This year’s Imagine festival theme, Ghost in the Feed, revolves around media. From radio to the internet and from television to AI: we hate it and we need it; we want to control it and let it control us. And with every new form of media, we secretly long for the old one – so in times of endless streaming, we’re longing for the good old video store. Club VHS (Ismay and Eli) set up their own little video store a year ago in the tiny bridge house at the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam-Noord, before moving to Eye. And they’re at Imagine with a pop-up store! In the basement of LAB111, you can hire VHS tapes and DVDs until 7 November. Got rid of your home player? No problem – they’ve got those too!
We spoke to Eli and Ismay about Club VHS’s origin story, their catalogue of over 3,000 titles (!) and their favourite grungy genre films.
Does this make you happy? Be sure to support their crowdfunding campaign so they can keep on going.
So, how did Club VHS come about?
Eli: ‘Ismay had been thinking about setting up a video store for a while. We started with a small box of DVDs and approached the Tolhuistuin. In the summer of 2025, we started out in the little 13m2 bridge house. It was an instant hit: our idea made more headlines than Brad Pitt!’
Ismay: ‘I was frustrated that there were so many films I couldn’t find, and figured I couldn’t be the only one. I created a Letterboxd wishlist of unstreamable films I wanted to watch, which later became Club VHS’s communal wishlist full of recommendations and requests from our community.’
Eli: ‘Many of our favourite films have vanished in expired rights and forgotten archives. And we’re fed up with streaming: too many platforms, too much scrolling and too few surprises because of algorithms and recommendations. And we were homesick for the Friday nights from our childhood.’
Ismay: ‘The idea of having our own video store made me really happy. Nice and grubby, with a little carpet on the floor, a long line at the counter – our spot at Eye is actually a bit too fancy, but we’re adding an edge to the museum!’
‘We just missed those Friday nights from our youth.’
Everyone’s always saying some films need to be seen on the big screen. But what type of film is actually great for watching at home?
Eli: ‘Genre films! And guilty pleasure girly films.’
Ismay: ‘Horror on VHS. Preferably Asian horror, in darkness, with a single candle and two friends. I also think some amateur or experimental films are great to watch at home, also to preserve our film heritage. Club VHS finds hidden gems and makes sure they don’t get lost. And a shorts night with friends in a living room that’s just a bit too cramped, followed by a house party is a LOT of fun.’
Did you add a lot of titles to the collection yourselves?
Eli:’We’ve certainly travelled far and wide to collect boxes and boxes of DVDs for our collection. We now have over 3,000 films and are still checking out charity shops every month. Lots of people donated their films to us. Some people have even started searching for specific films from our Letterboxd list. It’s like collecting Pokémons!’
‘Several people started dating after meeting in the store.’
What’s the worst film in the catalogue?
Eli: ‘The worst one? Just one? That’s almost impossible with all the weird 90s stuff we’ve got.‘
Ismay: ‘The Room, that’s both the worst and best. We’ve also got the book about the film, with fun facts like that Tommy didn’t want to use the studio toilets so built his own on set. Another bad film that’s not to be missed: David Lynch’s Dune, the one he was ashamed of. That needs to go on your watchlist.’
Foto: Jaimy Korbee
What does Club VHS at Imagine look like?
Ismay: ‘We created a pop-up video store for Imagine, a mini version of our store in Eye. We’re adding some extra nostalgia to the festival with a curated selection to match Imagine and this year’s themes, like REC, The Naked Lunch, Scream, Ringu and more.’
Eli: ‘It’s the same as back in the day: browse covers for thirty minutes and take home a film that may surprise you. During Imagine, you can rent a film for a week and bring it back before the festival ends. If you rent something on the last day, you can return it to LAB111 or our store in Eye.’
Are you genre fans yourselves?
Eli: ‘Every once in a while! I actually interned at Imagine once, it was fun. I love cyberpunk (Hackers!) and sci-fi (Contact!), but also psychological thrillers from the 90s, like The Silence of the Lambs.’
Ismay: ‘I’m a big science-fiction fan. I think it’s fantastic (hehe) to look at people, human behaviour, society and global shizzle through our own lens. We’re often so focused on ourselves, like in the way we think of aliens as having human features, and relationships similar to ours. I really enjoy sci-fi films based on books: Ik Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Dune, Arrival, Le Planéte Sauvage, Blade Runner. More recently? Michael Middelkoop’s Straatcoaches vs Aliens. It made me laugh because it plays with clichés. I hope there’s more Dutch sci-fi on the way.’
What’s your favourite film from the Imagine catalogue?
Eli: ‘Scream & Jennifer’s Body. And the weirdest film ever: Naked Lunch … WTF was that?!’
Ismay: ‘Too many to call! But I’ll go with District 9. I’m a huge fan of Neil Blomkamp and his Oats Studios videos. They’re on Youtube, so you don’t need a video store card to see them. Coraline is also one of my favourites. I want everything Leika Studios has ever made! DIY, stopmotion and animatronics need to be celebrated in our analogue home.’
What was your favourite video store when you were young?
Eli: ‘I wouldn’t say favourite, but it was the best option in an otherwise drab environment: the store in Diemen Centrum, where I grew up.’
Ismay: ‘I was raised in Monnickendam, which had a Videoland. In summer, my parents used to rent as many films as they could for 100 Guilders, so I could watch them with my friends. I remember seeing I Know What You Did Last Summer during a slumber party, despite everyone being way too young. Thankfully it wasn’t that scary.’
What was your favourite film to rent?
Eli: ‘Baby’s Day Out when I was a kid. In my teens I’d rent all the Sex and the City boxes with my friends.’
Ismay: ‘We had The Silence of the Lambs and Scream at home, so I’d bring them to school with me. We used to watch them in the music room on one of those classic tv’s in a metal cabinet. I also binged on Shrek, Panic Room, War of the Worlds, Notting Hill, Cruel Intentions, Step Up, Blair Witch Project, Mean Girls and Scary Movie. Oh and all the original Asian versions of horror films: Ringu, The Eye, Tales of two Sisters…much better than the remakes.’
What’s your favourite dvd or VHS-intro?
Ismay: ‘The classic blue BREIN-intro. But I also really like the dvd menu’s for Phonebooth, Shrek and The Fly. They’re really funny. The Fly menu has a fly swatter instead of a pointer.’
Eli: ‘I also really love the dvd menu’s, they can be really fun, interactive and weird. En I adore the NVPI VHS-tune. It’s such a banger!’
What’s your favourite video store memory?
Eli: ‘Organising a slumber party, renting a scary movie, eating too much candy and watching the film ten more times after that.’
Ismay: ‘Haha here we go again – our love for slumber parties. I can also recall the feeling of standing in the horror section in the video story, reading the cover of a DVD, and then sensing how you were all on your own in a far corner of this huge, empty video store. I’d worry that some crazy, creepy ghost chick would come out from behind a cupboard or something. I’d always rush back to find my friends. Also, my little sister once shouted ‘Mum, that man’s hiding a DVD under his coat!’, because she thought he was stealing it – but the man was just hoping to rent an adult movie without anyone noticing.’’
And what’s your favourite story from your own video store so far?
Ismay: ‘Two men in their eighties came by to drop off a DVD encyclopaedia they’d found at a library and bought for us. Another nice anecdote is that several people started dating after meeting in the store. I’m ready for the first Club VHS wedding – please don’t let us down!’
Club VHS can be found in the LAB111 basement from 4 – 8pm every day during Imagine except Sunday.
