TUESDAYS AT 7 PM. MAY 14 - JUNE 4, 2024.

STABILIZED VIDEOS. UNSTABLIZED EXPERIENCES.

Get ready as the 4-Star ventures into the fuzzy, beautiful world of VHS. CAUGHT ON TAPE will look at films heightened by the experience of watching them in this warped yet potent format; emphasizing movies originally recorded on camcorder or exhibited on television in an era where cassettes were king. What tapes lack in perfect clarity or resolution, they make up for in the off putting, ethereal effect their fuzz and static can have in the viewing experience. And much like 16mm or 35mm, there are certain works where the decay of materials play into the vision of the filmmakers themselves.  

Take the controversial 1992 horror mockumentary GHOSTWATCH, which played on BBC just once before never airing again after disturbing viewers with its perfect mimicry of real television specials of the era. Or, take the shorts of filmmaker Cecelia Condit, whose work of the 80’s and 90’s like BENEATH THE SKIN and POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN frequently use the distorted visual/audio quality of the cassette to heighten the haunted, uncanny quality of her worlds.

And that’s not to ignore the magic of the video store itself. The sense of freedom these collections offered, and the mystery of the sections you were too nervous to go down: the aisle of mainstream and low budget horror of the 80’s and 90’s with freaky covers, and the adults only section you were probably too uncomfortable to ever actually go in (something we hope to capture with our adults only screening of the 1961 Doris Wishman directed nudist colony expose DIARY OF A NUDIST).

All of these films will be projected off VHS, and will include special pre-shows curated by The Basement, an art collective and video archive in the Mission with over 3,000 tapes they’ve collected over the years. They’ll be programming the last screening of the series, a mystery low budget horror film of the 1980’s that’ll remain a total secret until the night. Along with this, our screening of GHOST WATCH will be introduced by Unnamed Footage Festival, the Bay Area’s resident film festival for all things found footage and faux-documentary.   

Tapes for the series provided by: THE BASEMENT, DIGITAL REVOLUTION, and LUNCHMEAT VHS.    

Here’s a link to an article from SFGATE which covered The Basement in 2023.