VHS Collecting: The Modern Relevance of Home Video, by Cory J. Gorski

I was in my mid-twenties when VHS came into prominence. Always a movie lover, the phenomenon of home video resulted in obsession I had never known before. I rented movies nightly. I routinely made dupes of the tapes I rented. I purchased prerecorded, factory-made videos. I bought blank tapes by the score. I spent countless hours browsing and socializing in video stores.

So, yeah, I am the target audience for a book like VHS Collecting. It came up in my Amazon feed, and for nine bucks I ordered myself a copy.

I saw that VHS Collecting is yet another "Independently Published" book, I hoped it would not be typically amateurish and poorly written. The verdict?

First, the good stuff. VHS Collecting is fun and enthusiastic. Cory J. Gorski knows his subject. The book is informative and the writing is palatable enough.

The not-so-good stuff: The writing, while easy-to-digest, is kind of sophomoric. There are clumsy sentences galore, and Gorski's overuse of exclamation points fail to generate excitement.

All in all, if you love home video and movie collecting, you won't go too wrong with VHS Collecting: The Modern Relevance of Home Video. Don't expect too much depth or revolutionary ideas, and you are liable to have a decent enough time with it.

If I come across as a little harsh, well, referring to horror fans as a "nerdy base" on page 43 does not make many friends at Horror Drive-In.

Written by Mark Sieber