Videoheaven

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Videoheaven

Released Jul 2

3h 0m

Documentary

History

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Popcornmeter

80%

Tomatometer

20 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Sociocultural hub, consumer mecca, and source of existential dread; the video rental store forever changed the way we interact with movies. With narration by Maya Hawke over footage culled from hundreds of sources (from TV commercials to blockbuster films), Alex Ross Perry's VIDEOHEAVEN tells the story of an industry's glorious, confusing, novel, sometimes seedy, but undeniably seismic impact on American movie culture.

Ben Kenigsberg

New York Times

The material will be irresistible to any cinephile who has spent countless hours in these spaces, and a critic would do well to admit susceptibility.

Jul 2, 2025

Full Review

Taylor Williams

Slant Magazine

More than a mere cipher for the world around it, the video store becomes something much more self-reflexive across Videoheaven’s three-hour running time.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 2, 2025

Full Review

Richard Brody

The New Yorker

With clips from more than a hundred movies, Perry channels an obsession into a fascinating encyclopedic form.

Jun 7, 2025

Full Review

Phil Walsh

Geek Vibes Nation

Videoheaven does its thesis by asking what happened to the video store, but this film is not only a documentary. It is an engaging and ultimately tragic account of what happened to a seemingly unstoppable empire.

Rated: 9/10

Jul 13, 2025

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Jim Vorel

Paste Magazine

As a documentary, it can’t really overcome its sheer indulgence, lack of timely edits, sloppy mistakes and oddly personal seeming grievances.

Rated: 5.5/10

Jul 8, 2025

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Erik Childress

Movie Madness Podcast

The film is a masterfully edited cornucopia of video store representation in cinema that is hypnotic for anyone who grew up through this era. As for the essay part, its best to remember that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 8, 2025

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Stephen C

Real footage in 3 hours flat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/02/25

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Alex Ross Perry

Director

Maya Hawke

Self

Maya Hawke

Narrator

Alex Ross Perry

Writer

Alex Ross Perry

Screenwriter

Andrew Adair

Producer

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Synopsis

Sociocultural hub, consumer mecca, and source of existential dread; the video rental store forever changed the way we interact with movies. With narration by Maya Hawke over footage culled from hundreds of sources (from TV commercials to blockbuster films), Alex Ross Perry's VIDEOHEAVEN tells the story of an industry's glorious, confusing, novel, sometimes seedy, but undeniably seismic impact on American movie culture.

Director: Alex Ross Perry
Producer: Andrew Adair, Jake Perlin, Daniel Herbert, Alex Ross Perry
Screenwriter: Alex Ross Perry, Alex Ross Perry
Distributor: Cinema Conservancy
Production Co: Cinema Conservancy
Genre: Documentary, History
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 2, 2025, Limited
Runtime: 3h 0m