That was an excellent one.

hyped garbage

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

A lot of fun.

While Adjust Your Tracking has it's heart in the right place, it ultimately offers a tepid and unmoving perspective on a new collecting subculture and how it came to be, but rather focuses on the eccentrics of the unique characters that inhabit it and what makes them tick, instead of dwelling more into the history of the format, opting instead to give a light and easy summary. Released in full screen to honor the dead format it pays tribute to, this documentary focuses on the collections of several devoted Tapeheads who are keeping the format alive. With added commentary from several notable filmmakers like Lloyd Kaufman, Fred Vogel and other personalities, various aficionados and casual collectors alike share and muse about their obsession with the dead format. Along the way, there is a brief summary on the rise and fall of the incredible video stores that dominated the land, including the stomping out of many mom and pop operations by big chain franchises like Blockbuster, but much of the film's efforts is focused more on telling the story of the collecting community. Through their collections, these passionate collectors pay tribute in various ways, with some even constructing video stores or special rooms to recreate that feel of walking down a store aisle at a tape rent shop. For those who collect, there won't be much here that is super compelling or informative, there isn't really new territory so this documentary doesn't yield much new information, but it serves as a light trip down memory lane for an hour or so. It does get right that a driving factor for collectors today is hunting down all the untold treasures that are waiting to be discovered that, for whatever reason, haven't made the jump to DVD. Undeniably, the most intriguing part of the film (for me) is when it turns its efforts to focus on the most desirable tapes for collectors, although I felt this part was sorely lacking as well. One label that gets notable mention is Wizard Video for their incredible cover art, but I felt more could have been done to focus on older labels or even Video Nasties/Pre-Certs. As such, what particularly fascinated me was the lack of focus on the international film collecting scene. There is a long segment on Tales from the Quadead Zone and how the rarity of it has created such a demand that it's become one of the most expensive tapes on the market as of 2013. As markets are guaranteed to fluctuate and change, I'm curious to see if this will age well. If you're new to collecting and you've decided to watch this film to educate yourself, I wouldn't recommend you simply stop here (though it's not a bad start) Do yourself a favor and also check out other films such as Rewind This!, Schlock: The Secret History of American Movies, and Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream. These films are essential for anyone new to collecting cult movies.

The film shares the inner workings of passionate collectors of the solid box tapes from times past. The honesty and personality of each interviewee expands on the culture and its many attributes. Further, the aesthetics and visual stimulus of rare movie cover art, collectors' showcases, and video stores around the US was extremely entertaining. Being uneducated in the landscape of VHS, I still found it easy to follow and easy grasp the value, importance, and satire in the film. I highly recommend this film for any one who appreciates the vastness of the human experience, because I assure you that it showcases an interesting side of it.

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.

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!