VHYes (2020) - Movie Review

There’s something inherently nostalgic about VHS tapes. I remember growing up right when the big transition from VHS to DVD was taking place, and I have a lot of fond memories of trawling through the family’s excessive collection (we had numbered crates full of tapes, along with a written register for what was in which crate) to find something I could occupy my time with. And with this latest film from Jack Henry (son of Tim) Robbins, the nostalgia glands are lovingly milked to make an exceptionally bug-fuck offering.

The film’s structure owes as much to found footage pioneers like Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project as it does to Adult Swim’s live-action work, particularly their viral infomercials that frequently veered from retro to absolute insanity. In-universe, it’s the result of Mason McNulty’s Ralph and his playing around with the family’s new video recorder, filming the family around the house as well as recording local public access shows off of the TV. It’s kind of like a live-action Robot Chicken in how quickly it flips from show pastiche to show pastiche.

The individual segments are an absolute riot, like the global warming-themed porno that hits that Larry Blamire sweet spot of intentionally bad acting, or the true crime show all about a sorority talent show turned Puritan witch hunt (which also sets up the film’s very Blair Witch finale), or Painting With Joan, which is like Bob Ross’ older sister painting Dennis Rodman riding her face in a basketball court. It’s highly bizarre imagery, all rendered with hilariously nightmarish fidelity through the VHS-quality footage, and it manages to fill the just-over-70-minute run-time with enough hilarity to make the whole package feel worthwhile.

That said, over the course of this very UHF-produced-by-Tim-and-Eric production, that highly nostalgic lens ends up giving way to the other side of that coin, and I’m not just talking about the film’s recurring dips into psychedelic nightmare fuel. In-between the increasingly weird show snippets, it instils this feeling that we’re reliving a very specific part of Ralph’s childhood. A part that, every so often, is intruded by cracks in the rose-tinted glasses, like when Ralph and his best friend take the camera to a movie theatre.

With nostalgia itself being such a big part of the mainstream film industry, this hits a solid balance between fondness for the old days, bewilderment at the old days, and ultimate acceptance of the entirety of those old days. The big Adult Swim energy radiating off of this thing is almost impossible for me not to vibe with, and the fact that it keeps such a high hit-to-miss ratio with its comedy only furthers endears itself to me. For the madcap video mixtape that it is, it is incredibly well-executed and I highly recommend it.