location: 619 Queen Street West
(sister store – the original location 605 Markham Street)
phone number: 416.504.9116
sister phone number: (416) 588-6674
hours: Mon.-Sat. 12:03 pm-10:58 pm, Sun. 12:06 pm-9:57 pm
payment methods: Visa, Debit and Cash
price range: New releases $4.50 tax in – 2 nights, Old Titles $3.50 tax in – 7 nights

After 10 years at the Queen St. location and 13 years on Markham, Suspect Video is a Toronto landmark along the lines of Sonic Boom even the Silver Snail. Keep your eyes open or you’ll miss it - the street façade makes no attempt to impress. Once you enter, the interior does not do much to change your first impression. While Toronto’s shiny consumerist heart expands ever westward, Suspect Video is decidedly un-glossy and happy to keep it that way. With over 32,000 film titles in stock, they can well afford to value function over fashion.

Suspect Video is much more than just a video rental shop. They sell DVD’s and other film related merchandise such as comics, magazines, books, and postcards and, of course, action figures. My favorite find was an Italian CD entitled Italian Blend VOL. 1, Music from Italian Cinema 1969 – 1979. You can pick up an action figure from the Family Guy for about $4.99 and spend as much as $79.99 for Pumpkin Head. Buddy Christ, the parody religious icon from Kevin Smith’s film Dogma (1999) goes for $17.99 and is the store’s bestseller with thousands sold to date! The over all selection of magazines and DVDs for sale are outside of the mainstream, so this is a great place to go when you want to discover something new or avant garde. It’s also a good place to find gifts for eccentric friends and family.

It is not an exaggeration to state that the clerks are all avid cinefiles and happy to share their enthusiasm for film. With the assistance of a staff member, I chose to buy (Audition) Ôdishon (1999), a Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Miike. Yet, I was tempted by the South Korean “classic” Janghwa Hongryeon (2003), A Tale of Two Sisters directed by Ji-woon Kim. In the end, it was the $10.00 price difference that broke the tie. The sales associate stressed that stores like Suspect support the process of foreign releases in Canada by supplying such international titles during the grey market stage and feeding the buzz.

It is important to point out that Suspect Video has a somewhat limited DVD sales selection as they concentrate on rentals. Unlike their exceptionally diverse rental selection, the sales section is very much specialized and Asian cinema-centered. The Italian sales DVD section was restricted to soft-core. This being said, Suspect is a great place to buy Asian genre films such as Gwoemul (the Host 2006) by South Korean director Joon-ho Bong or Oldboy (2003) by Chan-wook. With a current trend towards Russian cinema and Indian cinema, Suspect is expanding the sales section as demand is changing.

Suspect Video has carved a niche by being selective about what they acquire in their film library. Customers know that Suspect is the place to rent rare and obscure titles along with cult classics and the best of the mainstream.While their items for sale are definitely an asset, by far the draw for Suspect is its expansive, international and discriminating rental collection.
Vanessa Vanzieleghem