V/H/S (VHS)
| release date | October 5 2012 |
| studio | Magnolia Pictures |
| director | Adam Wingard, Ti West, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg |
| writer | Simon Barrett, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, David Bruck |
| starring | Joe Swanberg, Calvin Reeder, Adam Wingard, Sophia Takal, Kate Lyn Sheil, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Chad Villella, Tyler Gillett |
| rating | R |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
| trailer 2 | Trailer #2 |
1 Comments
This was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. Every story was a masterpiece.
You clearly do not get out much nor have you seen many movies if you consider every story a masterpiece, that statement is absurd, where you one of the guys involved in the production of this movie?. Your review is extremely misleading for genuine horror fans, it is this kind of review which adds to the hype of the movie and sets up a big disappointment. It is rare to give ANY movie 5 stars let alone such a poor quality movie. Both three extremes will blow your socks off if you believe this is a master piece.
Loved it! It’s by far the best “found-footage” style of film I’ve ever seen. Each story got scarier and more bizarre with each tape. Even the skeptics will enjoy at least one of the story’s. What makes it such a genius film is that each piece takes on a specific type of horror genre. From monsters to teenagers in the woods to an actual haunted house… I really had a blast with this one and held on to the covers tight through out the whole movie. Total Goodtimes with this one!
Why is it guys with cams turn into even more bigger douchebags? I found it hard to sympathize with a lot of the characters but other than that I really enjoyed the movie especially the last two segments. I had to turn on a light at one point. So if you can get past the shaky cameras that plague all found footage films and ignore most of the characters’ idiotic choices–this movie is not boring in the least. It’s fun, creepy, and I’d definitely recommend it to all my friends.
*Contains spoilers*
Though promising, V/H/S really falls flat, and fails to even remotely deliver on the hype. The film starts with a group of petty criminals who are asked to break into a house to retrieve a VHS tape. This is a nice narrative to tie the stories together, but the problem is the guys are so reprehensible that you are cheering for their deaths as soon as they appear on camera. Its hard to connect and care about the characters when they are such, for lack of a better word, assholes. which is a problem that plagues the movie with each installment.
The first story involved a cool concept with vampires, but again why should I care what happens to characters? They are such douchebags that you are almost happy to seem them suffer. You got slaughtered by a vampire? Well serves you right for secretly filming yourselves trying to gang bang a girl in a seedy hotel.
The second story was dull and lifeless, but was the one installment which involved someone who you can connect to. Too bad he got killed by his bitch lesbian lover for being nothing more than a half decent person. Which is a shame because he was the only person in the movie I even remotely cared about.
After each tape, we cut back to the crew from the start as they ransack a house looking for a tape. But as they watch each tape their response seems be nothing more than mild amusement. You just saw a man getting carried off by a vampire? Oh. How odd… It was the same reaction the crew gave to finding a dead man in the house. It has all the emotion of waking up one morning to find you are out of Cherrios.
The third story was a spooky ghost story that defiantly had some cool ‘gotcha’ moments. But again, the characters were awful. I felt sorry for the young girl’s whose apartment was being ‘haunted’. But if you allow yourself to be manipulated by such a uncharismatic asshole then its hard to feel sorry for you. Especially when you wake up and fail to notice your missing a kidney.
We are now given the opportunity to watch the crew from the start die. But like everything in this movie it is unrewarding. It seems that all but one of the crew has already been killed prior to the scene, thus robbing us of any enjoyment watching these assholes die. So after a short chase scene where the camera movement stifles any excitement, the last member of the crew gets killed, and we are not the richer for it in any sense.
