Odd Obsessions

We're getting lazy. This critique has been offered on more than one occasion. Not just in the way we create but in the way we consume. The advent of NetFlix and streaming has shuddered the video stores. While boutique labels like Arrow and Criterion allow access to the best looking releases of the films we love. Criterion itself has its own streaming service now.

Of course, it wasn't always like this.
The video store offered a tactile, hands-on experience. It was the playground for any and all loversd of physical media. The sandbox we grew up in. This we can all agree on. Yet the weepy eyed nostalgia tends to blur the actual experience we all had at Blockbuster Video. I can recall going their multiple times. It's how I discovered Audition. Yet for every Audition, there was a Carnosaur. The bargain bins offering $10 movies. The clerk who really just wants you to plop down your money so they can get one step closer to leaving. The memories that stuck with me most were carbed not out of blue and yellow. It was the ma and pop stores. Beggars Video was apart of the Beggars Pizza brand, which just happened to be located next door. Any customer who came in was given free squares of pizza. It was there that two important pieces of history occured.

The first being a glass display case that housed a Chucky doll. Always taunting me before I exited the store. The second being the Faces of Death series.

When I see documentaries recalling the importance of video stores or directors' trip down memory lanes, one thing that causes my synapses to fire rapidly is when they bring up the forbidden fruit. The movies you find with a brown paper bag over them. Faces of Death was the closest I got to this titilation.
Then there was Video Corner. The first video store I knew that had a porn section.

Now keep in mind, all of this was within three blocks in both the west and east direction of my house. It was primo real estate.

I didn't have access to such utopias as CineFile video. So I would eventually create my own paradise in my room.

The way I organize my shelves are alphabetized by director, country and genre. Given that horror and exploitation occupy a good chunk of my collection, they are the only specific genres entire sections are dedicated to.

American/British/Canadian Directors
Foreign Films
I. Asian
  -Japanese
     a. Classic (Ichikawa, Kobayashi, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Naruse, Ozu, Shindo)
     b. New Wave (Imamura, Kurahara, Oshima, Suzuki, Teshigahara)
     c. Contemporary (Fukasaku, Itami, Kore-eda, Miike, Sono)
  -South Korean (Chang-dong, Chan-wok, Jee-woon, Joon-ho, Ki-Young)
  -China and Taiwan (Hu, Kar-Wai, Ming-liang, Woo, Yang)
II. European
  -France
     a. Classic: Becker, Bresson, Clouzot, Dassin, Melville, Ophuls, Tati, Vigo
     b. New Wave: Godard, Malle, Resnais, Truffaut, Varda
     c. Contemporary: Audiard, Belvaux, Breillat, Jeunet, Kassovitz, Kechiche, Noe
  -Italy (Antonioni, Bertolucci, DeSica, Fellini, Pasolini, Petri, Risi, Rosellini, Sorrentino)
  -Germany (Fassbinder, Herzog, Murnau, Schlondorff, Wenders)
  -Russia (Kalatzokov, Klimov, Shepitko, Tarkovsky, Zyvagintsev)
  -Czech Republic (Chitlova, Vlacil)
  -Poland (Kieslowski, Zulawski)
  -Denmark (Dreyer, Vintberg, Von Trier)
  -Austria (Haneke)
III. Mexico, Central and Latin America (Bunuel, Camus, Cazals, Cuaron, Del Toro, Erice, Guerra, Innaritu, Jodorowsky, Meirelles, Sauros)
IV. Africa, India (Ray)

Exploitation
  -Jack Hill
  -Herschell Gordon Lewis
  -Russ Meyer
  -John Waters
Blaxpoitation
Sexploitation
Car Chases
Ozploitation
Revenge
Grindhouse Releasing
Blue Underground

Horror
  -Assorted
  -Directors: Carpenter, Cronenberg, Hooper, Romero
  -Franchises: Halloween, Friday the 13th, Elm Street, Hellraiser, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  -Silent and Classic Horror (anything up to the 50's with Universal Monsters and Lewton given seperate sections)
  -Italian Genre (Argento, Bava, DiLeo, Fulci, Lenzi, Martino, Soavi, Cannibal flicks)
  -Scream Factory
  -Arrow Video
  -Vinegar Syndrome
  -Severin
Experimental (Anger, Fricke, Hertzfeldt, etc.)
Documentary

There was a video store a few years ago that caught my attention. Odd Obsession Movies. It was located in the Wicker Park area of downtown Chicago. Wicker Park was already home to several hotspots: Myopic Books, Quimby's Bookstore, Wormhole Coffee, Reckless Records.

I made my first visit to Odd Obsession on January 28, 2020. It took me long enough. The hype was real and every bit earned. Entire walls dedicated to exploitation and sexploitation. Films arranged by director, country, genre. From film noir classics to contemporary. Staff recommendations. The works. There were even tapestries depicting Ghana film posters.

Renting movies for the first time in more than a decade felt...satisfying. The first batch being Takashi Kitano's Fireworks, Babas Lunas' Anguish and Buddy Giovinazzo's Combat Shock.

I've found a new place to call home.