The streaming era has given us many things – limitless choice, watch parties, about six million true-crime documentaries – but it’s still very easy to feel nostalgic for the golden age of the video store.
There’s good news, then, for anyone who misses that sensation of striding into their local Blockbuster to peruse shelves of videos in search of that perfect Friday night watch.
Two UK software engineers have launched a new website that reinvents the video store experience for the streaming era.
The handiwork of twin brothers Patrick and Oliver Evans, BingeBrowse (originally Bingebuster) is an algorithm-busting way to peruse the films on your Prime Video, Netflix, Paramount+, Hulu, Tubi, Apple TV, Peacock and Disney+ accounts via any easy-to-browse interface. There’s even a family-friendly tab that will cut out all the hard-R stuff.
‘I feel like our audience has really responded to the nostalgia of revisiting the video stores of their past, but also to having a chance to browse streaming sites without the constant invisible hand of the algorithm,’ explains Oliver Evans. ‘It’s something both Patrick and I have fond memories of as children too – being 27 years old we just about remember the last days of video stores here in the UK.’
BingeBrowse recreates the video store experience right down to the windows and return box. You can toggle around the store, zeroing in on on new releases and searching by genre – action, romance, classics, horror, etc – and hit the ‘restock’ tab to refresh the films on display. Clicking on a video cover will take you straight to the relevant streaming site. It’s a lot more fun than an endless scroll through one the streaming platforms.
‘We originally created thecriterioncloset.com, a recreation of the Criterion Closet that fans seemed to really love,’ says Evans, ‘and we felt we could carry that technology over to something with broader appeal – which led us to the “90s Video Store for Streaming” concept.’
Head to bingebrowse.net and give it a spin. And the best news? None of the films will be out on loan.
Needs some tips for your next browse? Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.
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