If heaven exists, I’d like to think it looks like Kim’s Video.
The legendary New York City video store, founded by businessman Yongman Kim, operated numerous locations around Manhattan from the late 1980s to the 2010s, but the best and biggest was the one on St. Mark’s Place, also known as “Mondo Kim’s,” which was three floors of pop-culture nirvana. The ground level was a record shop; the second floor sold movies and TV shows. The top level was the mother lode: A enormous video store with tens of thousands of titles — some of which were incredibly rare.
Besides the snobbiness of its clerks (which I know from first-hand experience, as both a Kim’s customer and an employee for about a year in the mid-2000s), Kim’s was best known for its mind-blowing rental selection — and for the hyper-specific way it categorized its movies, which were divided up into hundreds of sections. Most video stores had areas devoted to horror, but how many had 18 different horror sections, including shelves dedicated to Frankenstein, Mummies, Stephen King movies, and “Little Bastards” (i.e. scary movies featuring creepy kids)?
While all the Kim’s outlets went belly up by 2014, the massive collection from Mondo Kim’s was recently rescued (from a tiny town in Italy … it’s a long story) by the Alamo Drafthouse, which now offers free rentals from the Kim’s library at its Lower Manhattan theater. At the grand opening of the new Kim’s last year, guests were given a goodie bag packaged inside an old VHS clamshell box. The back of the case lists all 461 of Kim’s genre categories in alphabetical order.
I recently came across my Kim’s clamshell, and I realized: For video store and physical media aficionados, this is kind of a valuable document. I’ve tried looking up Kim’s genres before, but there isn’t a comprehensive list online, at least that I can find. So I’m reprinting it here. Take note that while the box claims it contains “461 lurid genres!” I only count 454; the listing mistakenly includes several entries twice. But who am I to argue with the greatest video store in history?
Kim’s Video Genres
’80s Teen Classics
Action-Asia
Actionne Rigatoni (Italian Action)
Action
Action-Comic Books
Action-Italy
Action-Spy
Adventure
Adventure-Disaster
Adventure-Tarzan
Animation
Animation-Adult
Animation-Pixar
Anime
Art
Arts
Australia/Ozploitation
Blaxploitation
Comedy
Comedy-Abbott and Costello
Comedy-Classic
Comedy-Early Cinema/Silent
Comedy-European
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Comedy-Indie
Comedy-Japan
Comedy-Keaton, Buster
Comedy-Laurel and Hardy
Comedy-Lloyd, Harold
Comedy-Marx Brothers
Comedy-Rom-Com
Comedy-Shirley Temple
Comedy-Slobs vs. Snobs
Comedy-Stand-Up
Comedy-Three Stooges
Crime
Crime-Giallo
Crime-International
Cult
Demonic Babies
Dir: Adamson, Al
Dir: Aldrich, Robert
Dir: Allen, Woody
Dir: Almodovar, Pedro
Dir: Altman, Robert
Dir: Anderson, Lindsay
Dir: Anderson, P.T.
Dir: Anderson, Wes
Dir: Antonioni, Michelangelo
Dir: Apted, Michael
Dir: Argeno, Dario
Dir: Ashby, Hal
Dir: Assayas, Olivier
Dir: Bakshi, Ralph
Dir: Bava, Mario
Dir: Bergman, Ingmar
Dir: Berkeley, Busby
Dir: Bertolucci, Bernardo,
Dir: Besson, Luc
Dir: Bigelow, Kathryn
Dir: Blank, Les
Dir: Blier, Bertrand
Dir: Boetticher, Budd
Dir: Bogdanovich, Peter
Dir: Boorman, John
Dir: Borowczyk, Walerian
Dir: Brass, Tinto
Dir: Breillat, Catherine
Dir: Bresson, Robert
Dir: Brooks, Mel
Dir: Broomfield, Nick
Dir: Browning, Tod
Dir: Buchanan, Larry
Dir: Bunuel, Luis
Dir: Burnett, Charles
Dir: Burns, Ken
Dir: Burton, Tim
Dir: Cameron, James
Dir: Campion, Jane
Dir: Capra, Frank
Dir: Carpenter, John
Dir: Cassavetes, John
Dir: Castellari, Enzo
Dir: Castle, William
Dir: Chabrol, Claude
Dir: Chang Cheh
Dir: Chaplin, Charles
Dir: Chen Kaige
Dir: Clair, Rene
Dir: Clark, Bob
Dir: Clement, Rene
Dir: Clouzot, Henri-Georges
Dir: Coen Brothers
Dir: Cohen, Larry
Dir: Coppola, Francis Ford
Dir: Corbucci, Sergio
Dir: Corman, Roger
Dir: Cox, Alex
Dir: Craven, Wes
Dir: Cronenberg, David
Dir: Cukor, George
Dir: Curtiz, Michael
Dir: D’Amato, Joe
Dir: Dante, Joe
Dir: Dardennes Brothers
Dir: Dassin, Jules
Dir: De La Iglesia, Alex
Dir: De Ossorio, Amando
Dir: De Palma, Brian
Dir: De Sica, Vittorio
Dir: Del Toro, Guillermo
Dir: DeMille, Cecil B.
