Geeking out over the bloody legacy of VHS

Ben Marks of Collector's Weekly says, "Recently we spoke to Dan Kinem who, with Levi Peretic, has released a documentary called Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector. For their film, the pair interviewed more than 100 VHS collectors, many of whom are unrepentant fans of the horror genre. What they learned is that often the poor quality of the tapes, versus the hi-def clarity of digital media, is a big part of the appeal."

“Especially for movies that were direct to video or shot on video, viewing them on DVD doesn’t make a lot of sense, because they were originally intended to be viewed on VHS,” continues Kinem. “These are movies that feel too cleaned-up on DVD and Blu-ray, as if they were never meant to look that good. You can see the mistakes they made and the bad makeup and everything. Watching them on VHS is closer to the old drive-in or grindhouse theater, the way the director intended it to look.” For Kinem, Peretic, and many other VHS fans, there’s an authenticity to viewing certain movies on VHS that’s integral to the film experience, no different from the way record fans think certain albums should only be played on vinyl.

Geeking out over the bloody legacy of VHS