Directors: Radio Silence, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Glenn McQuaid, Ti West
My Rating: Liked It
(This is longer than my normal reviews for this site because I wrote it for a more formal website/blog that I was writing for when V/H/S came out. Enjoy)
V/H/S is a horror anthology about
a group of guys who get their rocks off by causing mischief. In the midst of
their shenanigans, they receive word of a VHS tape that needs to be seized from
a house. We do not know whose house they’re breaking into, who told them to
grab the tape, or even why they need the damn thing. Upon arrival, the group
finds an old, dead man, sitting in front of a bunch of televisions with, you
guessed it, a bunch of VHS tapes scattered about. We witness five of these
short films as each member of the group curiously pops one into the beloved
VCR.
Just like any anthology, there are
a few standouts that over shadow the others, but all five offer something to
the film. I don’t want to give anything away, so I will be brief in explaining
each short film. My personal favorite was about a group of guys going to a
Halloween party, and one of the guys ingeniously has a camera made into his
costume to film the night’s festivities. They arrive to the wrong house and
walk into a nightmare. This short, made by a group of directors named Radio
Silence, has a surreal feel about it, with an insane amount of attention to
detail. With each viewing I noticed more and more things that had previously
slipped by me.
The other standout is called,
“Amateur Night,” written and directed by David Bruckner, about a group of guys
who pick up a rather peculiar chick from a bar. This one in particular got under
my skin because it’s flat-out, undeniably creepy as hell. “Amateur Night” is geared
by voyeurism, and the voyeurs end up messing with the wrong woman – or whatever
the hell that thing is.
There is also, “Tuesday, the 17th,”
written and directed by Glenn McQuaid, which is about a group of friends who go
into the woods and meet their demise at the hands of an invisible killer. The
catch is that, whenever the killer is in sight, the handheld camera is able to
see him. This is my least favorite, but it does involve some great and bloody
kills that any horror fan will appreciate. The fourth video is entitled, “The
Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger,” directed by Joe
Swanberg and written by Simon Barrett. It’s about a couple in a “long-distance
relationship,” and Emily is trying to show her boyfriend the freaky things that
have been occurring in her apartment via skype. This one is notable simply
because it’s all seen through a video chat, even with a desktop on the screen. All
I can say about this one is, it has a disgusting ending that you absolutely
will not see coming.
The fifth and final short is
called, “Second Honeymoon,” written and directed by, the already very
successful, Ti West. If you’re at all familiar with the horror genre you’ll know
about Ti West’s two recent feature films: “The House of the Devil” and “The
Innkeepers.” If you haven’t seen these and you have any interest in horror, I
strongly urge you to catch them on Netflix instant. Even though “Second
Honeymoon” is very well made and creepy, it’s the only one that doesn’t fit in
with V/H/S. The other four deal with incredibly weird, supernatural things, and
are all rooted in fiction; Whereas Ti West creates a story that could actually
happen in real life. I can’t tell any of the story without giving something
away, but it involves a couple on a trip and a killer. It’s not a bad short
film nor is it bad that it’s rooted in reality, but ironically, it is the odd
film out in V/H/S.
The major drawback to V/H/S is how
loosely it’s all tied together. Personally, I enjoy the final product as a
whole, but I know whole-heartedly that if V/H/S had a stronger core it would be
a classic in the genre. Instead, we get a weak central story that definitely
works, but it’s apparent that it was an after thought to the short films; And
if it were the other way around – a strong central story with shorts molded
around that – it would be a much more satisfying watch.
Why do people see horror movies?
People watch to be scared, to feed their inner demons, to feel emotion they
don’t normally feel on a day-to-day basis. When it comes to scares and frights,
V/H/S is one of the most unsettling horror movies in recent memory for me. If
you want to be scared, pick this movie up, and make sure you watch it midday
with a bunch of friends because watching it alone at midnight is asking for
nightmares.
Horror, more than any other genre,
goes through ups and downs, peaks and valleys, through Freddy Kreugers right on
down to Creepers and Leprechauns. 21st century Horror has relied on
remakes of classics and most of the time they’re forgettable affairs, with a
few exceptions, of course. In order to stand out in the horror genre you need
to be creative, you need to show viewers something they’ve never seen before,
and V/H/S passes with flying colors in the creativity and creep ability
categories, which is why I believe it’s ultimately worth a watch. V/H/S is
bound to garner an insanely large cult status as time goes by.