A dad and movie nerd constructed an enviable '80s-inspired video rental shop in his basement — complete with laser discs and an 'adult' section behind saloon doors

• For the past five years, an Atlanta dad has been renovating his basement into an eighties-inspired video store.
• Anthony Sant'Anselmo, an animator for "South Park," has designed several rooms in his basement in an eighties aesthetic.

Behind a secret door disguised as a bookshelf on the ground level of an Atlanta-area home lies a magical and ongoing construction project fueled by nostalgia and a healthy helping of obsession.

For the past five years, 46-year-old Anthony Sant'Anselmo has been transforming his basement into a video rental store from the eighties. While not functional, the space is meant to commemorate the now-defunct mom-and-pop shops that dotted small-town America before Blockbuster and Hollywood Video wiped them out, he told Insider.

Sant'Anselmo, a father of three, showcased the stunning space in a viral TikTok this week, taking 2.2 million viewers on a trip down memory lane.

Sant'Anselmo is an animator for the satirical TV show "South Park" and an aspiring screenwriter. In 2018, he kickstarted the project when he moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta to settle down with his wife. They'd never had a basement before, and she grudgingly struck a deal with him: Sant'Anselmo could have free reign of the basement if she oversaw decor for the rest of the house.

Mondo Video, as his store is called — a nod to the subversive film genre — was in some ways inspired by the childhood Sant'Anselmo never had. Growing up in a religious home, he wasn't allowed to see PG-rated movies like "Gremlins" and "Ghostbusters," he told Insider.

He also wanted to teach his kids about a relic of the past and said the project has become a critical creative outlet.

"I've been writing screenplays since probably 2000 and it's been hard to sell one," he said. "This whole video store is kind of me doing a hail mary of artistic expression to see something of mine physically manifest."

Sant'Anselmo has bonded '80s babies on TikTok

Behind the secret door, down a moodily-lit staircase, lies the "main room" of Mondo Video. It's outfitted with a custom neon sign of the store's name scrawled in Sant'Anselmo's handwriting.

The details are fastidious, and the construction has, at times, been all-consuming. Laying the black-and-white checkered floors was "the most difficult thing thing I've ever done," Sant'Anselmo said, and the faux brick paneling along the staircase took four months to finish.

All told, Sant'Anselmo estimates he's spent thousands of hours and, financially, "around the low five figures" on the project — a total that he believes is "not as much as people think."

That's because most of the fixtures and furniture – including wire video racks, a checkout counter (stocked with movie snacks), and hundreds of VHS tapes – have been culled from thrift shops, Goodwill stores, Facebook Marketplace vendors, Craigslist, and eBay.

And his efforts are paying off big-time online. In fact, his enviable basement has bonded '80s babies on TikTok, an older generation that seldom gets to see their childhoods reflected on an app dominated by Gen Z users.

"This [is] awesome. I'm extremely jealous," one top commenter wrote. "I want an entire town that is stuck in the 80s."

"Kids now a days will never understand the feeling I just had in my heart seeing this," another added.

Sant'Anselmo told Insider that after he began the project, he realized he couldn't stop. "I started creeping the theme into other rooms," he said, "and that's when it got really fun."

Before he knew it, there was a kids section he calls "Mondo Kideo," a laser disc wall in the family's home theater, a sports-themed movie room in the gym, and an "adults only" section behind saloon doors hat houses "cheesy porn parodies."

Behind a second secret door is a functioning kitchenette with shelves full of culinary-themed eighties movies.

There are two rooms Sant'Anselmo hasn't shown on social media yet, he said: A home office where he works remotely and an unfinished space where he plans to construct an eighties arcade.

While he's been able to feed his passions with the project, sharing it has inspired TikTok viewers to reminisce about a past before smartphones.

"Damn, this got me," one commenter wrote. "I miss life before smartphones and streaming...movie night was an experience and a time to spend with family and friends."