Rewind This! Page #11

in this stuff

that we've been ignoring."

I mean, for example,

a movie like Deadly Prey.

I don't think anyone ever knew

it even came out.

It was meant to be this

fleeting thing.

Let's just fill these stores

with content.

We don't have to worry about

if there's theatrical releases or not.

What they didn't realize

is that there were

so many works of art.

Grrrrrr!

Aaaaaaah!

That's an incredible, incredible

film, and we played a VHS copy,

'cause it's not available

on film or DVD or anything.

No other format.

We had Ted Prior come

and we had a talk with him,

and it was just incredible

to see this movie

with a bunch of people,

and just realize no one knows

what's gonna happen next,

this is completely

unpredictable.

I knew that VHS collecting was

kind of becoming popular again,

The House of the Devil, you

gotta give a lot of due to that,

just the fact that a new movie

was released on VHS,

it started making me think about

a lot other films like this.

You know I had a modest

VHS collection,

but this kinda kick started it

for me a lot.

"Okay, well, there's people

who have this kind of interest,

so let's market

to them as well."

The revolution

is still evolving.

Um, I think, I mean

you're making a documentary

about video tapes right now.

I think that there's a huge

VHS resurgence.

For example Mondo putting out

all these new video tapes,

that are selling

through hundreds of copies

in a two hour period.

Clearly there's still a market

out there for video tapes.

The boom that's going on today

with the tapes,

I'm going on 40 now,

I'm seeing these tape prices,

going for $400.

It makes me regret getting rid

of some of the stuff

that I had at one time,

you know.

I could be putting my kids

through college, I don't know.

When LP's had a resurgence

in the 90's,

what was amazing about that is

that it didn't go away.

Like, there's still stores

that really

just exist to sell records.

But, I don't think that VHS

is going to have

that same permanent resurgence.

We can make arguments for

the quality of a vinyl

and why that presents a

better experience of the music.

But VHS, it's never going to be

a better experience

of the raw materials,

it's just...

the qualities associated

around it.

I think that there's a nostalgic

need to sort of go back

and also re-evaluate.

It was in 2006

when History of Violence

came out on VHS

and kind of marked

the end of everything.

That was the last widely

distributed film on VHS.

My friend Zack called me

and was like,

"Hey, we're thinking about

getting some VHS tattoos,

'cause they just

stopped making VHS."

And I'd never

had a tattoo before

but it took me less than

two seconds to be like,

"Yep, I'm with you guys.

I'm gettin' that right there."

And we all got ours

a little differently,

like some got, like

"never forget" on it,

some got the year

that it started and ended.

I just wanted just

the video on it's own,

just like the cold-just the nice-

It looks so strong and great.

And people ask me all the time,

they'll be like,

"What is that on your arm?"

I'll just show it to them

and they'll be like,

and I'm like,

"You forgot, obviously"

When you find

some of these stores

that have big box video tapes,

you know they're gonna be

mutant owners

who have been surrounded by

these relics for so many years.

And they are part of

their life story

and I am slowly trying

to drain them of them.

And like an archeologist

every once in a while

you'd pull all these tapes out

and at the very bottom,

covered in dust,

I mean literally,

your hands would be just

caked in this dust,

you pull out a video

that's pure gold.

If I see a flea market,

a swap meet,

an antique store, a Goodwill,

It's getting stopped

and it's getting pillaged.

That entails looking

in the phone book,

looking on the internet.

Literally driving up and down

every single street that I see.

I've driven probably

a three hour drive radius

every direction.

And honestly I think

that is what the legacy

of the VHS era is,

it's made us all

much more film savvy.

It's kind of made people

much more aware of...

other movies

beyond the ones that were

fed by the richest companies.

The fact that it

made accessible,

all these generations of films

which were utterly gone.

I mean just gone.

No one could see them.

You know the studios

kept them in the vaults,

sometimes they

got rid of the negatives,

didn't think

it mattered anymore.

You know, home video restored

all that for us, you know,

and perhaps not always in the

greatest looking form.

I mean perhaps not always

the way we remembered it,

but it was accessible.

I don't think there's

any lasting impact.

I think it's been just

a passing parade.

It's like, what's the

lasting impact of radio?

Right?.. Eh...

You know, it got us to the

next step, the next step...

These are not

just entertainment,

and they're also indications of

what life was like, and is like,

and is possibly

going to be like again.

These movies, by being, in a way

the record of our dreams,

are a way to look at our culture

and say, "Ahhh...

that's why that civilization

ate itself spectacularly.

That's why it all

fell apart. Hmm."

Or, "That's what it

could have been,

that's where the dream

could have gone."

When you look at a tape,

and it has the "be kind,

rewind" sticker, on it,

there's something deeply

moving about that.

It's such a call to arms,

and a suggestion or an imperative

about a way to live your life.

To be kind and rewind.

Go back and like,

hang on to these things

that are important to you,

and not let them disappear,

and not let other people

take them a way from you.

But find what's important

and preserve that

and help it to endure.

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