This is How Movies Should Be Made

A different way of telling a story

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Even though I'm not a collector and I don't have a particular affection for the VHS format, I have witnessed the emergence of the videocassette, the video stores and the amazing novelty of watching films at our homes, something which seemed impossible in the times of Super 8 cameras. The protagonists of the documentary Rewind This! are authentic connoisseurs, collectors and many times key figures in this technological revolution, and we can enjoy their anecdotes thanks to director Josh Johnson, who traveled around the world (well, United States, Canada and Japan) recollecting testimony from "normal" famous people, such as Atom Egoyan, Cassandra Peterson and Mamoru Oshii, as well as from authentic psychotronic celebrities, such as Frank Henenlotter, Roy Frumkes and the late Mike Vraney. We can also witness pleasant interviews to people like Lloyd Kaufman, Charles Band and David Schmoeller. But the most sincere and emotive words come from the fans who don't only share their memories, but also illustrate the genuine importance of the VHS format as a cultural archive in danger of extinction due to the natural deterioration of the magnetic tape. For better or for worse, during the boom of the home video, thousands of films were exclusively edited on VHS, and not all of them had enough popularity in order to resurrect on DVD years later. This means that a significant part of "B" cinema will get lost forever in a few years from now, because so far, there isn't anybody like Martin Scorsese or Francis Ford Coppola taking care of their preservation, like they are currently doing with the old films shot on celluloid. On the other hand, some people will say that films such as Ninja the Protector or Santa with Muscles don't deserve to be preserved, and that in fact, it would be better for humanity if they end up becoming semi-magnetic jelly... but those are obviously not the people this documentary was made for. So, I found Rewind This! a very entertaining documentary, and I recommend it not only to those who share the memories of that era, but also to modern lovers of cinema convinced that "cinematographic art" possesses enough categories in order to admit those modest films which defined a time, even though its popularity has dissipated through the years.

A documentary about VHS tapes is a must. Our generation lived that moment, and we know what we are talking about. My dad had a two piece set VCR, and a fantastic remote controller...with a cable!! I still remember the tracking system and some other features from those happy days. It is a bad, fragile format but it had something, and in a way we miss it somehow. Relive the moment and learn a couple of things about the good old format we grew up with.The testimony of some distributors, filmmakers and VHS freaks will bring us back to that universe, the format that ruled the last stage of 20th century. We will find out why VHS was the victor in that format battle against BETAMAX, what it meant to some filmmakers and much more.I confess I expected a nostalgic journey alongside some VHS geeks, but it turned out to be more than that. VHS, just like vinyl in civilized countries (Spain not one of them) is still alive and kicking, and in these days of fleeting formats, is nice to remember how a format popped up, established itself in the market and became the standard for so long. So buckle up, enjoy the ride and recall those days of white noise, crappy image and b-movies. Call it nostalgia, vintage or whatever, but remember to be kind and rewind!

"Rewind This!" is a documentary about VCRs, VHS tapes and the people who collect them. The story begins with the war between the Betamax and VCR formats, which of course the latter won despite the fact that Betamax was a far superior technology – but it could only play tapes of an hour or less, so any movie would need to be on more than one tape, a design flaw that killed it fairly quickly. Once VCR had won, people started discovering the joys of being able to watch movies at home, at the time of one's choosing – or at least they did once the price of the machine and the tapes (originally priced at $99!) came down. The film interviews a plethora of modern-day fans of the format (my personal favourite was a woman who organizes her tapes by the dominant colour of the box) as they describe falling in love with video, making home movies themselves and searching for old tapes at flea markets and the like – some collectors have over 100,000 of the clunky boxes! And, of course, the film includes a variety of scenes from videotapes, especially that genre of straight-to-video creations, which are a hoot to see. Definitely made me want to hunt up our old VHS tapes that are slowly rotting somewhere in the basement!

Simply put, I loved this documentary! Josh Johnson's ode to the VHS age, Rewind This! (2013) opens with a film enthusiast combing a flea market for VHS tapes, overflowing with the sort of passion any and all global VHS hunters (and film lovers) will immediately recognize. This image sets the tone. Like Not Quite Hollywood (2008) and Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) before it, Rewind This! will whet your appetite for rare films to add to your collection, but with the added bonus of causing you to scour the earth hunting for a VHS player the second you finish watching it. Powerful stuff, and a must see for film nuts everywhere! (my favorite moment is director Frank Henenlotter explaining the unique feature on his sublime horror comedy Frankenhooker's VHS box: press a button and hear a reanimated prostitute ask you "Wanna date?" This prompts a montage of several other VHS junkies explaining the same feature, and results in the sort of rush of recognition shared by enthusiasts across the world: I personally hit that damn button a million times with every visit to the video store!)