By and large, VHS is of course considered an outdated format, a format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!
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