Schlock-Wire: Help Make VHS Documentary Series PLASTIC MOVIES REWOUND A Reality
Schlockmania is always happy to shed light on deserving projects in the crowd-funding realm - and this post is dedicated to a truly worthy project in the last few days of its funding timeline. There are a few documentaries floating around right now about VHS fandom but Plastic Movies Rewound looks to be the most journalistic of the batch. It is the brainchild of Schlockmania pal Mike Malloy and is a six episode series that covers the wild, groundbreaking, sometimes law-defying history of the VHS format during its '80s heyday.
Plastic Movies Rewound is also unique because of the objective stance that informs its content. On that subject, here are some quotes from Malloy himself about the intent of the series:
"PLASTIC MOVIES REWOUND is not so much a love letter to the era, it's not a puff piece about how great home video was. Sure, I have tremendous nostalgia for the era, but I want the only nostalgia to manifest itself in the music and the graphics. As for the actual content, I want this to be an objective look at this lawless, Wild West-type of frontier. It wasn't just a story involving a bunch of film lovers. It was also shady businesspeople and borderline criminals. Some people got ripped off, some people got rich. Laws were broken, new laws were written.""Besides taking a less nostalgic, less effusive look at the 1980s, PLASTIC MOVIES REWOUND will also be different than similar projects, as the interviewees were people who were actually part of the story. Guys who were getting threatened by the FBI, guys who were breaking into their distributor's office, witnesses in the Sony versus Universal trial (the one that determined whether Betamaxes could be legally sold in the U.S.). Those type of people. I didn't want just a bunch of after-the-fact cultural commentators pontificating on the importance of video or the greatness of the '80s."
Malloy has been working on this series since 2003 and is seeking money to complete production as well as financing the post-production. As of this writing, the Kickstarter funding drive has already racked up around $6200 of the requested $7500 sum. It would be a shame for such a worthwhile project to fade out when it's so close to completion so Schlockmania urges you to check out the project's Kickstarter page and consider making a contribution. You can visit that page by clicking here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/355529084/plastic-movies-rewound-definitive-doc-on-80s-video
If you need any further encouragement, check out the project's excellent, nearly 9 minute "sizzle reel" below. This stylish piece will give you a jumbo-sized sample of what Plastic Movies Rewound has in store for you. It's well worth your time (and your money, too).