Film Name: CULT OF VHS
Director: Rob Preciado
With: Graham Humphreys, David Gregory, Michael Keene, Kevin Martin
Why does the VHS videocassette format still hold such a fascination for young and old horror movie fans? This informative documentary explores the allure, the nostalgic artwork, straight to video titles and yes, the Video Nasties, through engaging, thought-provoking and entertaining interviews with collectors, film directors and VHS enthusiasts. Take a trip down Memorex lane with graphic artist Graham Humphreys, Severin Films head honcho David Gregory and directors Kristian A. Söderström and Josh Stifter among many others as they take us through their first experiences with the medium and what it meant to them
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds I got a chance to ask producer Gerardo Preciado a few questions about the documentary film CULT OF VHS which will be making its World Premiere at Arrow FrightFest on Sunday 28th August at 15:45hrs.
Q. The documentary CULT OF VHS has been selected to play at Arrow FrightFest Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. I hope people can escape from the stress of the current state of the world for 1.5 hours into a nostalgic trip down memory lane, where going to a video store – and seeing if the tape you wanted to rent was available – was the most exciting thing you did all week!
Q. How did you get involved in the documentary and what attracted you to the project?
A. Obviously Rob, the director, is my older brother and we’ve done several short films in the past but it is really difficult for us to agree on a project to work on. Rob came to me with the idea and immediately thought this was a great project to develop together.
Q. The documentary has some well-known faces who talk about their own experiences with VHS, but were there any guests that you wanted to get involved that were not included?
A. I had met Rebekah Mckendry, a filmmaker and podcaster and she agreed to be on the film. I actually think that her involvement early on helped us get more people, unfortunately in the end she couldn’t do it due to scheduling issues. I hope we get to work with her in the future.
Q. How long did it take you to complete the documentary?
A. It took about 2 years, which was a long process but it also felt like time flew by so quickly, which is a weird feeling to have.
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. I wanted to include a lot more of Jordi Camacho, he is just a very interesting dude. hell, I wanted to do a full documentary about him.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments of the documentary?
A. The part where they talk about the artwork for the VHS cases might be my favourite part, and the video nasties segment too.
Q. Did you experience any issues whilst making the documentary?
A. I did the music for the documentary. I had been doing soundtracks to imaginary films for years now, but for this project I made dozens and dozens of tracks, which was difficult because I started to get a little burnt out. So my solution was to make subtle (or not too subtle) changes to the styles and instruments, sort of making mini soundtracks to make a larger soundtrack if that makes sense, and that was how I got through it.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. Just the joy of loving something and how inspiring that can be, we see these ‘communities’ and facebook groups online but there is something about seeing an actual human being talking about something it loves that is very uplifting and relatable.
Q. Do you have any other projects, which you are currently working on?
A. I’m always working on several imaginary soundtracks, screenplays and comics at the same time. Thanks to kickstarter I’ve been able to release some of these imaginary soundtracks on vinyl, for last year’s film I actually wrote the screenplay and closing credits song for the imaginary film. So this year the next logical step is to make the actual film. My main focus right now is working on my first feature film as a director.
Q. If someone was looking to make their own documentary film what advice would you give them?
A. Find a subject you love so much that you won’t get tired of talking about, because the road is going to be long!
You can find out more about the Festival and purchase tickets here: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/
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!
