Film Name: VHS Forever, Once Upon a Time in Camden
Director: Mark Williams
Starring: Sam Ashurst, David Gregory, James Mullinger, Ricky Baker, Jane Giles
A feature length documentary following on from the success of the 2014 cult classic fan favourite ‘VHS Forever? Psychotronic People’. Taking the viewer back to the very origins of the Psychotronic shop and this time interviews people who worked there along with the regular customers who visited every week. We also take a look at some of the many varied mad, bad and dangerous psychotronic films which you could purchase from the notorious secret ‘back room’ of the shop.
In another exclusive interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask VHS Forever?, Once Upon a Time in Camden director Mark Williams a few questions about what we can expect from the film.
Q. Your latest documentary VHS Forever?, Once Upon a Time in Camden has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. I think the potential viewer can expect a detailed and somewhat colourful insight into the late 80’s/early 90’s UK VHS collecting scene with plenty of stories from the likes of David Gregory – Severin, Ricky Baker – Eastern Heroes and other like-minded folks who were involved in the collecting scene back in the day.
Q. What inspired you to create a documentary about the Psychotronic shop?
A. I have known the Psychotronic shop owner Tony M Clarke personally since the early 1990’s so the shop and its various staff and customers or punters seemed a perfect subject for a feature-length documentary film. We made the first documentary film VHS Forever? Psychotronic People all about him too. This film proved to be very popular with critics and the public alike and we even sold a Limited Edition VHS videocassette version!
Q. In the film you interviewed both employees and regular visitors of the shop. How difficult was it to find people associated with the shop and were there any guests who you wanted for the film, that were unable to appear?
A. Actually it wasn’t difficult at all, thanks to social media in general most of the people associated with the shop could still be contacted either via Facebook or Twitter. Sadly, we couldn’t get in touch with the original owner of the shop Bal Croce at the time, but he has since re-appeared and was brought to London by David Gregory to appear in another documentary. I would have also liked Lino Raffa and Xavier Bendle formerly known as Greg Lamb to appear in the documentary, but we couldn’t get the logistics sorted, however, we can always ask them all again if we do a VHS Forever Part 3 documentary at some point in the future (laughs).
Q. How long did it take you to complete the documentary?
A. This documentary commenced filming at the historic Camden’s Electric Ballroom on Saturday September 8th, 2018, during one of Paul Brown’s last ever Midnight Media Film Fairs in Camden Town. Eventually, the film received its first ever public screening in a rough-cut form on Saturday 7th September 2019 in the west end of London at the essential Worldwide Weird cinema club run by Merlyn Roberts, so all in all it took nearly 1 year to complete.
Q. There are some amazing stories from people reminiscing about their experiences with the shop, but were there any interesting stories which may not have made the final edit of the film?
A. Obviously there are some stories you cannot tell on camera at the risk of being sued for libel or defamation of character. But I can honestly say we caught most, if not all of the best stories on camera for the audience to enjoy, some of them are extremely humorous too.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. The whole film was a real joy to film/co-edit and produce and some if not all of the interviews I conducted on camera had something extra special about them. Everyone had something important to say about the subject of the Psychotronic shop and collecting VHS videotapes and I feel their joint enthusiasm for the project as a whole shined through in the interviews.
Q. Did you experience any issues whilst making the documentary?
A. We experienced no major issues on this film, and everyone involved with the documentary gave us their 100% support, David Gregory – Severin even filmed his interview for us in the USA free of charge.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope people will be entertained for 90 minutes and also come away learning something new about the late 80’s/early 90’s VHS collecting scene.
Q. Do you have any other projects, which you are currently working on?
A. Oh yes…I am currently in postproduction on another feature length documentary film entitled Are They Hostile? Which is all about the Croydon punk rock/new wave scene in the mid 1970’s up until the early 1980’s, it’s a fascinating subject for me as I was a Croydon resident for nearly 30 years and was involved with a few of the bands featured in the documentary too. The film will be released to sometime in 2022.
Q. If someone was looking to make their own documentary film what advice would you give them?
A. If you have a great idea for a documentary film, just buy a cheap camera and go out and shoot it!!!
You can find out more about the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on the website https://www.horror-on-sea.com/
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
