diff --git a/video_metadata/views/tmdb.py b/video_metadata/views/tmdb.py
index 637a158..c8c0f56 100644
--- a/video_metadata/views/tmdb.py
+++ b/video_metadata/views/tmdb.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from datetime import date, datetime
 from enum import IntEnum
 import json
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
 import re
 from sqlite3 import DatabaseError
 import ssl
@@ -12,8 +14,8 @@ from urllib.error import URLError, HTTPError
 import urllib.parse
 import urllib.request
 
-from flask import Blueprint, current_app, flash, Flask, jsonify, request, redirect, \
-    render_template, Response, url_for
+from flask import Blueprint, current_app, flash, Flask, jsonify, make_response, request, \
+    redirect, render_template, Response, url_for
 
 from .. import util
 from .. import db
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ TMDB_TV_LINK_URL = 'https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/'
 TMDB_POSTER_PREFIX = 'https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154'
 VALID_IMAGE_EXTENSIONS = ('.jpg', '.png', '.svg')
 DEFAULT_POSTER_IMAGE = 'no_poster_w154.jpg'
+LOCAL_POSTER_PATH = 'image_cache'
 
 
 ####################
@@ -78,7 +81,7 @@ class view_result:
     overview: str = ''
     genre_ids: List[int] = field(default_factory=list)
     original_language: str = ''
-    poster_path: str = 'no_image.png'
+    poster_path: str = ''
     tmdb_link: str = ''
 
 # TODO: flask 1.1 adds support for JSON encoding dataclasses
@@ -279,26 +282,54 @@ def create_path_mapping():
     return jsonify({'errors':errors, 'message':message})
 
 
+@bp.route('/images')
 @bp.route('/images/<string:image_name>')
 def cache_image(image_name:str = ''):
-    current_app.logger.debug(f'image_name: {image_name}')
-
-    if image_name != '':
-        s = re.sub(r'/', '', image_name)
-        ext = re.compile(r'.[a-zA-Z]{3}$').search(image_name).group(0)
-        print(f'ext: "{ext}"')
-
-        if not ext in VALID_IMAGE_EXTENSIONS:
-            print('oops')
-        else:
-            print(f'seems okay: {ext}')
-
-        url = f'{TMDB_POSTER_PREFIX}/{s}'
-
-    #res = Response(json.dumps(results, cls=result_encoder))
-    #res.headers.set('Content-Type', 'application/json')
-    #return str(f'image_name: {image_name}, url: {url}')
-    return redirect(url_for('static', filename=DEFAULT_POSTER_IMAGE))
+    # validate image name
+    if (image_name == ''
+            or re.search(r'[^ a-zA-z0-9./]', image_name)
+            or not Path(image_name).suffix in VALID_IMAGE_EXTENSIONS):
+        current_app.logger.error(f'invalid image name: {image_name}')
+        return redirect(url_for('static', filename=DEFAULT_POSTER_IMAGE))
+
+    # look for image in cache folder
+    local_dir = Path(current_app.instance_path).joinpath(LOCAL_POSTER_PATH)
+    image = Path(image_name).name
+    p = local_dir.joinpath(image)
+    current_app.logger.debug(f'checking for local path: {p}')
+
+    if not p.exists():
+        # make request for remote image
+        response = util.URLResponse
+
+        if util.getURL(f'{TMDB_POSTER_PREFIX}/{image}', response, current_app.logger):
+            # store remote image
+            current_app.logger.debug(f'content-type for {image}: {response.content_type}')
+            try:
+                fp = open(p, 'wb')
+                fp.write(response.body)
+                fp.close()
+            except OSError as e:
+                current_app.logger.error(e)
+                return redirect(url_for('static', filename=DEFAULT_POSTER_IMAGE))
+
+    # redirect to saved image
+    try:
+        fp = open(p, 'rb')
+        image_bytes = fp.read()
+    except OSError as e:
+        current_app.logger.error(e)
+        return redirect(url_for('static', filename=DEFAULT_POSTER_IMAGE))
+
+    def getCType(s):
+        if s is '.jpg':
+            return 'image/jpeg'
+        elif s is '.png':
+            return 'image/png'
+        elif s is '.svg':
+            return 'image/svg+xml'
+    
+    return make_response(tuple([image_bytes, {'Content-Type': getCType(p.suffix)} ]))
 
 
 ###################