Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector

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Stephen C @bob25009 Jun 3, 2026 Real footage in 1 hour and 24 minutes. See more Apr 5, 2017 A fun & unusual look into the odd but fascinating world of Horror VHS Collecting & the personalities that fill that world. Focuses on key collectors but also those who still distribute VHS & created the online craze their is today. The film also focuses on the holy grail of VHS Tales from Quad Dead Zone 1987 that go for nearly $700 USD on eBay, that many collectors are chasing, a quirky but fun documentary. See more Aug 2, 2016 http://cinephilecrocodile.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/adjust-yourtracking-untold-storyof-vhs.html See more Jan 26, 2016 These guys make film nerds look like wannabes. See more Aug 19, 2015 A musty window into my very soul. See more Jun 21, 2015 I currently have a rather sizable collection of DVDs in the race, numbering about 6100 titles encompassing about 11,000 actual discs. Having earned a living as a database administrator for much of my adult life, I compact the collection to the smallest possible space using books that hold about 200 or so this each with each page numbered allowing me to look up in the database precisely where any title happens to be. It also is great, but I have to move titles around such as when one. This becomes superseded or for some reason I have to reorganize my collection. As with many people collecting movies, for me, began in the early 80s after I bought my first videotape recorder. Bookshelves soon began to fill up with cassette tapes and eventually overflowed to dozens of towers and racks designed for the efficient holding of those tapes. I had a rudimentary database of my own design, but it was a mere foreshadowing of what I would need in the future. Living in a small Brooklyn apartment that I shared with my wife and young daughter there was a limited amount of space that could be devoted to my growing collection. Even when I migrated to a home theater featuring DVDs and surround sound, I still retained a treasured place for my videotapes. There is some material on them that was not available on DVD, and very likely never to be. Because I trace my love for collecting movies back to the VHS tape. I was elated when I received a film to review, 'Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector '. This is a movie billed as "made by VHS collectors for the VHS collectors". This may seem like a very odd subject for a full-length documentary and admittedly, it is but that does not at all diminish the interest of the subject matter or the unique style of the presentation. Much to chagrined of my friends, when they come to visit me is they hope to dive into my collection for some spectacular blockbuster. I am always quick to try to steer them to that section of the collection devoted to independent movies, especially the Indy documentaries. This is where you find the stories that no major studio would ever consider devoting resources to. There was no chance of increasing the financial bottom line by an penny. Still, this is the realm of imagination will you get to meet fascinating people in extraordinarily interesting circumstances that otherwise you might never encounter. The subject matter of this film encapsulated a portion of my own life, one that made possible an endeavor that would become exceptionally important to me personally. VHS tapes where a gateway for me, but prior to them, there was no way to watch movies at home except for the rare few who might have own an 8mm projector and screen. My father had one of those that only a few selections, most notably 'Abbott and Costello on Ice'. The VHS tape opened the new world for all of us and it is there that this documentary begins. The first nod to the inside of demographic of the film can be found in the visual styling and some of the sound effects use to segue between segments. The movie opens with the sound familiar to most of us, a tape being pulled in to the recorder. We then see a blue screen with the word LINE briefly in the corner replaced by PLAY. After a few lines of video rolling off the screen and some static with the all too familiar noise the very familiar, FBI warning against duplication is shown. For viewers born after the late 80s this will seem strange and primitive, their older relatives will have their expression overcome by one of the sculpture. The magnetic media responsible for the videotape was prone to disruption by a magnet for everyday wear and tear resulting in those lines and static. Still, the hard-core devotees are quick to come to their defense, noting that compared to the easily scratched and ruined DVD the VHS tape was a virtual tank. Many of the tapes in their collection of 40 years old and thanks to proper storage and handling still playable in might be for long time to come. The motif of the film is a combination of talking head interviews and panning shots of rooms completely dominated by shelf after shelf of VHS tapes. But even with this familiar format. The co-filmmaker's Dan M. Kinem and Levi Peretic, add little visual touches that not only give their documentary a unique look and feel, but highly heighten the nostalgic feel for those of us who remember collecting videotapes. If you Google the names of the people interviewed for this films the results will inevitably take you to pages devoted to the collection and preservation of the VHS tape. The collectors participating here range from heavily tattooed counter to young men who would look quite at home in an office cubicle. One of the most colorful of the experts interviewed is Zack Carlson, a young man with long brown hair, who is sitting chest deep in a pit of colorful ball like you might find that a Chucky Cheese. Replacing the normal block lettering, giving the name and credentials of the person being interviewed are graphics designed to look like the stickers that came with the purchase of any VHS blank tape. The long stickers designed for the spine in the rectangular ones that fit in the space on the front of the tape would typically embossed with such things as T-120, indicating the recording time the tape would hold at the best the speed and resolution to check boxes indicating the type of material the tape contained. Again, these are touches that would only be appreciated by people who purchased a significant number of these blank tapes. It's these