A modern found footage horror anthology created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting
Found footage films are appealing to production companies because they are relatively cheap and very forgiving when it comes to quality. Not to say found footage can't be expensive. According to Siri the budget of Cloverfield was about 25 large. In this case large = million. Found footage can be fun. They appeal to our voyeuristic and nosey sensibilities. The gritty, low quality video can add to the tension and rawness. Some of my favorite horror films are found footage. REC, Blair Witch Project, probably a few others. But the genre can also be annoying and hard to watch. And I'm sympathetic to those who think they can be used as a cheap gimmick or crutch to make up for a low budget. Whatever. Let's talk about V/H/S.
V/H/S is an anthology. Five shorts. Six if you count the 'frame' narrative which is the anchor that binds the stories together. Although each short is a standalone and there is no connection between them. Got it? I'm sure that makes sense.
Tape 56: is the frame narrative featuring a gang of amateur knuckle heads and deviants who break into a house to steal what they believe to be an authentic snuff film. This is the main story framed around the entire anthology. Like the family sitting around the campfire telling ghost stories. After each story you always go back to the campfire. Ok. That analogy doesn't work. But it's too late now. All of the characters in the main story are giant douche bags. I don't even remember their stupid faces. Throughout the house they find a series of VHS tapes, one for each short.
Amateur Night is the first one. It's terrifying. Very straightforward story. Some guys with special video camera glasses go out for a night on the town to get blasted and pick up drunk women. At first it's like watching video of someone's bachelor party. Loud and boring. But then they meet some girls that want to party and that's when the excitement starts. For the first half of this story you struggle to see when the horror will show up. And then the sex starts. And it basically turns into a succubus story with haunting visuals and a very disturbing sex scene. Some parts of this made me sick to my stomach. Other parts made me laugh. There is some genuinely horrific imagery in this short. I like this one a lot.
Following that is Second Honeymoon. This one is dope. A married couple are on a simple vacation in the southwest or something with deserts. They talk to one of those psychic machines from the movie Big and then at night while they are sleeping in their motel room some creepy shit happens. This one was so matter-of-fact and in your face it made me feel slightly uncomfortable and anxious. Where movies like Saw or Hostel drape their gore in cinematic style and grit, Second Honeymoon is at times a slow burn that sets itself up to be one thing and then stabs you in the face. It's like someone who violates your personal space and won't break eye contact. I never knew where this was going. Which added to the uneasy anxiety i felt throughout. This was tight.
Next up is Tuesday the 17th, an obvious play on Friday the 13th. A bunch of friends or friends of friends or acquaintances go to the woods together for some reason and some weird slasher/supernatural shit goes down. The deaths are lame and the story is the most convoluted of the bunch. Not a fan of this one. I'm not entirely sure I even know what happens at the end.
But they make up for it with The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger. Awesome title. Gives us all the backstory we need. Much like Unfriended the entire arc takes place on a computer screen. A long distance couple is skyping or video chatting about something. It doesn't really matter because this one is all about tone and jump scares. You feel uneasy and ready to be scared immediately after the first creepy reveal. It also had little kids just showing up when they aren't supposed to be there. And there is nothing more terrifying than a child being somewhere you don't expect them. Try it. Go to the kitchen to make a sandwich or something. Then imagine when you turn around to get some mustard you see a dumb little kid standing there playing with a yo-yo or some shit. Chills. Anyway. Yes. This one was fun.
As far as I'm concerned they saved the best for last. 10/31/98 is about a bunch of fun dudes getting all drunk and having Halloween fun times on their way to a Halloween costume party at a friend's house. But they go to the wrong house and discover a cultish group of people performing some sort of ceremony or exorcism on a screaming and terrified young girl tied up in the attic. Then shit gets real. I liked this one the most. It was fun, scary, and fun and scary. It reminded me of Chronicle. But in a good way.
VHS is a good addition to your found footage collection. It's not perfect. I really don't care for the main narrative or that weird camping slasher story but every thing else was very entertaining and worth the price of admission or Netflix.
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