We return to the horror genre with this review for found footage anthology, V/H/S, each of the films within the film are directed by different up and coming genre directors. Richard Long, who has pretty much become my horror specialist, sent over his thoughts on this film so please check out Richard's words after the jump....
Written By Richard Alan Long
VHS
is a new movie featuring 6 short films all directed by new American
genre directors. The link to these movies is they are all shot in
the found footage motif. Although another link I found was there is
a mystery to all these films.
The
problem with found footage films is everyone thinks they will be easy
to do. Poor attempts can cause headaches from too much zooming in
and out and spinning. However, the directors of V/H/S seemed to know
what they were doing, although headaches permitting they do at times
make everything look authentic. However, for me you can be as
stylish as you want as long as the story lives up to it and for the
better parts V/H/S does.
The
five short films are held together by a main story. A few scumbags
like to film themselves assaulting girls and filming it to sell,
smashing windows and generally being complete pricks. Eventually we
find this group of fools breaking into a house and we get snippets of
dialogue as to what’s going on. They have to steal a VHS tape, and
will know which one it is when we see it.
I
liked the mystery surrounding this. What was on the tape, and who
wanted it? Once inside, the group find the dead body of an old man
and a large stack of video tapes. They hunt the house whilst one of
the group decides to watch some video tapes that the old man had
close to him when he died, and these are the five short films.
Now,
the five movies are interesting. Some are filmed on handheld
cameras, one from a laptop and another from camera glasses. Ti
West’s segment ‘Second Honeymoon’ is one of the shortest, but
is also one of the scariest. Other story’s like ‘Amateur Night’
by David Bruckner work well too, as a very scary, naturalistic,
found footage horror, but we also have the odd slasher type segment,
‘Tuesday the 17th’
which seemed to lack the intensity of the others.
There
are some masterful scares to be had in V/H/S. I felt myself jumping
at the eerie segment titled ‘The Sick thing that happened to Emily
when she was Younger’ and ‘10/31/98’ was classic exorcism
horror which was absurd and scary without being ruined by too much
depth.
I
don’t want to ruin each segment by explaining them, as to do that
may make you expect the scares when they arrive and there are some
genuinely shocking moments which it would be wrong to give away.
Overall
I enjoyed V/H/S. I didn’t think I would. It did scare me in
places, which is what a horror movie should do. Yes, there could
have been less short films but it worked.
What
you may dislike or hate about this film is the way it doesn’t
pander to its audience. This video tape that had to be found, who
really wanted it? And what was their intention? Every segment left a
question and a mystery. There is no ‘stop and explain to the
audience what was happening.’ It felt genuine, which if you want
scares, the best horror should.
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