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PORTLAND, Maine — Brendan Evans, owner of Strange Maine on Congress Street, knows what his customers want.
On Thursday afternoon, Evans slid a tantalizing VHS video tape across the counter to one of his regular clients, Aleah Trask, who gasped.
It was a 1985 copy of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” in its original box, with the bottom flap still intact. The cover image showed the classic horror film’s heroine and its leading bad guy Freddy Krueger’s claws.
“It’s the original release, the only one that didn’t show his face on the box,” Evans said.
The rare gem sported a hand-written, horror-appropriate price tag of $66.66. Trask loved it but went with a lower-priced tape of “Scream III,” instead, even though she already owns a copy.
“I have multiples of all of them. I’m big into old horror movies, especially on VHS,” the 22-year-old Portlander said. “You just can’t get that grunge look from a DVD.”
Trask is one of the die-hard 1980s horror and sci-fi movie connoisseurs who make Strange Maine the center of the state’s niche, underground VHS tape scene. With 1,500 titles on the shelf and an equal number of video cassettes in storage, the tiny shop sports Maine’s largest, curated selection of the once-ubiquitous home media items, which ceased production in 2006.
In a time when most Americans now stream their movies over the internet, Strange Maine thrives on nostalgia for a time when TVs weren’t flat, iPhones hadn’t been invented yet and movies had to be rewound before you could watch them again. The store opened in 2003 and also sells used records, books, found photographs and homemade punk patches — but videotapes are the main draw.
This year, major retailer Best Buy announced they’d no longer sell DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, the cheaper, better home media which killed the humble VHS tape 20 years ago. But nobody at Strange Maine cares.
“Those two Venn diagrams don’t overlap at all,” Evans said, speaking of his customers compared to Best Buy’s. “VHS is what makes this store a destination. People come from all over the state.”
A random sampling of customers this week found folks from Vermont and Puerto Rico browsing the selection alongside many locals. Ethan Mann of Stratton, Vermont said he already has a lot of VHS tapes at home but is always looking for more.
“I have two big piles,” Mann said, “a pile I have already watched and a pile I have to watch soon.”
Strange Maine’s VHS movie selection is organized in alphabetical order, by genre. This week, in the “new arrivals” section were 1981’s raunchy sex romp “Porky’s,” a 1985 Chuck Norris flick called “Code of Silence” and the 1943 horror-noir movie “The Seventh Victim.”
Also on the shelves were sealed VHS copies of “Blade Runner” and “The X-Files” film, along with six unopened “Say Anything” videocassettes.
Tulliah O’Brien, 18, started working at Strange Maine when she was 16. O’Brien sees videotapes as part of an antidote to the isolation her generation often experiences in modern American life.
“People are surrounded by the internet and social media, constantly sucked into their phones,” she said. “We want to sit in a room, talk about 70s punk music and watch a movie for two hours — together.”
Evans admits he “doesn’t really do phones” and his store has no website or social media presence, by design. He’d rather meet people in the analog, face-to-face world. Without online sales or internet buzz, Strange Maine’s success comes solely from word-of-mouth and through the like-minded community it fosters.
In addition to buying and selling movies, devoted customers also hang out and endlessly discuss films. Two of Strange Maine’s most loyal patrons were even married there, with Evans officiating the ceremony.
When he first opened his store, Evans said he was surprised at the demand for VHS. But he now reckons people are drawn to watching 80s and 90s movies on video tape for the same reasons other people prefer to listen to classic, 1970s rock on vinyl.
“People have positive memories about the first time they saw these movies on tape,” he said. “Seeing them in 4K, with surround sound, isn’t the same experience. This is how they were meant to be seen.”
Logan Abbey owns George & Leon’s restaurant in Westbrook and is also big into horror tapes.
“That’s all I collect and Brendan has given me some outrageous deals,” Abbey said. “Strange Maine is the place to be.”
This month he’s hosting a public VHS movie exchange at his restaurant and will present two Christmas horror classics — on tape, of course.
“We’re showing ‘Jack Frost,’ which is about a killer snowman, and ‘Christmas Evil,’ which is John Waters’ favorite Christmas movie and it stars Fiona Apple’s dad,” Abbey said.
Evans doesn’t foresee a slowdown in his video business anytime soon. He just worries his customers will run out of operational VCRs to play them on.
“They’re hard to find in good working order,” he said. “I can’t keep them in stock.”
O’Brien agrees.
“As long as there are people who are looking for an experience they can’t get on their phones, there’ll be a market for this stuff,” she said.
Maine VHS tape resources: Strange Maine is located at 578 Congress Street and is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. In Belfast, Mainers can still rent VHS tapes at Opera House Video. On Sunday, Dec. 17, George & Leon’s Restaurant in Westbrook will host a public VHS videotape exchange at 3 p.m., then show two films starting at 5 p.m.
