸 Happy 250th Birthday, America
These four movies remind us that America is a story of independence and sacrifice, of exploration and ambition, of courage and perseverance. From the battlefields of the eighteenth century to the frontiers of space, from the skies above the Pacific to the mountains of Colorado, each film captures a different chapter of the American experience.
They also remind us that patriotism isn’t just about flags, fireworks, and holiday weekends. It’s about freedom, courage, sacrifice, and the enduring belief that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.
From all of us here at the Video Store, have a safe and happy Fourth of July.
And remember: be kind, rewind.

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I love a good ensemble film, one where a bunch of characters some together and pool their collective talens in order to achieve a common goal. In this week’s episode I’ll be recommending a few films in which multiple characters team up and head out!
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
Big Enos and his son have a taste for Coors beer, which back in the 1970s was illegal to ship east of the Mississippi. The two are willing to pay big money to anyone who can make the run from Georgia to Texas and back and deliver 400 cases of Coors in less than 28 hours, and the Bandit (Burt Reynolds) and his pal Cletus (Jerry Reed) are just the ones to pull it off. Unfortunately for them, the Bandit picks up a runaway bride named Carrie (Sally Fields) who left Junior, the son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), at the alter. With a Smokey from Texas hot on their tail, it’s “east bound and down” in a race to deliver the goods before the law ruins their fun.
The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
When Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo blow their first (and last) job as reporters for a newspaper in England, the trio must team up to clear their names and prevent the theft of Lady Holiday’s most expensive posession, the Baseball Diamond. Featuring a slew of cameos and starring Diana Rigg as Lady Holiday and Charles Grodin as her crooken brother, Nicky. Personally, I think this sequel to The Muppet Movie is actually better. Yeah, I said it.
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987)
In the fourth Police Academy film, citizens are being recruited to assist our favorite police department through their new outreach program, Citizens On Patrol (C.O.P.) The new recruits are unqualified buffoons… which makes them a lot like the officers already on the force.
Cannibal: The Musical (1993)
The sky is blue, and all the leave are green… that is, until Alferd Packer returns from a prospecting expedition gone wrong and instead of finding other survivors, search parties find evidence of (gulp) cannibalism. Written by and starring Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park fame, Cannibal: The Musical features an interesting plot, catchy musical numbers, and jokes you can really sink your teeth into (no pun intended).
I love a good “Hero’s Journey” plot, but films with groups of characters joining up to accomplish a common goal can be even more fun. If two is company and three’s a crowd, ensembles are a whole bunch of fun!
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Welcome to another episode of The Video Store Podcast. This week I am recommending four movies about undercover work. That can mean a lot of things in movies. Sometimes it is a young cop trying to prove himself. Sometimes it is a guy returning to a place where everyone already knows him. Sometimes it is a job that starts out dangerous and then gets worse because the people doing it begin to lose track of who they are supposed to be.
I have always liked this kind of story because it gives crime movies a built in problem right away. The person at the center has to lie, but the lie only works if part of it feels true. That is where these movies live. None of them treat undercover work as clean or especially clever. It is usually sweaty, stressful, and bad for everyone involved.
No Man’s Land (1987)
No Man’s Land stars D. B. Sweeney as a young cop who goes undercover to get inside a Porsche theft ring run by Charlie Sheen. It was directed by Peter Werner and written by Dick Wolf, which is a little interesting now because most people probably connect Wolf with Law and Order and television crime stories. Here he is working in a very eighties lane, with stolen sports cars, Los Angeles money, and Charlie Sheen doing the smooth rich kid criminal thing.
This is not the deepest movie on the shelf, but it has a good setup and a lot of period texture. The car stuff helps. A crime ring built around stolen Porsches feels very much of its moment, and the movie understands the appeal of that world even while it is showing you the danger underneath it. Sweeney is good as someone who is not quite ready for the assignment, and Sheen is believable as the guy who makes bad choices look attractive.
