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

best movie i've ever seen.

A Masterpiece!

The first must-see film of the year.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty 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.

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.

I've always had a thing for VHS tapes. It's the nostalgic feeling you get matched only by the excitement that comes along with it. I still own a good pile of VHS tapes, but after watching this documentary, I'm pretty sure my collection will be expanding. Just recently, within the last two or three months, I actually finished a special project I was working on, where I made shelving for my VHS' out of old used VHS tapes that I bought at the local Farmer's Market. So now, all I need to work on is filling the shelving unit out with more tapes. Although they aren't very rare, I'm always on the lookout for Night of the Demons and Trick or Treat. Neither of which I've found yet, but that's the thrill of the hunt for ya.The first thing this documentary brings up, is something that most people forgot about, and that's the prices of VCR's back in the day. What's considered flea market bargains now used to cost the upwards of eight hundred bucks back in it's premiere time. And VHS were expensive too, running upwards of forty bucks a piece. People, including myself, tend to forget about all of these small details, because over the years technology has advanced so much with DVDs and Blu-Rays pushing VHS off of store shelves. But, I remember the pricing being outrageous, but that didn't stop me nor my family growing up from having a pretty sweet collection of movies.It makes you wonder how with all the money being spent on on Blu-Ray players and all these fancy Hi-Def TVs, what's it all gonna be worth in the end when the new standard technology comes around? Hell, I've heard recently that in a few years we won't even be getting home video any more, because everything will be on cable or streaming. Both of which are making more money than DVD and Blu-Ray sales, so it makes sense. But to see that one day soon having a movie collection is going to be considered an out-of-date hobby is saddening.This documentary also touches up on how Blockbuster ruined the VHS craze by being such a large business, and putting smaller video stores that actually had personality out of business. It was just impossible to keep up with Blockbuster because it was such a monopoly. So all of the places that made video shopping fun became extinct. What a shame. Then of course, the DVD format is brought up, and why VHS is still superior in a few ways. Such as, many horror films from the VHS era have been lost and may be never found again.There's still a large percentage of flicks that have never been transferred to DVD, so that makes VHS collecting actually logical in a way. Without people buying these now-rare films on VHS, a lot of cinema history would be gone forever. Most of the stuff worth buying or collecting amongst horror fans, is the real gory stuff and exploitation features. There's one VHS that runs the upwards of six hundred dollars due to it's rareness.Then there's a segment on the cover art/packaging, and that to me, was a part that I could relate to. The awesome covers VHS used to have would determine whether or not you bought it. They say 'don't judge a book by its cover', well, anyone who was alive during the VHS era knows that we've all judged motion pictures by their cover. Finding awesome artwork on packaging was part of the thrill of shopping for movies back in the day. And, still is today.There are some collectors featured on Adjust Your Tracking who have 20,000 VHS tapes or more. Some even have more than one room in their house dedicated to their collection. Another guy has so many tapes that he started his own video store in his basement.And the topic of picture quality is brought up, which I'm glad about. Because, it's brought into light how although VHS aren't as clear of a visual as movies are today, they're still preferred to DVD and Blu-Ray because of the fact that the new home video standard of quality actually shows you things you didn't notice before. Bad/cheap makeup and effects, and even filming sets are made to look obvious nowadays, when back then, on VHS, everything was darker, so you didn't see as much. And it makes you think whether or not you'd like the movies then that now are made to look very low-budget and cheesy. So, this new crystal clear picture quality movement going on today has actually made older films look bad, and it's disheartening.I think that my favorite part of this in-depth documentary is the segment dedicated to collectors' awkward experiences in finding VHS tapes. It's laugh-out-loud funny. They talk about how usually VHS shopping takes them to some weird places with strange and/or rude people, and it's really entertaining. A few people bring up how they've bought movies from musty old places that have smelled awful, and you can't help but laugh.In the end, Adjust Your Tracking is a must watch for those out there like me, who consider themselves movie buffs. Is collecting VHS an old and outdated hobby? Yeah. But, the people who do it own and have seen movies that you've never even heard of, so it's more than justified. Watching this documentary really got me wanting to go find a video store and stock up. This is one hell of a fun viewing, and I'm glad I watched it.

I've to tell you that i have been a collector for a long long time. And since the new era, all this digital media has really stroke me deep in my heart. Now you play a movie by Digital Media, you watch it, you enjoy it, but the experience its not the same. Its not intimate, its not personal.Adjust your tracking immerse you to the past and makes you remember how movies were supposed to be experienced. The guys from Adjust your tracking are people who cling to the past, who don't forget, who fight against the digital era.You will find some surprises beneath the stories from Adjust your tracking that you really want to hear. From independent video stores, to block buster era and some of the coolest collectors experiences.Adjust you tracking it may change your life... or at least you will see a VHS not like something obsolete, but as something forgotten with a really strong bond to your childhood.Watching this documentary is like watching an old VHS. That is something that makes you fell that blast to the past kind of felling.If you are a collector (like myself), or at least 20 years old. You are going to love this documentary.Long live the VHS!