Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector

Adjust your tracking is, overall, a strong film. In the film we are reminded of the early days of video. VHS was absolutely a game-changer and some people forget that. Adjust Your Tracking begins with the VHS story as a starting point for a glimpse into a culture many are not aware of. The film follows the exploits of those still devoted to VHS, who feel the need to collect it, particularly obscure films that will, sadly, never be released on DVD (or blu-ray).

These people are fascinating. Some of them are, admittedly, socially awkward, but all of them are endearing, and many of them are well-spoken and strikingly intelligent. The devotion VHS collectors feel for tapes is explored at length--we come to understand what it is that fuels this obsession, and I think, in the end, we understand it.

A strong point of Adjust Your Tracking is that it has a great sense of humor. A lot of these VHS collectors have been through hell and back to find gems in a stack of tapes. Many of them have journeyed to questionable places and encountered questionable people. It helps that a lot of the film clips are funny, as well (check out the ultra rare Tales from the Quadead Zone).

Another strong point is the aesthetic--Adjust Your Tracking looks and feels like you're watching an old VHS. The effect is utterly convincing and really sets the mood.

So, next time you see that stack of old, obscure VHS at a yard sale or flea market, remember, there could be some treasure there.

Kudos to Dan Kinem and Levi Peretic for bringing this alternative culture the attention it deserves.

Recommended for fans of documentaries.

No one before has dared to make a whole documentary on a video format many thought was dead for many years. For others, including myself, it has been thriving since it first came out. Dan Kinem does an amazing job interviewing several actors, directors, and collectors on their experiences with VHS and why they love it so much. Special guests include Lloyd Kaufman from Troma as well as Freg Vogel of Toe Tag Pictures as well as several other awesome people I am sure you will recognize. If your someone who likes going to Best Buy to purchase the newest hot DVD , then Adjust Your Tracking is absolutely not for you. There is no glamour, just loving independent fans and people who really have a strong love for VHS . Only the most hardcore fans and lovers of VHS dare to watch this film! You will absolutely love it! I highly recommend checking out Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector!

Even as an executive producer (well, one of 200!) I can look at this from a distance, somewhat. It's entertaining, sometimes very funny, but also a bit unfocused. I wish it had a little more about the change from VHS to DVD and how now DVD is becoming "dead" due to VOD. But the collections are fun to look at, the Quadead Zone story is epic, and you can tell they all either love what they are collecting, or are, at worst, the kind of people you might WANT to watch on Hoarders.

The highlight though for me is the gentleman who has such a collection in his basement that it has become a video store, complete with a crappy old computer, magazine from twenty years ago to tell you what is good or not, and sections delineating this or that film (surprise, he doesn't like drama). On a personal level it bugged me just slightly that the film doesn't have any other video collectors except the horror-hounds (or maybe some collect porn, though I'm sure they hide that - or maybe not, I dunno, I'd need to look through the film again with a fine-tape comb). Are there other collectors out there than JUST horror? Or maybe horror and sci-fi and genre stuff is just where the fun collections are at. Why just have stuff like Ingmar Bergman films when you can have basically home movies that have cool covers? Some of these folks love movies that are featured I'm sure. Others? A stamp collection might be the same thing.

But I say these criticisms with affection. I too am a collector, not to THIS extent that we see with these subjects - one of whom, I must admit, is to the point of possible madness as to pay over 1,000 for a single tape. I will want to watch this again though to soak up some of the titles and the anecdotes. I'd be curious to see what folks who aren't in the "Know" think of all of this; the screening I saw the film was loaded with fellow VHS collector-geeks, some of whom wanted to trade and buy tapes right there. A collector never sleeps, really. Whether someone will actually WATCH Tales from the Quadead zone after they plunk down a month's rent, I am sure I still don't know. As a look at a handful of people holding on to and praising a supposedly "dead" format, it's charming, mostly harmless, featuring crude animations and the "look" of VHS which is appreciated, and has some bite. If it had a little more about the format itself, not just about the collectors, then it would be truly great.

A documentary capturing the modern day VHS culture and VHS collectors.

If you are not already interested in VHS and the culture of those who collect it, this is going to be a very strange film, possibly boring and altogether confusing. Not confusing in the sense that it is hard to follow, but it may leave you wondering, "Why do these guys do this and what sort of person spends their money on such things?"

Now, for those already interested, this will get you better acquainted with some of the more noteworthy collectors, provide you with some of the collecting motivations (not least of which is that many of these films have never been on DVD). And we even get a few bigger names like Lloyd Kaufman and Matt Moore, who is well-known as the HorrorHound columnist that popularized this craze.

Crazy or not, this is a group of passionate people. Perhaps it is crazy to spend $660 on a copy of "Tales From the Quadead Zone". But if they could turn around and sell it for more, maybe this is not so crazy. Many of us have our own collecting idiosyncrasies, our own investments. The question is: will this one continue to grow or will the bubble burst? (For many of these folks, that is not even the point.)

If there is anything missing here, it is Charles Band of Full Moon, Empire and Wizard Video fame. Band is not a hard man to track down, so getting him to talk about his years in the VHS world would be no huge undertaking. Even more to the point, however, is a huge controversy Band sparked in the VHS community by re-releasing Wizard "big boxes". He claims they are originals, while the collectors say they are fake. At $50 a piece, they ought to be real, or these folks should file a class action lawsuit against Band for deceptive practices.

Many, perhaps most, of the VHS collectors are particularly interested in horror. No one is collecting Fox or MGM tapes (finding "Speed" for fifty cents is easy), but the obscure films that no one has heard of. And horror fans are probably the ones who will most identify with this documentary, whether they are collectors or not. We all have films that we loved on VHS and took forever to come out on DVD (and some that still have not).

This might be worth checking out if you are a die-hard movie geek who misses the "old days" and the thrill of visiting the video store.

A wicked documentary showing the sub culture of finding and collecting VHS even though it gets harder and harder to track them down. Mostly horror VHS is sought with people paying ridiculous amounts for certain titles ($660.00 for Tales Of The Quadead Zone). They look at several collectors collections and interview them. I'm an avid collector myself with almost 7000 dvds so I enjoyed it. I don't care myself what format I get as long as I get to watch it.

It is cool however that people like Massacre Video now release on DVD all those rare VHS only titles like Tales From The Quadead Zone and Spine. Very informative flick. Of course I watched this on DVD.