I had the same thing with video games. My dad got a free promotional copy of Morrowind from Fry's. I didn't have a computer/ laptop, but every summer, my dad would let me use his on our road trips. That game made me want to learn so much about anthropology, biology, history, mythology, etc... I played for hundreds of hours and never even came close to finishing.
And I'm actively trying to go back to that. I ripped all of our old DVDs and Blurays and cancelled most of our streaming services. I told my kids that we can buy pretty much anything they want (so they don't miss out), provided it's not an exclusive.
The net result is that my kids really like Clue (1985) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008).
I had an aunt with the Disney channel and HBO that recorded almost everything. It was like a home video store at her house, probably hundreds of tapes that she let friends and family borrow. She have me a spare copy of the Disney animated Robin Hood with all the animals and I must have watched it a hundred times.
I really liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. My parents got it for me on VHS at some point and I watched it so much it literally wore out the tape. Then my parents got it for me on DVD.
Can't even watch it on streaming because they only ever have the subtitled version, and the dub is vastly superior for the dialogue. The subs cut so much flavor and poetry out of the dialogue that it becomes super boring and just the basic gist of what's going on.
Before that, the "obscure" VHS my parents had that I watched a lot was Monty Python's Holy Grail. We spent years trying to understand what the "witch" says when she is found guilty and only knew for certain what it was years later when they released a special edition DVD and we watched it with the subtitles on. "It's a fair cop."
We considered it to be on the same level as Ghostbusters. The ending showed a monster as a stowaway on the old Porkchop Express. We all couldn't wait for the inevitable sequel where Jack Burton got into some Big Trouble somewhere else. Only found out as an adult much later that it was a really unsuccessful movie and there was no way they'd make a sequel.
I haven't watched Ice Age in twenty years but if you put it on the TV I bet I could quote every line from it. My mom loved that movie when we saw it in theater so we got it on DVD, then we must have watched it a hundred times after that. It was her favorite movie by far.
We also watched a good bit of Madagascar when that one came out but Ice Age was the enduring classic.
An American Tale. Watched it a ton in St Vincent, then I moved to America as a child so there was a close feeling to it. (Just to be clear, I was born in Brooklyn, NY, but my family moved out of the states to St Vincent within 2 years. So my earliest memories are not from the US, despite being born here).
My parents made me a VHS tape with like 9 movies on it and I would watch it constantly. I was a sickly child, so I was stuck in bed a lot. That tape was great.
You kids with your fancy, newfangled VHS machines. When I was a kid we had two channels of black and white TV and programming started at three in the afternoon.
Toooomorrow tomorrow I love ya, tomorrow, you're only a day aaaawayyyyy -the song I hate yet is imprinted on me. Thank you younger sibling for that. It was also mom that broke that CD, RIP (Rest in pieces you over played movie)
For me it's lethal weapon 1, my uncle would play it at family gatherings. He has this sick sound system at the time and you can hear the brass casings hit the ground it's awesome.
When I was a kid, my parents wouldn't let me stay up late enough to watch Adult Swim, but they would let me set the VCR to record it on a few blank tapes. And that's how I first watched anime that wasn't on Toonami.
For me the more "obscure" ones were The Indian and the Cupboard, Small Soldiers, Jingle All The Way, James and the Giant Peach. Not that I referenced it hard or anything.
We were also defined by Sunday spaghetti westerns, and Kung Fu Theater. We thought all bad guys were uglier than the good guys, and every problem could be solved by shooting or kicking someone.
I have a distinct memory of a 3rd grade project where we made posters about ourselves. My favorite TV show was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The reaction was something like “that’s not really a TV show but we’ll allow it.” I certainly watched it on our TV, probably with a VHS recording of it being on broadcast TV.
Demolition Man for some fucking reason, also Running Man. I dont even know, also my grandmother gets the two mixed up and mishmashed in her head. We still make weird taco bell references.
For me it was some train movie made with model trains with a conductor that went "oh no" and a movie about talking real life construction equipment when I was young.
Then when I was a bit older, we watched Galavants and Willy the Sparrow.
I wonder if anyone else on the fediverse has even heard of these 😅
Ill go ye one better. When i was a kid there was a movie theater in ft worth tx called Isis. They had 1 dollar matinees that us kids were allowed to sit in. Got watch s lot of blacksploitation flicks and really odd "c" grade scifi.
I believe it's also partially responsible for my young and lifelong rebellion against someone complimenting my appearance. Fine. You find me nice to look at. That's a hill a beans. What else.
I had many such movies. The most obscure among them probably being "The child who wanted to be a Bear", a Franco-Danish animation film which doesn't even have a Wikipedia page in English. (It was already DVD and not tape tho)
Oh ho, and yet I, a parent, can still put my thumb on the streaming scale. My daughter right now is watching old Nick Jr. Cartoons, playing Mario 64 (as well as a 2yo anyway), and the untitled goose game.
She also watched old seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm with me since I had it running, though I probably don't want her to adopt Larry David vibes...
I had weirdly encyclopedic knowledge of old Finnish comedies because my late father was into that stuff.
Also: Not an obscure film, but to me, the definitive version of Terminator 2 was the one I recorded off TV. I have it on Blu-Ray, but it's just not the same.
Was lucky enough to get a VHS copy of Lupin the Third and the Castle of Cagliostro when I was like 7 or 8. Man I must have watched that tape over 100 times easily.
If anything, we have more access to obscure content. We have obscure movies we've found streaming and watch repeatedly. We love Trolljegeren and Interstate 60.
We also still have some weirdo discs too like the live action Mario movie.
I'll join in on the obscure movies that defined my childhood and teen years...
Texas Across the River, Warriors of the Wind (horrible cut and dub of Nauiscaa of the Valley of the Wind), Sea Prince and Fire Child (we rented the tape so much that eventually they sold it to us because we were also the last ones to rent it), Anime version of The Little Mermaid, animated Hobbit and Return of the King, Fairies, Mio and the Land of Far Away
... That's all of the obscure ones I can think of at the moment.