Movie Review: Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector (2013)

Reviewed by: John Beutler

Directed by: Dan Kinem and Levi Peretic

Well, I'll be damned!! I'm not alone, in this obsession!! This viewer was recently elated to discover not being so much the misfit, as had originally thought!! I can now proudly peruse through my precious (...ooooo!! My precious...my precious!!) and treasured collection of rare & artfully boxed VHS videotapes, hang my head high, and know that I belong to a much bigger 'brotherhood'...a subtly growing brotherhood, which has remained stubbornly steadfast, in embracing and preserving the long-thought-dead VHS format. Yes, folks...I can now openly sing the praises, and revel in my fellow collectors' collective appreciation and passion, after having recently partaken of the amusingly spotlighting documentary, "Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector"...

In examining the arguably  warranted reasons for hanging onto these cherished relics...Is it merely because of certain out-of-print-and-now-ultra-rare-and-obscure film titles not yet released in a digital format (...just gotta quest myself a copy of the herein featured and suggested, ultra-rare and never-heard-of title, "Tales from the Quadead Zone", which several of the collectors in this documentary, pridefully gush over themselves, in possessing in their collections), and now worth tens, even hundreds of dollars?? Could it possibly be the exclusive-to-the-format, beautifully unique and artistically striking artwork on the video boxes, themselves (...my personal favorites, being amongst the exquisitely rendered, artfully original, old Wizard Video big-box tapes)?? Might it perhaps be the surprising durability of the format, itself (...especially those seemingly indestructable, clunky, back-breaking, 90-pound, top-loading machines), as opposed to the easily scratched and thusly, viewing-hampering digital format?? Or maybe it's for the outright nostalgic feel of the format (...those pops, scratches and dropouts surprisingly enhanced many genre movie titles, countless rented and played...almost giving the look and feel of grainy, well-worn 'grindhouse' prints), which many of us movie lovers/collectors remember oh so well. In general, it quite possibly comes right down to the fact that VHS was definitely the dawn of technologically collectable fantasy fulfillment, as far as regularly watching uncut and uninterrupted movies at home, in a format which afforded oneself the opportunity to building one's own personal movie collection. At any rate, no matter the reason, all such views and facets...and more are amusingly & candidly bantered about herein, by a colorfully enthusiastic, select group of characters, who appear most unswervingly dedicated to the cause of salvaging, embracing and proudly upholding the still-embraceable virtues of films rendered on the widely considered obsolete, albeit clearly still-to-some, quite alluring VHS tape format...a format not necessarily, exclusively and collect-ably embraced by merely the film content of the tape, itself...as this amusing documentive study reveals...


Thinking back to the overwhelmingly juggernaut-like, pre-Blockuster days of the early-to-mid '80's...as this documentary lovingly does...when towns across the country, were plentifully dotted with 'mom & pop' video rental stores, how an exciting and awesome time it was, to scour the aisles of countless videotapes...the selective cornucopia of random cardboard slipcases, big boxes and clamshells...replent with some of the most alluringly eye-popping artwork on the covers...some carried over from the original movie poster art, and some with the most outrageously (...and sometimes ridiculously) creative and original artwork...nonetheless, often quite literally reaching out and grabbing the hapless and naive onlooker...begging...no, demanding "...you WILL take me home...I have such sights to show you..." (...oh, wait...wasn't that someone else's line??). At the time, we thought little of that irresistibly alluring box art, after the initial visual 'hook' faded away; after all, once we were handed the rental tape over the counter, what did we get?? More than often enough, one of those smoky-transparent plastic snap-cases. And of course, equally more than often enough, once we got the tape home and watched it, we were deceptively let down on more than one occasion or two, in the sense that the box art, genre-wise, promised an outrageous & wildly crazed world of awesome movie greatness...and yet, the movie itself sometimes bore little resemblance to the suggested content, per the outrageous box art (...one of this viewer's favorite VHS box art 'deceptions', in this respect, was the Euro-Asian co-production of "Robo Vampire"). Often, we were fooled...yeah, we were suckered (...video distributors and their exploitive box art, be damned), but in retrospect, considering the exploitive appeal of the original allure...that irresistible box on the shelf that promised oh-so much...well, as far as being fooled...eh, I suppose that was cool, too...in a P.T. Barnum sort of way...

Amidst the eccentrically prideful views of VHS collectors herein (...with my favorite, being that of the guy who took his amassed VHS collection, and transformed his basement into a working 'mom & pop' video rental store...replent with tape aisles, rental counter with register, movie posters on the walls, the works...for the purpose not so much in actually renting movies, but for the throwback nostalgic allure of perusing the aisles, in looking for something to watch, and going through that video rental process of the past), a smattering of celebrities and filmmakers make honored presence, in this candid production...those interviewed, who in their heyday, made and distributed the mass of videotape-rendered, 'cheap thrill'  movie treasures...once 'cookie-cuttered' onto the rental shelves, and now...a collector's obsession. Tony Timpone (...once, editor of 'Fangoria' magazine), Sam Sherman (...of 'Independent/International' productions) and Lloyd Kaufman (...of course, of Troma), amongst others, offer their own appreciative and understanding views on the phenomenon of collecting age-worn VHS...surprisingly enough, offering little argument, as far as what might be considered unique advantages, which the squeaky-clean, high-tech DVD and/or Blu-Ray movie formats afford the masses, over the long-since-back-seated VHS format, in regards to extras, behind-the-scenes expositions, commentaries, etc...

In the final analysis, "Adjust Your Tracking...", without a doubt, gleefully presents itself as a most amusingly informative and entertaining documentary, spotlighting a collector's driven obsession, driven towards preserving a thought-deceased video format...one that stubbornly refuses to die...and most assuredly giving cause for THIS collector, not to give up that rare, dusty & old, torn & tattered big-box VHS of Continental Video's double feature of "The Slayer" and "Scalps"...still having a most honored and respectable place on my shelf (...amongst several others).....nope, not gonna give it up...not gonna give it up..not gonna...In fact, I'll say it, right here and now...I want it buried with me, and I'll only let it go, when it's pried from my cold, dead hands (...oops!! Someone originally said THAT, too...didn't they??)...