I don't know about the rest of you, but every now and again, I get a hankering to watch movies on videocassette. As obsolete and inferior as they sound compared to the present digital technologies out there, there's just something "nostalgic" about popping a vertical helix scan cassette into the trusty (if ignored) VCR and sitting back to enjoy.
Sometimes, it's unavoidable — despite the fact that all of those previously-unattainable cult flicks (the ones that used to cost us $25 or better for fuzzy B-grade copies) started to see the light of day on American home video once DVD came about, there are still the odd titles that we simply cannot find. I should know, I still hang on to my cherished copies of Umberto Lenzi’s Eyeball and Antonio Margheriti’s Yor, those classic double-cassette Republic Serials, the Spanish-language issues of various El Santo adventures, and even that bootlegged copy of the now-banned Splatman to this day.
Normally, I'm a big stickler when it comes to the quality and presentation of a movie. For me, the introduction of DVD was a blessing (until they started releasing some DVDs as Full Frame only since the Wal-Mart masses didn't "get" the concept of widescreen, that is). But there's just something about an old video cassette that makes me say. "Aww..." I suppose, in a way, you could compare it to the compact disc vs. vinyl album debate if you wanted to, although I'm not sure where that would get you, really.
Nowadays, finding some of your truly favorite titles on videocassette has become a bit of a chore. Sure, there are still a few companies that distribute copies of movies on VHS, and, while you can find practically every officially licensed Barney video ever released sitting in a secondhand store, your chances of finding some vintage Vincent Price flicks from HBO Video are remote, unless you visit Sinister Cinema’s website today.
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