''Rewind This!'' is a 2013 documentary film directed by Josh Johnson about the impact of VHS on the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, pos ...

and

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming m ...

, as well as about collectors of videotapes.

Interviewees

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including '' Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), '' Angel's Egg'' (1985) ...

Frank Henenlotter Frank Henenlotter (born August 29, 1950) is an American film director, screenwriter and film historian. He is known primarily for directing horror comedies, especially '' Basket Case'' (1982), ''Brain Damage'' (1988), and '' Frankenhooker'' (199 ...

Roy Frumkes Roy Frumkes is an American independent filmmaker. Frumkes directed the 1985 documentary '' Document of the Dead'', a film detailing the production of '' Dawn of the Dead''. Biography The cooperation of George A. Romero allowed Frumkes extensive ac ...

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

Cassandra Peterson Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV in her stage ...

Jason Eisener Jason Eisener is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, editor and director. Life and career ''Grindhouse'' faux trailer contest and ''Hobo with a Shotgun'' (2007 - 2011) In 2007, Eisener entered and won the ''Grindhouse'' fake trailer contest hoste ...

Lloyd Kaufman Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their featur ...

* Drew McWeeny * Peter Rowe *

David Schmoeller David Schmoeller (born December 8, 1947) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is notable for directing several full-length theatrical horror films including ''Tourist Trap'' (1979), '' The Seduction'' (1982), ''Crawlspace' ...

Ben Steinbauer Benjamin Jeffrey Steinbauer (born July 28, 1977) is an American director, writer and producer, who is best known for directing the feature documentary ''Winnebago Man'' (2009). Steinbauer has directed other documentaries, including ''Chop & Stee ...

Release

The documentary screened at numerous

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

around the world, including

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) is a Swiss film festival dedicated to fantastic movies. It was created in 2000 and is now renowned internationally as one of the foremost film festivals in the world for genre cinema. Th ...

Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcor ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival The Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival (SEFFF) (French: ''Festival Européen du Film Fantastique de Strasbourg ''(''FEFFS'')), is an annual film festival held in Strasbourg, France, that focus on fantasy, science fiction and horror films ...

, Telluride Horror Show, Sitges Film Festival,

Orlando Film Festival The Orlando Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Orlando, Florida, for independent filmmakers to showcase their work. The festival attracts upwards of 1,000 entries from filmmakers in more than 30 countries every year. History The f ...

, and several others.

Reception

The documentary was received with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 21 critics. The site's critics consensus read, "An ode to abandoned technology with some admirably wide-ranging insights, ''Rewind This!'' is entertaining viewing even for those who didn't live through the VHS era." Writing in

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

, J. Hurtado praised the film for being more than just about the collectors, as the filmmakers, "managed to distill the experience down to its most potent ingredients and leave the audience with a highly satisfying straight shot of movie love." Jacob S. Hall named the documentary one of the Top 10 Movies Discovered at SXSW 2013 on

Movies.com Movies.com was a website; the URL now redirects to that of its owner, Fandango Media. It was acquired from The Walt Disney Company in June 2008. The site was home to the award-winning webshow '' Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony'', a bi-wee ...

, writing - "the film finds the perfect mixture of nostalgia and forward thinking, acknowledging the past while taking a bold look at what a world free of physical media will look like." '' The Hollywood Reporter'' called the film, "an entertaining, sometimes enlightening history of the video format; though unsurprisingly small-screen friendly, it will be a crowd-pleaser at fests and in niche bookings." A review from the Telluride Horror Show noted: "An unbending passion of cinema appreciation pours excitedly from Johnson's interview subjects, and there is a prevailing sense of humor that permits the subject to never take itself too seriously."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2395970 2013 films 2013 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about films VHS 2010s English-language films 2010s American films