Fresh Loaf

Videodrome, the Poncey-Highland movie rental store that’s been a go-to for film buffs since 1997, was robbed Friday night.

Owner Matt Booth tells CL that a male suspect entered the store at approximately 10:45 p.m. and browsed film selections. After purchasing a movie, the suspect allegedly displayed a gun to the clerk and demanded the contents of the register. (Booth declined to say how much cash the suspect took.)

No one was injured during the robbery. An Atlanta Police Department spokesman told CL he was working on providing more details about the case. We’ll update when we hear word.

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For six years, Tommy Morgan has worked at Videodrome, an independent video-rental store on North Highland Avenue specializing in titles movies buffs can’t find at chains.

“Not like Blockbuster” is how Morgan describes the store.

“If there’s a movie I think we should have, we get it. The store is like a film archive. I’m almost a librarian.”

“[Business] definitely picks up over the holidays. When it’s nice out, our business drops significantly.”

“If there’s an ice storm, that’s the best [rental] day of the year … if the power isn’t out.”

“Recommending comedies is the hardest thing to do. What you think is funny isn’t always funny to other people.”

A popular misconception, Morgan says, is that working at Videodrome is like Clerks, referring to the 1994 cult hit film.

Store employees do not judge customers by their taste in movies, Morgan says. “I don’t think about it. You give me a tag for a movie, I get the movie. Everybody watches good movies and bad movies.”

He says his friends wrongly assume he’s snobbish about the movies he’ll watch. “People assume I wouldn’t want to watch what they’d consider a dumb movie.”

Morgan’s holiday film tradition: “I watch Planet of the Vampires every Thanksgiving in the store.”

On the movies they watch in the store: “Even if it’s PG, the [most offensive] part of the film always comes on when someone walks in the store.”

Asked how intown gentrification has altered the store’s stock over the years, Morgan says simply, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

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