It wasn't too long ago for myself that I was deep into collecting horror films and I had movies on almost every format-DVD, Blu-Ray, Digital and the particular chunks featured in this documentary... VHS tapes. Anyone who grew up in the time frame that I did has to have some kind of fond memories or nostalgia for these slabs of magnetic magic, and yeah-there really is a special kind of fuzzy feeling that you can garner from holding a piece of moving art in your hand that is stored and printed onto this specific cut of plastic. DVD's and Blu-Ray's may have cleaned everything up visual quality-wise to much because then you can see all the film grain and make-up mistakes and everything else that that low-res aesthetic covers up and puts you into a haze to suspend your disbelief with whatever it is that you're watching. And that's honestly part of the fun. Was I ever a hardcore tape collector? No. I never wanted to be. When I was still in the game, I want to say about 80% of my collection was actually DVD because they took up less space, they felt like the main menus had more punch and creativity to them while their loop was playing before you started the film and they almost always felt like they had more special features and behind the scenes materials to go through once the film was done. Also, DVD as a format also had a slump for a long while where it just didn't seem like anyone wanted them or gave a shit about them anymore, so they became very inexpensive to obtain. So honestly if I started collecting again and wanted to go back to an older format that's still relatively cheap, I myself would go to DVD. But that's me personally. Collecting movies in general is an insanely addicting hobby and it doesn't even have to be horror movies-just movies in general can give you that rush and that urge where you just have to find something or you just have to add something new to the collection because you just need more and more of it and "here's a title in this genre I don't have" or "this flick has this person in it-I've never seen it before" and you just put your foot in your mouth and buy it. The foam seething from behind your teeth comes to the forefront and you just eat that shit up. We all become rabid dogs over something, and that something for some of us just happens to either be horror movies or just movies in general. It's no different than video games or books or literally anything. People collect anything. People collect rocks. I've seen videos about people who collect and sample different mustards and ketchups, people collect toys, people collect boxes of cereal from the 70's and 80's that have never been opened. Again, if there's an interest and a market, people will undoubtedly fucking collecting anything. Adjust Your Tracking is a documentary about people who inhabit the VHS collecting world and there are some stars here-my boy Gary P. Cohen that directed both of the Video Violence movies is here, Zack Carlson from "Destroy All Movies!" is here, Paul Zamarelli of VHSCollector.com is here, Mike Raso who is the owner of my favorite horror movie label of all time Camp Motion Pictures is here... there are a plethora of known people here if you've been anywhere near the cult film or horror film space for the better part of twenty or so years now, and that just elevates this documentary even higher than it would have been if it was just a piece focusing on the people in the community and that's it. If you're at all interested in VHS tapes or film preservation, this is a doc for you. If you have fond memories of consuming weird and bizarre content on VHS back in the 80's and 90's, this doc is for you. If you love the smell of body odor, piss, poop and heated up plastic from tapes being watched and rewound over and over again as you stumble into a mom & pop video rental shop-this is a documentary for you. I personally loved it because it's another alt-culture sliver that most people never think about or get involved in because it's "weird" or "not normal" or an outsider's game-and yeah, it is. Being a horror and cult film aficionado is completely for the misfit that doesn't shower, go to parties or cleans their assholes (even though I do that and do in fact take showers every single day) and just revels in their brevity because they actually found some kind of space with a piece of mind where they actually belong. Kudos to the kids that buy up all of these tapes because now you're in this for life. There's one main tidbit here that I wanted to touch on with Adjust Your Tracking and that's where everyone talks about the copy of Tales From The Quadead Zone being sold on Ebay. That shit was bought by someone in the community for two dollars, and it is indeed a rare tape. There were barely any copies of it that were produced when that film was released and everyone wants a copy. It sold on Ebay for $660. $660 for a VHS tape. That's pure insanity. But if people are that hungry for it, they will clamor and wait and sell a kidney while they're at it to make sure they have it. Whether it's a conversation piece, prestige or bragging rights, it has to be on their shelf. I had the dual DVD pack from Massacre Video that had Tales From The Quadead Zone and Black Devil Doll From Hell on it and let me tell you something-I wish that Chester Novell Turner had made more movies. That guy made two of the fucking weirdest, overly mystifying, painful to watch films that I think I had copies of when I still had my collection and more people need to see them. Is it worth $660? Not even close. That may have even been his budget to make both of those films, let alone just one of them. But to a diehard VHS collector, it's the tape. The crown jewel. The holy grail. The gem encrusted golden goblet to which you sip the finest of wines. But to me, it's a piece of weirdo cult film history that needs to be preserved because someone took a part of their life to create something for other people to enjoy. And I think that's where my pipeline here lies. This documentary shines a light on something that makes these particular people happy, and that's all that really matters, right? We need more positivity in this world (especially right now) and if you're at all that slightest bit piqued by this little slice of film collecting or what have you, go on Tubi right now and watch Adjust Your Tracking. I think you'll love it.
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