Adjust your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector

USA 2013
produced by
Matt Desiderio, Josh Schafer for VHShitfest, Horror Boobs, Lunchmeat
directed by Dan M. Kinem, Levi Peretic
starring Scott Appleby, Will Aria, Chris Bahr, Phil Blankenship, Zack Carlson, Matt Carr, Steve Co, Gary P. Cohen, 42nd Street Pete (= Pete Chiarolla), Joe Clark, Bryan Connolly, Grant Cornelison, Vince Cornelius, Bradley Creanzo, Keith J. Crocker, Jonathan Davis, Lindsay Denniberg, Matt Desiderio, Johnny Dickie, Matthew Dilts-Williams, Mario Dominick, Xoe Eugenia, Donald Farmer, Tim Ferrante, Mark Freado, Eric Fredrich, Scott Gacek, Jack Gattanella, Ryan Gelatin, Joesph Gervasi, Tim Goodyear, Rob Hauschild, Michael Herz, Bruce Holecheck, Mayhaw Hoons, H. Perry Horton, Blair Hoyle, Spenser Hoyt, Lloyd Kaufman, Earl Kess, Sean Jordan, Louis C. Justin, Dan M. Kinem, Ken Kish, Jen Koogler, Torin Langen, Tony Lopez, Evan Makrogiannis, Liam Makrogiannis, Tristan Makrogiannis, Paul 'Dormarth' Malleck, Mike Malloy, Edward McHale Jr., Mike McPadden, Justin Miller, Matt Moore, Nick Moore, David Movrin, Ted Newsom, Chi Orengo, Mike Paine, Marc Palm, Dave Parker, Levi Peretic, Michael Raso, Jesse Rice, Justin Rice, Katie Rife, Tom Rodgers, Nick Rohrbaugh, Harvey Root, Greg Ropp, David Royal, Tony Salamone, Dave Sanford, Josh Schafer, Joan Schwartz, John Alan Schwartz, Rik Schwinden, Joseph La Scola, Jimmy ScreamerClauz, Manny Serrano, Samuel M. Sherman, Dimitri Simakis, Joel Smith, Steven Spinelli, Eric Spudic, David H. Sterry, Paul Talbot, Nik Taneris, Anthony Timpone, Jimmy Turri, Ron Vandenberg, Fred Vogel, Dave Walters, Jason West, Devon Whitehead, Jon Woods, Paul Zamarelli
written by Dan M. Kinem, Levi Peretic, music by Paul Baisley, Mayhaw Hoons, comic artist: Chris Shelton

documentary

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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By and large, VHS is of course considered an outdated format, a format that had hit the market in the 1970's, made a huge impact in the 1980's, but went on decline rather quickly once DVD was introduced onto the market. And yet, especially in recent years, VHS has made a return among collectors' circles, people who are into the format for nostalgia, hunt down movies because they represent their childhood and teenage years, just crave for the crappiness of yesteryear's VHS covers (we're mainly talking horror here, the genre with the most VHS collectors to begin with, as it seems).

After a brief history of VHS "consumption" - highlighting the days of the mom-and-pop stores, and how they got driven out of business by Blockbuster, which got driven out of business by the internet - the documentary focuses on a handful of collectors, each with their own impressive collection of rarities, and how their passion is driven by both nostalgia and a longing for "the forbidden", which the horror tapes they collect were in their childhood - and I'm sure many readers of this site will know that feeling, me included. It also touches on how absolute rarities like Tales from the Quadead Zone, an extremely obscure very low budget direct-to-video movie, would collect absurd absurd sums on auctions these days, and how and why the VHS-format seems to be here to stay after all ...

Adjust Your Tracking is clearly a film by fans and for fans - and I don't mean VHS fans especially, actually, but movie fans and especially indie horror fans, because it shows people with a passion, people loving movies for their shortcomings, people who track down (and pay for) what they know will be trash, people who can actually bond over their love for something obscure. And the whole thing fortunately is told in a totally non-ironic way, but features plenty of excerpts from those movies of old, plus interviews with some filmmakers already busy in the VHS-era like Michael Raso, Donald Farmer, and of course the ubiquitous Lloyd Kaufman.

In short, indie horror collectors (of whatever format) will just love this movie, for everyone interested, it's a rather interesting document of a very specific line of fandom. Worth a watch either way!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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