Rental Breakdown Pt7: The End of Blockbuster

The final days of Blockbuster and the ultimate reason for its collapse are finally covered here. Indulge me.
Over this series, Rental Breakdown will dispel the myth that Netflix destroyed Blockbuster and take an overly detailed and unsettling look at the rise, fall and cultural impact of Blockbuster. What actually happened, why and what it means that Blockbuster failed.
This week's film commentary is for Scream 5 (2022): • Scream 5 (2022) - Full...
This excessive effortpost wouldn't be possible without the very generous and patient support of members. Thank you for indulging me in this economics and special interest fuelled attack on Zoomer Attention Spans.
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Excellent Blockbuster Store Map:
Map of the Rise and Fall of Blockbuster Video - V1 Analytics
• Map of the Rise and Fa...
Background Music by Karl Casey - White Bat Audio

[@soulfoodie1]

This has been an excellent series. Not just great nostalgia but a very interesting case study in the rise and fall of a business and the practices that contributed to both

[@kevinyalantis-scottproduct7035]

Great series. I was not expecting a Doyle jumpscare

[@stinkingooze]

Such a great listen. Thank you for that series.

[@PothePerson]

Love this series. Interesting and entertaining. 🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔 Well done.

[@ProperHorrorshow]

Thanks so much Po, it was a labour of love (and hypothermia. I suffered on that set in January)

[@charlieweaver6322]

Brilliant series! I thoroughly enjoyed the entire seven parts. You're a very talented video-essayist and presenter. Loved the wholesome message at the end too.

[@Jay828__]

Nice work. Great way to wrap up. Scarcity. Effort. Barrier to entry. And an actual sense of community, not the internet fandom/commie definition of community. As a feral video store clerk in the '90s, customers would bring me Christmas cookies, beer and dinner party invites. 3 decades later and that's where I met my closest friends. I've never experienced that sense of community again. Looks like that was a banger of a closing party, suspect hand placement aside.

[@josephmancuso4454]

Outstanding series! Learned alot. Hope you continue doing similiar videos in the future!

[@ProperHorrorshow]

I was originally going to end this series with a fake promo for a similar look at Toys R Us. "Toys R I P. What happened?! Geoffstein Didn't Kill Himself". Perhaps wisely I demurred. Anyway, very glad you liked it and it's particularly lovely that there's support for the more ambitious projects. If you know anyone who'd enjoy it, do pass a link on ;)

[@josephmancuso4454]

@@ProperHorrorshow Ha! Perhaps another time. I will pass this along. Hope this channel continues to grow.

[@Checker222]

Click the LIKE!!!!

[@ThatCrimeGuy]

Like Blockbuster, I never wanted this to end. Bravo PH, Bravo... Pathos.

[@ProperHorrorshow]

Thank you Mr Regional Manager

[@kathrineici9811]

Well the torrenting is making a comeback with the streaming services becoming worse and worse Though I never thought of sailing the high seas as a group activity (though there is certainly a connection made when one goes through a directory where every file name is a pun)

[@spicytrashpanda]

I grew up looking forward to going to rent a movie and a game as a kid. It was a weekend tradition for my family who had very little money. It wasn't fun watching them fall so quickly

[@ProperHorrorshow]

No, they got hit very hard. The vibe of going instore was unbeatable.

[@johngraham-wg5bp]

Enjoyable series. I had a feeling crazy Uncle Ted would enter the store at some point.

[@ProperHorrorshow]

You know me too well. I suppose I did have one of his books in view during one of the readings too...

[@johngraham-wg5bp]

@@ProperHorrorshow I like these Easter eggs you place in your vids.

[@AdamLovesHorror]

12 🍔 This was truly an incredible 7-part series. Every shift was enjoyable, nostalgic, and educational while making me laugh. Thank you for creating a time capsule. I didn’t expect the motivational speech at the end but it shows the love you put into it and for your audience.

[@ProperHorrorshow]

Thanks very much - as I snuck Tony Todd into one shift, that 12 🍔 score is valid 😉 Seriously, I appreciate it. This series was a labour of love, filmed in a freezing set, but seeing how people supported it and appreciated it and caught the Easter eggs made it worth it.

