The "V/H/S" Franchise

[StevePulaski]

V/H/S (2012)
Directed by: David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and Adam Wingard

One of the several eerie sequences that are stored in V/H/S.

David Bruckner's "Amateur Night:" ★★
Ti West's "Second Honeymoon:" ★★★
Glenn McQuaid's "Tuesday the 17th:" ★★★½
Joe Swanberg's "The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger:" ★★★
Adam Wingard's "10/31/98:" ★★½

Overall rating: ★★★

If you've been paying even minor attention to the horror festival circuits and cult cinema, it's more than likely you've heard about V/H/S, the latest in horror anthology films created by a group of directors who have become recognizable names in the horror field. It seems the hippest thing to do today is to pay homage to horror styles from decades past, and that is what V/H/S's ultimate goal is; to bring us back to the past. It mainly wants to revive the bleeding style that went into many horror films that were shot on Betamax, super 16mm, VHS, camcorder, etc, where as another anthology horror piece, Chillerama, which pampered someone like me, was more concerned of lampooning the most baffling aspects of cheesy horror films. It's safe to say, both work on their own terms.

Again, the only way to efficiently grade an anthology film is to look at each of the segments individually, rate them accordingly, merge them together to give an overall score, and then determine if the experience is worthy enough for a person to sit through the lesser shorts in order to get to the better ones. This one is, and even its weakest short will summon a smile to a nostalgist's face. We start things off instantaneously, in the mix of static, blue-screens, fuzziness, shakiness, and everything else that made handheld camcorders so unique and primitive.

We begin with the central story arc, following a group of underprivileged delinquents who enjoy committing acts of vandalism and sexually harassing women right in front of their boyfriend's eyes. They are sent by an unknown person to retrieve a VHS tape called "Tape 56." The group of thugs enter into a strange house, accompanied by a dead man on a reclining chair in front of the Television, and begin to watch the abundance of tapes that are there in order to find the right one. Between the shorts, there will be a punctuated little snippet of the continuing events of these troubled misfits, before we return to another short.

Our first short is by David Bruckner, titled "Amateur Night," about three friends who go out clubbing one night, with a camera hidden in one of their eye-glasses, at an attempt to hook up and have sex in their rundown hotel room. They pick up two girls, one of them has bug eyes and a soul-penetrating stare. This will, as we assume, lead to some deadly, however familiar consequences. This is the weakest short by far, mainly because of its traditional feel and its intent on following conventional little quirks found in many recent paranormal films. The effects are good, especially the cinematography, which is one thing to praise about all the shorts, the atmosphere is present, but there isn't too much to note and it becomes an "over before you know it short" unusually quickly. Not to mention, I grew very weary of the incomprehensible camerawork early on.

Next up is Ti West's "Second Honeymoon," a short revolving around a married couple, vacationing in the west, where they encounter a woman who asks them for a ride (off camera). After politely declining, we see the couple being stalked by this unseen figure throughout the night, with gruesomely satisfying results. West is clearly shaping up to be one of the revivals of the horror genre, already creating a smart exercise in "slowburn" horror filmmaking with his film The Innkeepers. He is intent on atmosphere and slow-moving suspense that, more often than not, ends with a cherishable bang. Great work here.

Glenn McQuaid's "Tuesday the 17th" is an exercise in gorgeous cinematography, showcasing four friends who vacation down to a cabin in a remote woodsy area, where one of them tells the story of how murders were committed around these parts. The other friends dismiss the stories as tired fables, but the girl is dead serious about a black-cloaked man who wanders the woods, causing frequent technical glitches in the video camera they take along and choppy sound and video whenever he appears. The short is just what it should be; eerie, unfamiliar, and intriguingly suspenseful. Possibly the only one that could've spawned a feature length film.

Joe Swanberg's "The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger" is next, and the short is a bleeding gums exercise in style and subversive horror filmmaking. The entire short is shot on a computer screen, with a woman and her boyfriend talking in separate windows via webcam. The woman is frightened when she believes her apartment is haunted, and that paranormal demons have come to claim it. An eye-rolling idea, certainly, but terrifically executed because of stylistic intentions. Swanberg's fascination with human communication, his interest in subversive tactics, and the lack of the incomprehensible camerawork (traded delightfully for steadiness and clearness) makes this a thoroughly enjoyable short and the film occupies a twist that you may might not have seen coming, no matter how many horror films you've seen.

We end things with Adam Wingard's "10/31/98," a favorable, yet familiar short in the world of horror. The short follows four friends (one with a nanny-cam conveniently hidden in their costume) who head to a stranger's house for a costume party. Upon their arrival, they notice the house is deserted, but find in the attic that suspicious men are assaulting and mutilating the guests. Fun for a while, but ultimately, a little tiresome.

Regardless of quality, V/H/S never leaves its roots or abandons its idea to recreate a low budget film in homage to the camcorder days. The film's several directors are all capable in their own way, and even if I didn't particularly care for one of the shorts, I didn't find one of unwatchable quality and always found something surprisingly interesting in each one. This is a fun little romp through the anthology genre of horror. It will also serve as a nice introduction to those who have no idea what the anthology genre is.

