Overview: In the 1980s, the VCR ruled living rooms and video stores overflowed with lurid covers, shocking titles, and forbidden thrills. Amid this social boom, a cult movement emerged around the so-called Video Nasties - gritty, graphic horror and exploitation films that tested the limits of taste and censorship.

What began as underground fascination, soon sparked public outrage, bans, and ultimately global panic! The art on the VHS sleeves was AWESOME and these unregulated horror, gore and sexploitation films rocked before they were banned around the world.

From stacked shelves of cult classics to the warm hum of a VCR, VHS defined how people connected with film. VHS never died, it just hit rewind!

DVD Verdict: Tony Newton is the guy who came up with these and so he gives a European bent to his story. He’s from the United Kingdom so he brings a unique perspective due to the Video Nasty era. I get the idea that he would obtain bootlegs to see the films that were banned over there. The people featured here are from the United States, so I do think that gives a blend for perspective.

Something that made me chuckle is them being convinced that VHS will continue to live on. Now I know people who do collect these. That is something that I don’t think will go away for a while. There are a limited number of these that will be in the wild eventually. I do respect that independent filmmakers are putting their movies out on VHS. That is something I’ve considered purchasing if something is particularly good.

The honest answer here is that this is a dead medium, for the most part. They aren’t making new VCRs. Most TVs aren’t compatible with them. I cannot even use my VCR or watch the limited tapes I still have. It does feel like people who want this to be true clinging to this idea.

Regardless, 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.

All in all, VHS LIVES and VHS LIVES 2 are decent movies to watch but there’s no doubt that some editing and some polish could have made them much more entertaining, and given my eyes a smoother watch to sit through.

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