Directed By: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard, and Radio Silence.
V/H/S is a POV horror anthology that tells the story of several guys that are hired to break into a house and steal a VHS tape. Not knowing which tape they are to take, they begin watching different videos and those are the segments the audience gets to see.
The entire movie is made to look like it was shot on video, which doesn’t only look cool, but is also a sweet throwback to the 80s and 90s horror video rental boom.
I thought having a wrap around story was pretty tight. Instead of just having a host, the wrap around story acted as another segment, making it a total of six(!) segments in this horror anthology.
The first segment “Amateur Night” tells the story of three super bro douche bags that have gotten their hands on a pair of glasses that has a super small spy camera on it. Their plan: Go to bars, pick up girls, take them back to their hotel, fuck them, and film it. However, one of the girls they pick up is much more than they bargain for. For two, three seconds of this segment, I felt the same astonishment that I felt the first time I saw Cloverfield. “Amateur Night” is one of two of my favorite segments in V/H/S.
The second segment “Second Honeymoon” tells the story of a couple who has their road trip cut short after a visitor shows up one night at their hotel. Directed by Ti West, “Second Honeymoon” is very well made, but it sort of takes it’s time. I found it creepy during my first viewing, but during my second viewing, I was eager for this segment to end.
The third segment “Tuesday the 17th” tells the story of four kids that head into the forrest to do some swimming, drugs, and fucking. Sound familiar? Than you won’t be too surprised whenever I tell you that a homicidal maniac shows up. But what makes this homicidal maniac different from other homicidal maniacs is that he or she is an electronic disturbance. The best way I can describe the killer is by telling you to put a ringing cellphone next to a turned on television. That interference is what this killer is made of. So whenever he or she is next to the camera it looks like the camera is just going to short out. There’s kind of a bullshit back story with one of the kids and the killer but the killer was creepy enough and the kills were cool enough to make this segment one of my favorites.
The fourth segment “The Strange Thing that Happened to Emily” takes place entirely over a Skype like service. Emily and her boyfriend are in a long distance relationship and Emily believes her apartment is haunted, so whenever creepy shit starts going on in the apartment, Emily calls her boyfriend so he can see the ghosts over his computer. I feel like I am being nit picky, but this is one segment that could have used some back story. I understand that this is only a 10, 15 minute segment, but whenever the twist was revealed, my only thought was what the fuck? The kookiness of this segment made it one of my least favorite segments.
The fifth segment, “10/31/98” is the second of my two favorite segments. “10/31/98” tells the story of four dudes that are going to a costumed Halloween party. When these dudes witness a SATANIC SACRAFICE, they have to decide if it is just a Halloween gag or not. I would describe this segment as a roller coaster with plenty of twist, turns, and laughs. CAST HIM DOWN CAST HIM DOWN CAST HIM DOWN
And finally the wrap around story “Tape 56.” Do these guys ever find the tape they are looking for? Are they alone in the house? Is one of the dudes filming over a tape that has another member of the group having sex with his girlfriend? We may not get all the answers that we want, but like I stated earlier in my review, having a wrap around story is much cooler than just having a host introduce each segment.
V/H/S is most def one of my favorite movies of the 2012.
At the time of this writing, you can watch V/H/S on VOD and it is in theaters October 5, 2012. Check this shit out!!!
7 out of 10
Trailer for V/H/S:
