VHS Lives: A Schlockumentary (2017)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Clocking in at 146-minutes, this documentary covers a variety of topics but I think it goes on way too long and it's way too uneven to completely work.
The film jumps all over the place but it tries to cover the VHS boom back in the 1980's when people could flood video stores and rent all sorts of great horror movies. The film also tries to cover VHS collectors that are out there today as well as taking a look back at the shot on video releases from back in the day.
In recent years there have been several documentaries cover the VHS days and to anyone who lived during that period you can't help but miss and be entertained by what was going on during that period. The problem with this documentary is that it tries to do way too much and it's rather unfocused on everything. I say that because the film will be on Topic A at one moment, jump over to Topic B, then jump to Topic Z and then be right back at Topic A. It just really makes the film seem uneven on what it's trying to do.
The highlight of the film is having some low-budget filmmakers discussing their work from the 80's. This includes people like Jorg Buttgereit, David DeCoteau and Richard Haines. It was fascinating getting to hear them discuss the making of their movies as well as how they'd get them into video stores. Other subjects covered include VHS fans talking about their favorite covers, their favorite releases as well as their most prized collection.
All in all, VHS LIVES is a decent movie to watch but there's no doubt that some editing and some polish could have made it much more entertaining to sit through.
