It's strange to see The Criterion Channel's new March schedule including a "VHS Forever" collection of movies, as they introduced themselves way-back-when as home video's high-end alternative, and still assert that reputation today. No worries: the versions of VIDEODROME, BODY DOUBLE, CLERKS and both versions of THE RING they are showing are the high-end, high-definition transfers and not the cropped, analogue versions of our youth. Their curation of these features (and others, ranging from THE FISHER KING and 52 PICK-UP to THE WATERMELON WOMAN) only makes complete ready sense once one has watched the nearly three-hour documentary VIDEOHEAVEN (2025), which is also part of this month's schedule. Narrated by Maya Hawke (b. 1998), it's actually a pretty intelligent and insightful look at the role played by home video and video stores (and their clerks and customers) aacross 30 years of filmmaking and TV, a deep dive into a somewhat narrow field. Among other things, it shows how Troma was the most ubiquitous source of video store stock and décor in most such movies and episodes, even those produced by major studios. Chas Balun pops up briefly, without acknowledgement.
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