Chicago's Odd Obsession proves video stores are far from dead

Marcus Leshock on 01.08.10 at 6:27 PM | 1 comment

Marcus Leshock

WGN-TV Feature Reporter specializing in all things entertainment, pop culture, and delicious.

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It seems like every street I drive on has an abandoned video store. Hollywood Video is crippled. Blockbuster is closing shop everywhere. The Red Boxes and Netflix of the world have changed the way we rent our DVD's.

Somewhat.

On tonight WGN News I profiled Wicker Park's Odd Obsession, a video rental store that features 20,000 titles. They range from the rarest of the rare, to something as mainstream as "The Hangover."

Netflix seems to be the next best thing....

...in video rental. They have plenty of rare titles, but Odd Obsession's are simply rarer. They have movies so rare, they don't have boxes. They have VHS. They even have VIDEODISCS, which is almost like a movie on a vinyl record. Those are only for show, seeing that the only Videodisc players in existence are probably in the Smithsonian.

Manager Joe Rubin was kind enough to give me a tour and show off his film knowledge. Never once have I discussed "Auteur Theory" with a clerk at Blockbuster. Somehow it just doesn't apply to "The Proposal."

I don't want this to turn into a Blockbuster bashing, but when I was young we had a family-run video store chain in town. They had a great selection of movies. I could check out some obscure films from wonderful directors. They even had my favorite b-movie horror films, like "Chopping Mall" and "House" (Ding Dong, You're Dead). OK, "House" isn't too obscure ---- but back to my point ---- when Blockbuster moved into town, all of the Mom and Pops had to shut down.

"Chopping Mall" - he gone!

"Monkey Shines" - outta here!

When somebody stole my Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers and didn't returned it, Blockbuster never replaced it. My video store was "C.H.U.D."-free. I can't believe I've brought up "C.H.U.D." on this blog again.

But that's just who I am, my sense of humor and passion for movies shaped by my time in video stores. I'm happy to see a place like Odd Obsession doing well - especially because they don't simply stock bad vintage movies. They can argue the merits of the grungiest, low-budget fare from the past and put it alongside the finest big-budget blowouts in Hollywood.

Where else can you rent "District 9," along with a Shaw Brothers Kung Fu flick and a Kenneth Anger experimental piece? If you know a place I'd love to hear about it. Let's turn this into a series and keep these shops alive!

Odd Obsession
1822 N. Milwaukee
Check their hours online at...
www.oddobsession.com

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