Dir: Demme, Jonathan
Dir: Demy, Jacques
Dir: Denis, Claire
Dir: Di Leo, Fernando
Dir: Dmytryk, Edward
Dir: Donen, Stanley
Dir: Dreyer, Carl Theodor
Dir: Eastwood, Clint
Dir: Edwards, Blake
Dir: Egoyan, Atom
Dir: Eisenstein, Sergei
Dir: Fassbender, Rainer
Dir: Fellini, Federico
Dir: Ferrara, Abel
Dir: Ferreri, Marco
Dir: The Findlays
Dir: Ford, John
Dir: Fosse, Bob
Dir: Franco, Jess
Dir: Frankenheimer, John
Dir: Frears, Stephen
Dir: Friedkin, William
Dir: Fukasaku, Kinji
Dir: Fulci, Lucio
Dir: Fuller, Samuel
Dir: Gance, Abel
Dir: Gilliam, Terry
Dir: Godard, Jean-Luc
Dir: Gordon, Stuart
Dir: Gosha, Hideo
Dir: Gray, F. Gary
Dir: Green, David Gordon
Dir: Greenaway, Peter
Dir: Griffith, D.W.
Dir: Haneke, Michael
Dir: Harrington, Curtis
Dir: Hartley, Hal
Dir: Hathaway, Henry
Dir: Hawks, Howard
Dir: Haynes, Todd
Dir: Hellman, Monte
Dir: Herzog, Werner
Dir: Hill, Jack
Dir: Hitchcock, Alfred
Dir: Hooper, Tobe
Dir: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Dir: Hu, King
Dir: Hung, Sammo
Dir: Huston, John
Dir: Ichikawa, Kon
Dir: Jackson, Peter
Dir: Jaglom, Henry
Dir: Jarman, Derek
Dir: Jarmusch, Jim
Dir: Jeunet & Caro
Dir: Jewison, Norman
Dir: Jodorowsky, Alejandro
Dir: Kaurismaki, Aki
Dir: Kazan, Elia
Dir: KiaroStami, Abbas
Dir: Kieslowski, Krzysztof
Dir: Kim Ki-duk
Dir: Kitano, Takeshi
Dir: Kopple, Barbara
Dir: Korine, Harmony
Dir: Kramer, Stanley
Dir: Kubrick, Stanley
Dir: Kurosawa, Akira
Dir: Kurosawa, Kiyoshi
Dir: Lang, Fritz
Dir: Larraz, Jose Ramon
Dir: Lean, David
Dir: Leconte, Patrice
Dir: Lee, Ang
Dir: Lee, Spike
Dir: Leigh, Mike
Dir: Lelouch, Claude
Dir: Lenzi, Umberto
Dir: Leone, Sergio
Dir: Lester, Richard
Dir: Levinson, Barry
Dir: Lewis, Herschell Gordon
Dir: Linklater, Richard
Dir: Loach, Ken
Dir: Losey, Joseph
Dir: Lubitsch, Ernst
Dir: Lumet, Sidney
Dir: Lynch, David
Dir: Maddin, Guy
Dir: Malle, Louis
Dir: Mamet, David
Dir: Mann, Anthony
Dir: Margheriti, Antonio
Dir: Martino, Sergio
Dir: Maysles Brothers
Dir: Melville, Jean-Pierre
Dir: Merchant & Ivory
Dir: Metzger, Radley
Dir: Meyer, Russ
Dir: Miike, Takashi
Dir: Milestone, Lewis
Dir: Miller, George
Dir: Milligan, Andy
Dir: Minnelli, Vicente
Dir: Misumi, Kenji
Dir: Miyazaki, Hayao
Dir: Mizoguchi, Kenji
Dir: Moore, Michael
Dir: Morris, Errol
Dir: Murnau, F.W.
