A deep dive into Stranger Things’ video store

The following contains no story spoilers for Stranger Things.

As a white male rapidly approaching 40 with a penchant for 80s sci-fi and horror, I am squarely in Stranger Things‘ target demographic. While the show has always purposely drenched itself in nostalgia and pop culture references from the decade in which it is set, season three saw these references go into overdrive. Much of this was due to the insanely elaborate and detailed Starcourt Mall set, which many have already commented on in regards to its authenticity, with era appropriate logos of several mall standards (such as The Gap and Orange Julius) being prominently displayed. The brief scene in a supermarket also served as a nostalgia injection for many, thanks to several shots of 80s brands, including some favorite high-sugar licensed-property cereals being flashed on the screen.

For me though, the biggest nostalgia-bomb in the show came at the end, when two characters visit a video store. My family owned and operated a video store for most of the 80s and into the 90s, so whenever I get to see one on-screen, I always want to get my pause button ready just to see how many of the old VHS tapes I can recognize, and this was no exception. So, what VHS classics did the makers of Stranger Things deem worthy for inclusion into their video store? And were all of them era-appropriate? Let’s take a look.

Prepare to be impressed by my ability to identify out-of-focus VHS box art.

When the two characters walk in, we’re treated to a shot of the front of the store. As was the case with many video stores, the front windows featured several posters for new and upcoming releases. Here, we can see posters for Firestarter, Sixteen Candles, and Scarface.

This scene takes place in October of 1985. So, how accurate is this? Firestarter came out in 1984, May of 1984 to be precise. Given that the window between theatrical and VHS releases was much longer in the early 80s (sometimes over a year), it’s pretty likely that Firestarter was either a new release or about to be released on video at that time. Ditto for Sixteen Candles. It also came out in May of 1984 (a week after Firestarter to be precise).

Scarface is a bit different. Scarface was released to theaters in the tail-end of 1983 and it bombed, hard. As such, the window between its theatrical showing and its VHS release was much smaller. The film was put out on VHS tape in the summer of 1984. So by October of 1985, it had been on video for over a year. However, it was a HUGE release. the first movie to do better on home video than in the theater, so it still being prominently displayed in the store’s front window makes sense.

Once we enter the store and the two characters approach the counter, we see a couple of miniature standees, which were commonly seen in stores at the time to promote upcoming and new releases. One is for The Outsiders, the 1983 film starring Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise and every other 80s dude you’d wanna bone. That came out in theaters in early 1983, probably released on video a year later. Not exactly a new release, but not unrealistic. Some movie stores would keep those little standees around forever. Looking to the right, we can barely make out another standee. This one features a man holding a bloody axe. The word “alone” can be made out, but the rest of the text is a bit blurry.

That is a standee for the 1982 horror movie Alone In The Dark, which starred Jack Palance, Martin Landau, and Donald Pleasence. A forgotten classic for sure. I don’t know if the movie was well-known enough to prompt a standee on the counter, but it certainly checks out from a timeline perspective. An independent movie that came out in 1982 would probably be getting a wide video release a couple years later, after it ran its course across theaters state-by-state. Much easier to make out is the poster for Steve Martin’s The Jerk. Originally released in 1979, it’s hard to understand why the store have a poster of it. But who knows, the owner of the store could’ve been a fan. Between the poster and the standee, we see our first glimpse of some VHS tapes proper. On top, we got Sixteen Candles and below that there are some copies of Supergirl.

Supergirl came out in theaters in 1984. It was probably a new release on video around October of 1985. However, the box that they’re using here is wrong. When it first came out on tape, the box featured a prominent, bright yellow USA Home Video logo on it. These boxes in the store are from a later re-release of the tape which came years later.

In another shot we get a blurry view of the store’s New Release section. On the top row I make out the cover to the early Tom Hanks comedy Bachelor Party, another 1984 film that was probably a new release in October. Below that, I can barely make out another tape featuring a man in white. That is the tape for The Flamingo Kid, came out in theaters in December of 1984. If it wasn’t on video in October of 1985, it was close to it. And, of course, in front of the new release section we can see a display for National Lampoon’s Vacation, which came out in July of 1983 and was on video at this time.

Also on that side of the store we can barely make out a blurry poster behind a character’s head. That’s the poster for Private School, a 1983 sex comedy with Phoebe Cates (who is repeatedly mentioned throughout this season). Not a new release on home video in October of 1984, but as this season established, dudes loved Phoebe Cates. A sex comedy with her would be a big renter, so it’s very accurate that the video store would have a poster of it even years after it’s initial release.

The next shot finally features a complete self, so we can really see a good selection of movies.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what the first movie on the top shelf is (Drain pointed out it is Valley Girl!). But next to that are two copies of The Incredible Shrinking Woman, followed by a very easy-to-read copy of Animal House. After that, there’s a copy of Steve Martin’s The Man With Two Brains and a copy of Trading Places. The last tape is a generic box with no title.

On the second row there are two copies of Car Wash, followed by a copy of another Richard Pryor comedy, Bustin’ Loose. It’s impossible to make out the next one due to the glare, but 48 hrs. is easy to see. To the right of that is The Lonely Guy, yet another Steve Martin movie.

On the third row you have the Mr. T classic D.C. Cab with two movies next to it that are nigh-impossible to figure out thanks to the wicked glare on their plastic sleeves. However, it is easy to see that the next three tapes are all copies of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. And below them we got easy to see copies of Mad Max and Mr. Mom, next to two copies of Zapped and a copy of Truck Turner. Unfortunately, the final row is cropped off a bit and even harder to make out than the rest. I can manage to see Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, (more Steve Martin!) and a copy of Five Deadly Venoms.

Since many of these tapes are easier to see than the rest of the stuff in the store, I can assume that the creators went out of their way to find stuff that would’ve actually been in a video store circa October 1985. And they did a good job! All of these movies (at least the ones I could identify) were available on video in October of 1985.

HOWEVER, there are still a few mistakes. For example. The copy of The Man With Two Brains appears to be in a standard VHS box, but all early Warner Bros. titles were shipped in oversized “clamshell” boxes that took up more shelf real estate. That copy is probably from a later date.

This is also the case with a lot of the tapes on the bottom two rows. Yes, Mad Max was on video in 1985, but it sure as hell wasn’t in that box yet. That box is from a much later re-release. Earlier VHS boxes just featured the original poster art and made little mention of Mel Gibson, as he was not yet famous in the states. Those copies of Five Deadly Venoms and Truck Turner weren’t out until the mid-90s!

Finally, behind the big shelf, we get a glimpse of some other out-of-focus titles. We can see a copy of Tron in a another not-era appropriate box (Disney films were always in clamshell boxes). Next to it is another generic box, followed by two more that are just too blurry for me to make out. However, I can see that the one in the middle is clearly (for me anyways) Tank, a James Gardner movie from 1984. Next to that are two more that I can’t make out.

All in all, a very impressive effort by the makers of the show! While I first thought that this scene would be loaded with obvious flubs and mistakes, only a few minor ones slipped by. I hope that we get to see more of this store in season four, I certainly have my pause button ready to over-analyze it all over again! I have this encyclopedic knowledge of early VHS box art in my head, might as well put it to good use.

And by the way, if you’re interested in hearing me talk about video stores, check out this episode of Retronauts, where I wax nostalgic about the glory days of VHS with Bob Mackey and Jeremy Parish.

Note: An original version of this post made a very egregious mistake as to when this scene took place. It has since been corrected, thanks to a mention by a very polite commenter.