...wow!! How so very far, we've come, in such a short period of time, with regards to society's embrace of the home video venue. Heck, in the not-too-distant past, this viewer fondly remembers a time when conceiving the possibility of actually building a personal movie collection, was a pipe-dream fantasy, exclusively realized and relished by the much more well-to-do, who had the financial resources, in maintaining a temperature controlled warehouse, chock full of multiple-reel feature films, on the standard filmstrip format (...at the time, my father, who serviced the Hollywood business community at the time, would often snag distributor movie catalogs in his ventures, which advertised the storage and rental of these multi-reeled films...and we'd waste countless hours and longing sighs...marking and dog-earing the catalog pages...dreaming of the unheard-of actuality of owning a home movie collection). Not too long afterwards, the short-lived war between Beta and VHS (...shhh!! Don't tell anyone, but this viewer actually eschewed Beta, altogether, as an introductory home video format, in favor of the stylus-based CED disc format, before succumbing to VHS), with the latter format, winning out in the end, gave way to a veritable boon, to prospective film collectors, as far as selection, as well as an embrace of the awesome artwork on the tape boxes, large and small...cut-to-fit and clamshell...which often rivaled the original theatrical release poster art of the film, if any...
...and of course, just as films on VHS became fully complacent (...or 'disposable', as director George Romero was once quoted, in saying), with both ardent collectors, as well as the mainstream public, merely wanting to watch the occasional movie, along came the digital format, with DVD giving way to BluRay and online digital download. But that's getting way too far ahead of ourselves; it is that phenomenon of the VHS format, which has exuded an extraordinary longevity...totally unexpected, by the initial purveyors of the format...a 'phenomenon' which, amazingly enough, has refused to die, in light of video store closures & rampant online accessibility...and herein, the focus of which is informatively celebrated, in "Rewind This!"...
...'celebrative'?? Yes...but not nearly as celebrative as a previous look at the continued embrace of the format, namely the earlier released "Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector" (...in fact, reviewed earlier this year, in this venue...by yours truly, no less), "Rewind This!" comes across as somewhat more of an appreciative study of the VHS format, than an upheld reveling of the format...less of the obsessive and eccentric side, and more of the opportunist & observational facets of the format's era. Really, who can possibly forget that lavish, colorful, alluring and irresistible artwork of those tapes on the rental shelves...splashed exploitatively across those 'big boxes' and clamshells...compelling, begging, pleading the hapless browser, "...you want me...I know you want me...rent me, Rent Me, RENT ME...PLEEEESE!!!" Artwork typically emulating the poster art of the original theatrical release, but often, bearing originally drawn, wildly imaginative and colorfully striking artistic representation of the film supposedly contained on the tape...outrageous and incredulous promises of things to come, once one gullibly pops that tape into their machine. Or those initial, 2-ton-heavy, top-loader recorder/players, with that danged remote control, tethered by a coiled wire, extending 'conveniently' halfway between the machine and the couch. Or the notorious reports of annonymous, impish splicing of pornographic material, in unsuspecting children's films. And what about those driven-in tape drop-outs and wear moments at certain exciting and shocking moments in the film...clearly the result of constant rewinding, pausing and re-starting of the rental tape by countless renters, at those specific moments??...
...though much is said here, by the tried & true, die-hard VHS-philes and collectors, with regards to the impact of the VHS format, and the reasons why there remains a stubborn and unflinchingly steadfast embrace of the venue, most of the observations expounded upon, in this documentary, are wrought from early home video distributors and at-the-time flourishing filmmakers & producers. Commentary by Lloyd Kaufman (...of Troma, of course), Frank 'Basket Case' Henenlotter, Kevin Tenney (...of 'Night of the Demons' fame), David Schmoeller, and Charles Band (...Empire Pictures, Wizard Video, Full Moon Pictures, etc.), amongst others, all offer their poignant views on the initially lambasted instigation, unforeseen impact and wildfire growth of VHS, as a viable consumer venue. The transition from high-priced rentals, to sell-through collectibles. The early days of fledgling distribution labels, like Media Home Entertainment, Vestron Video, Paragon Productions and Magnetic Video...just to name a few...
...On the whole, director Josh Johnson...who deftly and supportively spear-headed a 'Kickstarter' campaign, in an effort to secure financing for this documentary...has herein afforded us, the viewers, a nostalgically informative and affectionate study on the meteoric rise, as well as the technologically subsequent fall of the VHS format...and yet, much like the exclusive clique of devotees and collectors, cannot help but exude the format's alluring virtues and appeal, which continues to live on, even to this day...suggesting that the VHS format is nary shorn of a well-appreciative and supportive rally cry...and as such, despite the naysayers, hardly dead & buried...
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