In addition to the usual reviews and comments you would find on a horror movie blog, this is also a document of the wonderfully vast horror movie section of the video store I worked at in my youth.

Friday, March 6, 2020

VHYes!


Last Sunday, I checked out a little movie called VHYes.


This movie had been rolling around the festival circuit and I was overjoyed that my pal Landry was able to set up a screening locally at the Revue Cinema. If you're not familiar, the premise of VHYes is that we're watching an old home video tape. Originally a wedding video, it has subsequently been recorded over with all manner of late night TV shows, adverts and the childhood shenanigans of Ralph (Mason McNulty) and his best friend, Josh (Rahm Braslaw).



VHYes is the brainchild of Jack Henry Robbins (son of Tim & Susan Sarandon who also cameo in the movie) and he's created a hypnotic vortex of nostalgia here that I was, of course, on board with. Over the course of its seventy minutes, it crosses back and forth through about half-a-dozen narratives, even incorporating one of Robbins earlier works - Painting With Joan from 2016 - into the mix.


Though this idea is not new - mavericks like Ross Sutherland, Chris LaMartina and even Adult Swim have been experimenting with VHS iconography for years - Robbins has definitely harnessed its power with wonderfully entertaining results.

In addition to the screening, there was also a VHS swap where I was able to snag these babies, in exchange for my big box of The Big Brawl and Centennial Collection copy of The Great Dictator.


And then if that wasn't enough, there was ninety minutes of vintage eighties stuff after the movie, including choice cuts like the Spider & His Amazing Friends episode featuring the X-Men (you know, the one where Wolverine has an Aussie accent for some reason) and Mr. T's PSA special Be Somebody!


A fantastic night! If you dig VHS culture - and I assume you do or else why would you be here? - be sure to check out VHYes.

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