Dir: Nair, Mira
Dir: Nichols, Mike
Dir: Nolan, Christopher
Dir: Ozon, Francois
Dir: Ozu, Yasujiro
Dir: Pal, George
Dir: Park Chan-Wook
Dir: Parker, Alan
Dir: Parks, Gordon
Dir: Pasolini, Pier Paolo
Dir: Peckinpah, Sam
Dir: Penn, Arthur
Dir: Perry, Tyler
Dir: Plympton, Bill
Dir: Polanski, Roman
Dir: Pollack, Sydney
Dir: Powell, Michael
Dir: Raimi, Sam
Dir: Rankin & Bass
Dir: Ray, Nicholas
Dir: Ray, Satyajit
Dir: Reed, Carol
Dir: Resnais, Alain
Dir: Richardson, Tony
Dir: Riefenstahl, Leni
Dir: Rivette, Jacques
Dir: Roeg, Nicolas
Dir: Rohmer, Eric
Dir: Rollin, Jean
Dir: Romero, George
Dir: Rossellini, Roberto
Dir: Rozema, Patricia
Dir: Rudolph, Alan
Dir: Russell, Ken
Dir: Sarno, Joe
Dir: Saura, Carlos
Dir: Sayles, John
Dir: Schlesinger, John
Dir: Schlondorff, Volker
Dir: Scorsese, Martin
Dir: Scott, Ridley
Dir: Scott, Tony
Dir: Shinoda, Masahiro
Dir: Sidaris, Andy
Dir: Siegel, Don
Dir: Silver, Joan Micklin
Dir: Singleton, John
Dir: Sirk, Douglas
Dir: Soavi, Michele
Dir: Soderbergh, Steven
Dir: Sokurov, Aleksandr
Dir: Solondz, Todd
Dir: Spielberg, Steven
Dir: Steckler, Ray Dennis
Dir: Stevens, George
Dir: Stone, Oliver
Dir: Sturges, John
Dir: Sturges, Preston
Dir: Suzuki, Seijun
Dir: Szabo, Istvan
Dir: Tarantino, Quentin
Dir: Tarkovsky, Andrei
Dir: Tarr, Bela
Dir: Tati, Jacques
Dir: Tavernier, Bertrand
Dir: Taviani Brothers
Dir: Techine, Andre
Dir: Teshigahara, Hiroshi
Dir: To, Johnnie
Dir: Tornatore, Giuseppe
Dir: Truffaut, Francois
Dir: Tsai Ming-liang
Dir: Tsui Hark
Dir: Tsukamoto, Shinya
Dir: Vadim, Roger
Dir: Van Sant, Gus
Dir: Varda, Agnes
Dir: Verhoeven, Paul
Dir: Visconti, Luchino
Dir: Von Trier, Lars
Dir: Wajda, Andrzej
Dir: Walsh, Raoul
Dir: Warhol & Morrissey
Dir: Water, John
Dir: Watkins, Peter
Dir: Weir, Peter
Dir: Welles, Orson
Dir: Wenders, Wim
Dir: Wilder, Billy
Dir: Winterbottom, Michael
Dir: Wise, Robert
Dir: Wishman, Doris
Dir: Wong Kar-wai
Dir: Woo, John
Dir: Wood, Ed
Dir: Wyler, William
Dir: Zeffirelli, Franco
Dir: Zemeckis, Robert
Dir: Zhang Yimou
Dir: Zulawski, Andrzej
Disney
Documentary
Documentary-Biography
Documentary-Cinema
Documentary-esque
Documentary-Mondo
Documentary-Nature
Documentary-Science
Documentary-Sports
Documentary-War
Drafthouse Films
Drama
Drama-British
Drama-Classic
Drama-Indie
Drama-International
Drama-Romance
Early Cinema/Silent
Emanuellesploitation
Erotica
Experimental
Exploitation
Exploitation-Asia
Exploitation-Biker
Exploitation-Drugs
Exploitation-Tough Women
Family
Family-Muppets
Fantasy
Fantasy-Harryhausen, Ray
Fantasy-International
Fantasy-Jungle Thrills
Film Noir
Film Shorts
Found Footage Party
Genre
Giant Bikini Lady Covers
Horror
Horror-Asia
Horror-British
Horror-Classic
Horror-Frankenstein
Horror-Hammer
Horror-International
Horror-Italy
Horror-King, Stephen
Horror-Little Bastards
Horror-Mummies
Horror-NYC
Horror-Slasher
Horror-Spain
Horror-Vampires
Horror-Video Nasties
Horror-Werewolves
Horror-Zombie
Independent
International
International-Africa
International-Asia
International-Bollywood
International-Brazil
International-Canada
International-China
International-Czech
International-France
International-Germany
International-Greece
International-Iran
International-Israel
International-Italy
International-Japan
International-Korea
International-Mexico
International-Netherlands
International-New Zealand
International-Poland
International-Russia
International-Scandinavia
International-South America
International-Spain
International-Thailand
Just Dance!
Kaiju
Kids
LGBTQ+
Marital Arts
Martial Arts-Chan, Jackie
Martial Arts-Chow, Stephen
Martial Arts-Classic
Martial Arts-Hong Kong
Martial Arts-Japan
Martial Arts-Lee, Bruce
Martial Arts-Li, Jet
Martial Arts-Ninja
Martial Arts-Samurai
Martial Arts-Shaw Bros.
Martial Arts-Zatoichi
Mondo
Monkey Business
Music
Music-Elvis
Musical
Mystery
Mystery-Sherlock Holmes
News
Nitty Gritty NYC
Nunsploitation
NYC
NYC Documentary
NYC-Troma
Performance
Porn
Rollin’ With the Homies
Sci-Fi
Sci-Fi-International
Sci-Fi-Star Trek/Wars
Sexploitation
Shakespeare
Sharksploitation
Special Interest
Sports-Wrestling/UFC/Fighting
Television
Television-Asia
Television-British
Television-Comedy
Television-Kids
Television-Krofft, Sid and Marty
Television-Reality
Thriller
Thriller-International
War
Western
Western-Spaghetti
You can visit the Kim’s Video at the Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan.
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