While VHS may be a distant memory in the minds of many film lovers nowadays (it’s easy to forget just how hugely popular this format once was), one man out there is intent on keeping the analogue dream alive.
Midlands-based Dale Lloyd is a serious collector of VHS in all shapes and forms, and has even devoted a room to his 1200+ titles, which he’s named Metropol Video (in honour of the cinema from cult eighties Italian horror, Demons). This geek sanctuary, complete with projector, also doubles as a screening room where he hosts regular screenings of the films.
Dale has been a fan of cinema since he was a child and when he describes finding an old, trashy horror film called Superstition after having listened to his dad (back when he was a young, impressionable child) describe a scene from the film where “a blade come off a worker’s saw in an old house and rips through a Priest’s chest”, it’s easy to see where his mission began to formulate.
“My obsession with collecting titles started around the age of 13. My Dad would take me to various car boots and markets, where VHS tapes were sold cheaply. I remember one market place in particular where a guy had purchased some stock from an old video rental store and was selling off the tapes for something like £4 each. These weren’t your regular mainstream movies either and they included original pre-certification titles like Superstition, Straw Dogs and Atlantis Interceptors”.
Looking at the photos on his blog of the vast array of titles is like seeing a veritable treasure trove of both obscure and popular films from decades back, many of which are boxed in lovingly compiled, comprehensive sets. There’s even a section which covers the delights of the long-forgotten reversible video sleeve (a device which was created, presumably, to give the illusion to paying customers that a new film was in stock, opposed to a title which had been sat on the shelf gathering dust for weeks). I’m sure any serious film buff could get lost for hours going through all the titles in Dale’s collection – I know I would!
As great as this may be, it does beg the question that in this era, why does a film fanatic choose to continue collecting and watching this archaic form of home cinema, and not opt instead, to fully embrace the digital revolution. Dale reasons lie behind a nostalgic attachment.
“I completely understand that DVD and Blu-ray have their place at the top, and in terms of the extras material available and picture quality, they are unrivaled. I even own a few hundred DVD’s of my favourite films. I think my passion comes from missing the good old days when I would spend hours inside a video rental store, browsing through all the various titles. I also love VHS because of its uniqueness. Many of the old cover artworks are far superior to DVD fronts and the VHS boxes themselves are weighty and meaty, as if to say: I’M HERE! PLAY ME! (then rewind me and play me again!).
“Also, if someone mentions they have Suspiria on DVD, the earliest version they could possibly own is from 2004. I have the original VHS tape from EMI and if you had walked into a video store back in the early eighties, you would have seen this copy on display. Not many people will be able to say that in a few years time.”
Dale’s passion (which he balances with a normal nine-to-five office manager job) is beginning to engage the interests of other like-minded individuals within the on-line film community.
“The feedback has been amazing really. I started using twitter (@dale_lloyd) to chat about day-to-day activities, but as I found myself talking more about my VHS obsession, I decided to set up a separate account purely for this. Within a week I had reached 100 followers, so I introduced a VHS cover font quiz which I used to run every single day of the week. I now have 400 followers and only have time for one letter quiz a week (#MovieQuizMonday) but it still receives great interest from all over the movie loving world.”
It’s understandable why people would be intrigued. Collections like this are near obsolete and there’s something to be said about the joys and excitement of hunting down old copies of films this way, as opposed to going the LoveFilm or downloadable route, where instant access is always one easy, but unimaginative, mouse click away. Some of the more specialist titles are still unavailable in the new digital formats anyway.
At only 25 years of age (and born before many of the films in his collection were on shelves in local video shops), Dale treats his VHS with the same reverence as that of a serious music enthusiast, who lovingly maintains old albums on vinyl.
I’m sure in years to come a new generation of cinema fans will be in awe and instantly fascinated to learn that a collection like this exists. Until then, if you’re planning on throwing out an old pile of VHS which are clogging up the back of your cupboard or wardrobe, there’s one film enthusiast out there who may give those old tapes a new lease of life.