The cast also includes Randy Quaid, M. Emmet Walsh, Lara Harris, and Bill Duke. I always like when Bill Duke shows up in something, and in this week’s lineup he shows up twice, once here as an actor and later as the director of Deep Cover (1992). That was not the reason I picked these four, but it is a nice bit of video store shelf connection.
State of Grace (1990)
State of Grace stars Sean Penn as Terry Noonan, an undercover cop who returns to Hell’s Kitchen and reconnects with the people he grew up with. The problem is that those people are now tied into the Irish mob, and some of them still see him as one of their own. That makes the undercover part more personal than usual. He is not just pretending to belong. In some ways, he already did.
The cast is a big part of the reason to watch this one. Ed Harris is controlled and cold as Frankie Flannery, Gary Oldman is all nerves and damage as Jackie, and Robin Wright gives the movie more emotional weight than it would have had with a thinner version of that role. John Turturro and John C. Reilly are in there too, which gives the movie one of those casts where you keep noticing people before they became more familiar.
It was directed by Phil Joanou, written by Dennis McIntyre, shot by Jordan Cronenweth, and scored by Ennio Morricone. That is a lot of strong names attached to a movie that never became as famous as it probably should have. Part of the problem is timing. It came out in 1990, the same year as Goodfellas, and that is a tough shadow for any New York crime movie to stand in. State of Grace is not Goodfellas, and it is not trying to be.
Rush (1991)
Rush is a heavier version of the undercover story. Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh play narcotics officers working a drug case in 1970s Texas, and the movie is less interested in the mechanics of the investigation than in what the job does to them. It is about crossing lines, then having trouble finding those lines again.
The movie was directed by Lili Fini Zanuck and based on Kim Wozencraft’s novel, which was inspired by her own time as an undercover narcotics officer. Pete Dexter wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Sam Elliott, Max Perlich, and Gregg Allman. That last bit always makes the movie feel slightly stranger on paper than it plays on screen, because Allman fits into the world of the movie pretty naturally.
Rush is not a casual watch. Jason Patric was very good in this period at playing men who seem like they have already made peace with ruining themselves, and Jennifer Jason Leigh makes her character’s slide feel believable without turning it into a big speech. Eric Clapton did the music, and the soundtrack became better known than the movie in some circles because of Tears in Heaven. The film itself is rougher and less sentimental than people might expect from that association.
Deep Cover (1992)
Deep Cover stars Laurence Fishburne, still credited here as Larry Fishburne, as a police officer recruited by the DEA to go undercover in Los Angeles. Jeff Goldblum plays the lawyer and criminal operator he gets close to, and Goldblum gives the movie a different kind of villain than the usual street level dealer. He is funny, polished, and awful in a way that feels very specific to him.
This was directed by Bill Duke, and it is one of the best undercover crime movies of the period. It has the shape of a genre film, but it is also angry about the systems around the drug war. Fishburne is excellent because he never plays the character as a cool movie cop enjoying the danger. He looks like someone being hollowed out by the job, which makes the movie more interesting as it goes along.
The title song is also a major part of the movie’s history. Deep Cover was Dr. Dre’s debut solo single and introduced a lot of listeners to Snoop Doggy Dogg. That song has lived on in a big way, but the movie deserves to be remembered right alongside it. It is sharp, stylish, and still feels a little mean around the edges.
All four of these movies are about people who are supposed to keep their identities separate, and none of them are very good at it for long. No Man’s Land (1987) gives you the flashy version with stolen cars and rich criminals. State of Grace (1990) makes it about old friends and old wounds. Rush (1991) turns the assignment into something punishing and personal. Deep Cover (1992) takes the undercover story and pushes it into something colder and more political.
If I were standing behind the counter this week, these are the four I would point you toward. They are not all doing the same thing, but they belong together on the same rental stack. Undercover movies work best when the job stops being just a job, and each of these gets there in its own way.
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