Directed by: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and Radio Si.

[StevePulaski]

V/H/S/2 (2013)
Directed by: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sánchez, Gregg Hale, Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, and Jason Eisner

Adam Wingard's "Clinical Trials Phase 1:" ★★★
Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale's "A Ride in the Park:" ★★★
Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto's "Safe Haven:" ★★★
Jason Eisener's "Slumber Party Alien Abduction:" ★★

Overall Rating: ★★★

It seems like only yesterday I reviewed the horror anthology V/H/S. The film was a likable little horror flick that focused prominently on showcasing independent filmmakers that have made noise in their respected field recently and gave us the first horror anthology film since Chillerama. It was gory, pleasant, and nostalgia thanks to its choppy aesthetic. Not even a year after the release of the original film we have V/H/S/2 (originally titled "S-VHS," referencing the improved upgrade of the traditional VHS tape released in the late eighties), a slicker, broader, and a more brutal take on the idea of anthologies showcasing more talents from the independent circuit.

The only returning director from V/H/S is Adam Wingard, who shot the wraparound story that encapsulating all the shorts in the original. It was only wise to overhaul the old directors in favor of newer ones to give the new franchise a broader reach. Wingard returns manning the camera and starring in the first short, titled "Clinical Trials Phase 1," where he plays a man whose eye has just been replaced with a glass eye housing a camera, being one of the testers of this new technology. The doctor warns him there may be glitches in the software that will be reviewed when he submits the "eye tape" to the programmers. The entire short is shot through this eye camera, and shortly after he gets home we see the camera welcome in a slew of demonic entities. The story is elevated by a girl who enters the man's life, telling him he is not alone in the regard that his technology welcomes in new frights in his life and that's what gives this story the leverage it needs to succeed. The terrific POV perspective helps too, and this is a recurring theme in the film as we begin to see.

Following Wingard's short is "A Ride in the Park," directed by Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project) and Gregg Hale, focusing, at first, on a biker traveling through the woods before being victim to a bunch of what-appear-to-be zombies lurking in the woods. The short, shot entirely using a Go-Pro camera mounted on the biker's helmet, shows the biker evolving into an inhuman creature, eventually attacking a birthday party and the party guests. The perspective, again, livens up a seemingly drab idea. Sánchez still knows how to utilize a woodsy setting, and the ending warrants a nice jump and a quick-shriek. Very solid piece all around.

I have a feeling Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto's "Safe Haven" will be the fan-favorite of the lot and it very well should be. This is a smart, intense thriller that could've easily been broadened and expanded to feature-film status. The short, which occupies the longest runtime at about thirty minutes, focuses on a gang of investigative journalists who explore a shady, Indonesian cult. Reciting the plot any further doesn't do much justice, as this is a short that relies heavily on tone, editing, and plot. Evans, who directed the ever-so popular The Raid: Redemption last year does big things with the atmosphere and the possibilities with "Safe Haven," consistently making it taut and terrifying. It's a fan-favorite for a good reason.

We end, unfortunately, on a sour note, with Jason Eisener's "Alien Abduction Slumber Party." Most of the short is shot from a camera mounted on the back of a small Yorkie dog (who is killed at the end for good measure) and centers around a group of friends having a party at a lake house after the parents take off, with the gang being victim to an alien invasion. An easy summation for the short is chaotic, as the editing is scrambled, shots are astonishingly disjointedly cut, and Eisener has almost no sense of placement or cohesion with the videography occurring here. Directors are usually at piece with their material and what they're shooting; Eisener is wrestling his to the point where it seems to be no fun for him or for us.

The wraparound story shows two private detectives in search of a missing male college student. They enter his home, find a slew of VHS tapes, and get to work private investigating. The wraparound - like the first film - is pretty lame and sterile. There are no real scares to be found, no real jollies to be had from the characters or the events, and all it really serves as the connective tissue to three very well done shorts and one lukewarm one.

V/H/S/2, as a whole, is a thoroughly amusing one, and certainly one of the better horror films of the last year. It's an exceptional rarity, as well, seeing a sequel come out less than a year after its predecessor that is equal parts more efficient and more effective. I can see this film getting better reception from viewers and critics alike, as the film follows a more quietly subversive style in terms of videography and directing, rather than the original film, which was more concerned with blunt force scares. I suppose the biggest compliment one could pay to an anthology is that the stories could be made into feature length films, and in this case, all but one passes the test.

Directed by: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sánchez, Gregg Hale, Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, and Jason Eisener.

[StevePulaski]

V/H/S: Viral (2014)
Directed by: Nacho Vigalondo, Marcel Sarmiento, Gregg Bishop, Justin Benson, and Aaron Scott Moorhead

Marcel Sarmiento's "Vicious Circles:" ★★
Gregg Bishop's "Dante the Great:" ★★★
Nacho Vigalondo's "Parallel Monsters:" ★★½
Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead's "Bonestorm:" ★★

Overall Rating: ★★½

Read the full review on Influx Magazine, influxmagazine.com/vhs-viral-review