Based on its title, I figured 2023’s The Last Video Store would offer a nostalgic look at movie rental shops that many of us knew and loved. And it does – sorta, as it mostly delivers a horror tale.

Kevin (Kevin Martin) owns and operates Blaster Video, the final rental store open in Canada. Despite a diminishing clientele, James (Alain Williams) remains an active customer whose daughter Nyla (Yaayaa Adams) brings back his choices one day.

This goes wrong when Nyla returns a VHS tape that possesses the power to allow any movie character to come to life in our realm. Trapped in the store, Kevin and Nyla find themselves in a life/death struggle against a variety of cinematic villains.

Hmm – that last part sounds awfully reminiscent of the climax to 1993’s Last Action Hero, doesn’t it? Which I strongly suspect the filmmakers knew.

Indeed, Store clearly understands its roots. One should expect the film to offer a mix of Last Action Hero, Scream, The Evil Dead, The Ring and Clerks.

And Store makes no bones about its influences. No one involved ever pretends that this flick acts as anything other than a wild homage to a combination of sources.

Despite all these derivative elements and a low budget that holds back how far it can go to achieve its goals, Store becomes a fairly fun enterprise. Although it doesn’t flesh out the themes as well as I might like, it gives us enough spark and entertainment to keep us with it.

This version of Store updates a 10-minute 2013 reel seen elsewhere on this disc. Unsurprisingly, the 2023 edition can feel like a short elongated to feature length.

Though at least Store doesn’t stretch its themes to the breaking point. Many films in the same circumstance wear out their welcome early and deliver far too much padding.

While Store doesn’t fully occupy its 79 minutes with good content, it still manifests enough to succeed – well, in a partial manner. I don’t want to oversell the final project, as it comes with too many deficits to become more than a moderate success.

Still, all involved make it clear Store exists as a labor of love, and that sense of affection gives the film a boost. The film never takes itself too seriously and it finds a few clever ways to approach its concepts.

The actors camp it up but that makes sense for this story. They manage enough professionalism that they don’t come across as unskilled, so instead, they give their roles a gleeful vibe that suits the tale.

Store could use added polish and a bigger budget would better allow it to achieve its ambitions. Nonetheless, it becomes a lively little romp that will satisfy genre fans.

The Last Video Store appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a presentation faithful to the source.

Sharpness largely seemed positive, as the majority of the movie offered appropriate delineation. A few mild instances of softness occurred, but most of the film looked concise.

I saw no jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. I also noted no signs of source defects.

Colors veered toward stylized greens, reds, blues and purples. These hues served the production’s choices.

Blacks seemed fairly deep and firm, while shadows offered pretty good clarity. This came across as a “B+” presentation.

As for the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it focused on the usual scope one associates with creepy horror films. This meant a lot of spooky ambience and not much more.

That said, the mix did kick to life at times. Some of the stabs at scares worked well, as did more action-oriented beats.

In addition, music provided nice utilization of the channels. These elements added impact to the soundscape.

Audio quality seemed solid. Music was lively and full, while speech appeared natural and concise.

Effects also appeared accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a generally positive soundtrack for a low-budget horror tale.

When we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from film critics Matt Donato and Meagan Navarro. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at their youthful experiences with movies and video stores, cast and crew, references and genre domains, and their thoughts about the film.

This ends up more an appreciation for Last Video Store than anything else. While I like the enthusiasm Navarro and Donato show, they don’t give us a lot of substance here.

Two visual essays follow. We get “The Videonomicon Unleashed” (14:10) with critic Heather Wixson and “Nostalgia Fuel” (12:51) with writer/critic Martyn Pedler.

With “Unleashed”, Wixson examines the movie’s themes and references, whereas via “Fuel”, Pedler discusses genre domains and filmmaking subjects. Both provide some useful material at times but they also simply reiterate the plot of Store too often.

Under Short Films, we get four efforts. This domain includes 2012’s ’Twas the Night of the Tree Beast (5:18), 2013’s M Is For Magnetic Tape (2:46), 2013’s The Last Videostore (9:52) and 2019’s The Video Store Commercial (4:10).

Beast tells of a Christmas tree that comes to life and goes on a violent spree, and Tape depicts a video store clerk’s superheroic stand against a crime kingpin. Last offers a preliminary version of what would develop into this disc’s primary feature, and Commercial comes with a similar “magical VHS” theme.

Packed together, these can feel a little redundant. All four feature Kevin Martin as a video store clerk and they follow similarly fantastic concepts.

Still, they come with creativity and don’t overstay their welcome. The shorts give us a fun look at the efforts that preceded the feature-length Store.

Next we get a ”first attempt” at a long version of Last Video Store. This reel offers four minutes, 53 seconds of footage shot for an endeavor they apparently abandoned at that time.

Why? I don’t know, as we get no explanation here.

The short reel also largely lacks original audio, so it winds up as a collection of snippets without much that can explain to us how this version’s story would’ve differed from the final feature.

All of this makes the “first attempt” material semi-interesting but frustrating. Some commentary to discuss the topics would’ve been helpful.

Pre-Viz splits into three subjects: “Walkthrough” (1:44), “Preystalker Sequence” (1:47) and “End Scene” (2:45). These all give us CG renderings used to help the filmmakers plan the scenes.

Via Behind the Scenes, we get 12 minutes, 50 seconds of footage that shows aspects of the production.

In addition to the film’s trailer, the disc concludes with an Image Gallery with 49 shots from the movie. It seems forgettable.

A horror romp that giddily wears its influences on its sleeve, The Last Video Store can’t quite live up to its potential due to budgetary restraints. Despite those issues, it still delivers a fun experience that keeps us engaged from start to finish. The Blu-ray brings pretty solid picture and audio along with a fairly positive set of supplements. I’d like to see what the filmmakers could do with more money at their disposal, as Store shows promise.