|
Boredom often couples with the Bizarre. They both love red wine, the taste of a cigarette after a hearty meal, the smell of gasoline, the way a wildfire in the mountains makes the sunset pink. They go for long strolls in blue moonlight punching the crosswalk buttons at empty intersections. They go out for a late dinner at an obscure Thai restaurant you've probably never heard of, and then, on the way back to Boredom's house, they stop by the Village Vidiot; the entertainment mecca for disenchanted, disenfranchised, lonely and eccentric movie-hounds looking for something to do, or more specifically something to watch,something they haven't seen before.
Adopted and since purveyed by Scott (above) his wife and his daughter Kira nearly 30 years ago, the Village Vidiot has provided a resource in Fort Collins, acting as a one-stop-shop for all things obscure, bizarre, shocking, hilarious, disgusting, classic and just plain weird. Catering to an audience with a specific, and specifically eclectic taste, the Vidiot thrives on its die-hard patronage of everyday weirdos who bank on the Vidiot to carry the entertainment oddity--or Japanese candy delicacy--they crave.
Walking into the store feels like pure cinema, like your favorite John Hughes movie, but with a weird, dark Tim Burton meets Kevin Smith kind of twist. Anime trinkets, junk food, and glowing fridges containing both classic and obscure sodas frame the counter. The warm hum of neon lights fills the room, bouncing off the yellow walls and slivering across the nearly 40,000 DVDs, VHS tapes and video games that line the labyrinthine rows of shelves covering the walls. One feels easily overwhelmed when confronted with this multitude of entertainment options.
It is easy to stick to the outer edges of the store--the new release wall--where you can maintain an air of normalcy while renting the new/lame Judd Apatow flick or a good rom-com to watch with your squeeze, but wandering the aisles and perusing the more obtuse genres will prove fruitful for someone looking for a weird good time with a film. The more one wanders into the nooks of the store the more movies one can find that they didn't know existed, but only dreamt about. It's almost as if the souls of these lost movies trapped on magnetic strips and encoded plastic discs pace up and down the aisles waiting to be plucked out from their shaded corner by the curious patron.
On lonely nights, Boredom and Bizarre tend to reflect. Given a lack of activities, they turn mutually inward, gazing into each others' navels and pondering the curiosities and eccentricities of chaos. On those nights, it is easy to lose them back at their place, cruise to the Vidiot, and find a film that will not only entertain the far reaches of your brain, but also inspire you, leaving those two love birds back at their place in a philosophical slipknot. Expansive special interest genres are the Vidiot's modus operandi. Whether its a semi-esoteric documentary on sound-art for the deaf or one of the three special editions of This Is Spinal Tap, your granddad's favorite western or an exotic french film about trysts in a bathtub, you will find an offbeat video to pique any interest hiding amongst a plethora of options. I tend to stick to the musicals and documentaries, just because they look so good next to each other.
Sharp lines, bright colors, intense soundtracks, wide shiny eyes, subtitles...is your pulse racing? If media from the Far East is your thing, the Vidiot is most definitely your place. Boasting--and I mean that quite literally--the largest anime rental selection in the country, an entire room tucked in the front corner of the store, the Vidiot obliges even the wildest desires for manga, action figures, television shows and films. Being a child in the nineties, I was given a taste of anime...and loved it. Say what you will, but Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z were kick-ass kids shows. Scanning the spines of old tapes with oddly shaped neon characters and impossibly cool art while strolling past two vintage pinball machines whirring away lonely and shooting colors across the walls make me wish I would have known this magical place when I was a young Pokemaster.
Now, if anime isn't quite your thing, and you are just sick and tired of stupid blockbuster comedies, and you wouldn't mind if all lovers died everywhere, then you are guaranteed a choice pick from the grotesquely extensive horror and sci-fi collection. If you hanker for the macabre, I highly recommend shopping at a video store with zombie-centric owners, because they have everything, the good stuff, the bad stuff...even the good bad stuff. Or maybe gore isn't your thing exactly, and you prefer a good action sequence; a stellar collection of archaic martial arts films would keep any kung-fu buff out of the dojo and on the couch for quite some time.
Unlike major video chains who face out a vast majority of their DVD cases--cause let's face it, they don't carry VHS tapes--the Vidiot crams as many titles as physically possible onto their shelves. Where a Blockbuster has maybe forty videos on a rack, the Vidiot has upwards of two hundred, and chances are you've probably only seen a few of their extremely obscure collection. Even internet rental mega-corporations like Netflix could try to hold a candle to the Vidiot, but it would go out. Rentals are only one dollar for one night for old titles, they have all the latest video games and those weird movies you forgot even existed. Stores like the Vidiot live off the watershed of culture, harvesting dusty VHS tapes from pawnshops, thrift-stores, garage sales and flea markets and little to no cost. Their loyal patronage, the Cult, will surely invest a buck for one night of vintage weirdo laughter. Hell, if you've abandoned all hope in the American Hollywood cinema industry there is an entire wall of foreign films--one of the largest selections I've ever beheld--to enjoy, while feeling extremely intellectual and cultured.
Oh, and did I mention the back room? Neither did Scott...
The Village Vidiot is Located at 1220 W. Elizabeth St #C
Add them as a friend on Facebook and get updates on new releases and special promotions.
http://www.facebook.com/villagevidiot
|