little touches specifically targeted to those who have even dabbled in tape collection, also set the tone, context and parameters defining the documentary. This is not the type of work that is intended to present an unbiased case. There was very little to support what most agrees of the positive elements of DVDs; small dimensions, greater capacity and much greater resolution. The collectors are quick to note that they feel the alterations the color palette and audio are for them significant part of the appeal to this format. They liken it to people who collect vinyl records, despite the many technological advances in digital audio. They cite the entire experience of watching a VHS tape from the feel of it being called into the drive to the whiling sound made by a tape being rerouted or fast-forward. For the true VHS aficionado, the factors most people would consider disadvantages are for them a significant part of what they love about the format and why it continues to hold their devotion to it. As with any hobby back in the all-consuming obsession the people involved in VHS collection form their own unique subculture. To anyone watching this documentary that does not have a hobby. They are completely devoted to you might dismiss it as another episode of the TV series 'Hoarders' but in fact it is a glimpse into a world that those involved take quite seriously and have devoted significant resources to. When people spend a lot of money on golf, sports memorabilia, figurines, or even commemorative plates there are those that might not understand the dedication these hobbies reach, but they are not derided as much as the VHS collector. The reason is quite simple and rather obvious, we live in a technologically driven society where the value of something is assigned by how new it is and how many wonderful features and advancements. It represents. People look at the VHS tape and see an outmoded technology; as primitive as a charred stick for writing. What they don't appreciate is the profound affect VHS recorders made on us and our culture. The cohesiveness of this intrepid group of collectors is well documented here. Although they are frequently after the same tape, which does foster some degree of competition overall, there was a pervading spirit of camaraderie between members of the society. One case study that was examined with in the course of the film was various collectors or searching for the Holy Grail of VHS aficionado, 'Tales from the Quadead Zone.' One young man found a copy of this truly awful horror film in a box full of similar tapes, place it on eBay and sold it for just under $700. Many interviewed stated that no uncertainty that if they could get another copy they would go beyond that limit. The point of commonality with many of these collectors is the thrill of the chase and the adrenaline rush of finding that long, sought after film. As one of the participants so succinctly puts it, as a child he was a fan of the Steven Spielberg classic 'Goonies' and finding a rare one much desired tape was as close as he would ever, to discovering treasure. The diehard collector combs through long close video stores, yard sales and people cleaning out their basements and attics. They may have to comb through hundreds or perhaps thousands of takes to find out one rare treasure that they need for their collection. Many have scripts. Not only the tapes off the shelf, but several have acquired the shelves and even the counters used in these mom-and-pop video stores. One avid collector has constructed his own video store in his basement, complete with counter, cash register and shelves meet the organized by type of film. What attracts many of the people to the seemingly unusual avocation is the rarity of the films to be found only on this media. They discussed in some detail how the cover art was frequently overly sensationalized and outright deceptive in order to sell another wise unmarketable film. Many of the movies that are most sought after available only on VHS are some of the really low and independent horror movies. In the period after the grind house movies with such exploitation was standard the VHS direct to video movies took up the place for distributors to eke out a profit. The collectors of the first to admit that these movies are frequently abysmal, but there are people who can get into such flicks, if for no other reason than its nostalgia value. I admit that I've been known to do just this. The documentary extends beyond just looking at the collectors and exploring the extent and origins of their passion. It offers a historical perspective to the park VHS tapes made in our culture as well as its rise and fall. Shortly after the VHS recorder began to appear as a regular fixture in the American living room. It seemed like every other corner in your neighborhood, a mom-and-pop video store would open up. Like record stores and bookstores before them, they became a place to go and peruse the selections and socially interact with people who share your enthusiasm. Then Blockbuster came on the scene and slowly absorbed most of those small neighborhood shops. The death blow came when Blockbuster made a deal with the major studios to boost the price of rental copies. But a single copy of the tape sells for over $100, the smaller stores could only afford to buy a single copy, especially since the appeal for it would last only until the next major release came out. Blockbuster was able to stock their entire chain of stores with multiple copies of attracting a significant part of the market. They not only destroyed the livings of many of these store owners but they nearly eradicated a part of our culture. Like many who live in that era. I remember going to those mom-and-pop shops, talking to the owners and discussing recent additions to my collection with other like-minded people. And then the first Blockbuster appeared on Avenue U and slowly those quaint little stores with the distinctive personalities vanished. This is a rare film, albeit one that focuses on a very narrow sliver of our society. So many will dismiss it as obsolete technology that is better forgotten, but for those of us who understand what it means to adjust the tracking of your record ahead to improve the picture quality than this is a piece of our history, a little sliver of who we are. See more Read all reviews

Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector

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