[@AdamLovesHorror]

@@ProperHorrorshow thank you and those who helped because the labor of love clearly showed. All the Easter eggs were great, including Enrieb with the BB card. Hypothermia couldn’t have been fun, thank you!

[@ProperHorrorshow]

Eagled eyed! Fun trivia: I made 2 of those cards, but only filmed one. The other was for 'Erin Nerrung', which I was toying with as a character name - I'm sure you can work out why. I mostly cut that idea of fully being a character, though TCG still calls me Erin at the start of episode 5. The addresses on the cards were for the BBFC Offices in London and the other was Jigsaw's secret workshop in Saw.

[@AdamLovesHorror]

@@ProperHorrorshow and that is why you’re as awesome as you are. The little things make it so much more interesting. The eagle eye by you is appreciated.

[@aaron.ward.]

I watched all 7 parts! A magnum opus!

[@ProperHorrorshow]

You star, doing your part! Thanks very much, it was a labour of love and hypothermia

[@stevebragg4256]

Yes, one could say we are lazy for waiting and watching VHS tapes originally instead of going to the cinema. If we wanna play the "lazy" term we can do it all over place when we do anything. Get rid of remote controls too. Maybe we should live without TVs too. Maybe just go back to living like the stone age. Finding our own food together.

[@ProperHorrorshow]

Absolutely, a spectrum/slippery slope argument is always vulnerable to that kind of point. I made the point in this episode that Blockbuster itself was indeed "lazy", so it's not that I disagree, however in episode 2 I also point out that VHS was revolutionary enough to be totally different to cinema. Just because you can argue over where to draw a line doesn't mean we shouldn't draw any line, as woolly a solution as that is.

[@stevebragg4256]

@@ProperHorrorshow true, everyone has their own idea where the line may be drawn.

[@AdamLovesHorror]

Got off his high horse lol. As you mentioned, missing the blockbuster experience/making it a blockbuster night was very enjoyable. Before social media you’d also possibly run into a friend or your crush or your lame aunt Susan. You never knew who you’d run into and could give those people your unasked for opinion on their movie choices or recommendations.

[@ProperHorrorshow]

Heck, even the disappointment was good. You'd go in hoping to rent a couple of titles you saw last time and they were gone! When you nabbed them, it felt much better - That's basic delayed gratification. A few times an older horror fan warned me off a bad film, saving me a wasted rental. I think that's how I first saw The Shining and Tales From The Darkside.

[@AdamLovesHorror]

@@ProperHorrorshow I haven’t thought of that feeling in forever but you’re so right. When you came back the next time (sometimes later in the same day) to get it and it was finally there to rent you definitely got the delay feeling. The recommendation parts were so fun as a customer and as an employee at times.

[@uktruecrime]

girth and virility of a stallion? what's 'other people'? Netflix is crap. I stopped after only a year later I realized they only had 20 films I wanted to watch. for the cost I could a library larger than that in a year at £15/m I know what you mean, I should be down the pub talking about murders. I met a girl on a Thames towpath, I was filming, I had to tell her all about Gweneth Rees who was murdered over in the bushes (Hammersmith Nudes), she was so excited to here about it, the fact that we were total strangers and I was all grubby and sweaty didn't matter, its a real difference meeting other people like that in the real world. I ounces blogged I'm mad as hell and the response was that I must be mentally ill and to avoid. in the valley of the blind the one eye man is not the king.

[@acidgougewaltz]

wait, you saw scream when you were 11? holy crap do i feel old now also..... he depended on letters in the mail....... wow and one final thing that killed blockbuster...... demographics you speak of convenience over community, what is more convenient than not having children? what kills community more than ever shrinking generations?

[@sentryogmixmaster]

petulant children who wanted to rent things for an indefinite amount of time for a low price and not pay any late fees. i.e. just basically take the video forever for like $3.99. well, they got their way......and then afterward they whine and cry about how they miss the Blockbuster experience of visiting the physical store with their friends and family and perusing the aisles and talking shop about movies. such a spoiled brat society.