Now you would think that would be the end of the film, as the narrative is gone. But no, we are in for a bonus track. 4 frat boy wanna be’s (wanna be’s as they are too old) go to a party, where after acting like idiots they stumble on a exorcism. Which is wear, for the first time in the movie, they make the right moral decision and decide to help the poor girl. Though this being the movie it is, being a decent human being means a death sentence. So after some spooky hands in the walls stuff, our frat boys find themselves locked in a car on the train tracks as a train hurtles towards them. Which is a fitting end. considering that with all the shaky camera work that make it impossible to watch in parts, and the absolute absence of decent human traits in all our characters, this movie is a train wreck. The only thing that saves it, are the half decent concepts. Disappointing to say the least.
I completely forgot to mention the group of friends lost in the woods. That’s how memorable it was. They are all annoying, they are in the woods were some murders took place. Yeah. You’ve seen it before
I totally agree with you Grizz. You parse out how bad this movie is pretty nicely. Does anyone else feel cheated about spending money for this? Bloody-Disgusting hypes it for so long and then delivers what I almost consider an unwatchable film. The found footage thing has been absolutely done to death. Lovely Molly is the first film I’ve seen in a long time that does something a little different with it.
Where do I start with how bad a film VHS is? Not only is found footage a completely unorginal format, the shaky camera is so bad in this movie that half the time I couldn’t even see what was going on. It’s almost like the makers were trying to shake the camera so bad that you wouldn’t be aware of the bad acting, script, screenplay, direction, etc. And speaking of camera shaking, did anyone else see the mistake in the first story where the nerdy guy runs in the bathroom and you can see him in the mirror but he not holding a camera and neither is anyone else?
Grizzlybear is right. The guys who break into the house are scumbags and I couldn’t care less about them when watching the movie.
Oh man, what a bad movie.
Dude, he’s not holding a camera because the camera is hidden in his glasses…
I’m with you guys, I want my 10 bucks back. The first part was creepy the rest of the stories didn’t hold my attention and I felt were poorly done. The part where they were in the woods….the acting was so bad I got uncomfortable. I couldn’t tell you about the rest of the stories because I already forgot.
SPOILERS:
Have to mainly agree with the above review, i found all the segments fairly enjoyable but its the wrap around story that sucks. As mentioned you really don’t give two hoots about what happens to the 3 guys who break into the house, especially as there actions are so unrealistic – if you went into a house to steal a tape, saw a dead body and a video of a vamp girl tearing the shit out of people you wouldn’t stick round to watch another 4 or 5 tapes!! I feel this film would of benefited from the tapes being found footage and the main story being filmed normally, that way you would of had a better understanding of what was happening to them in the house and it would of broke up monotany of the shaky/make you feel sick cam.
Felt letdown due to the hype but will watch again (sober)and see if my feelings change.
Upon a second viewing I feel 2/5 skulls was abit harsh, there are some really creepy moments and brutal deaths in this movie. I’m still super confused about the skype segment, everyone keeps referring to it as ghostly but the credits state that the kids are actually aliens not ghosts.
Overall score: 4/10
My pre-viewing perspective – I love the horror genre and think some of the best recent horror films are found footage/docu-horror ie., REC 1 and 2, Lake Mungo, Noiro: The Curse, etc.
I was anticipating this film because it seemed like an original concept – to my knowledge this is the first found footage anthology horror film. The main problem is the startling lack of imagination in these shorts.
The wraparound story: interesting concept – a group of juvenile amateur porn makers is commissioned to find a mysterious VHS tape in some house. The individual stories are different VHS tapes perused by the different guys as they search for the tape. However, we get very little in terms of explanation as to the nature of this tape or the dead guy in the chair. We are left presuming that he’s some kind of ghost/demon who is killing each guy off one by one for some reason….Nothing too special in the wraparound and you will instantly hate these goofs anyway (they get off filming themselves sexually assaulting women). Yet even if watching them get their comeuppance might have been satisfactory, even this fails because you don’t actually get to seem them die – they just sort of vanish or something.
Story #1: The second best of the lot. It concerns some frat boy douchebags who are trying to get laid by picking up girls at a bar. One of the girls is some kind of demon.
Story #2: A young couple on a vacation in the Grand Canyon. Not too bad but lacks any decent payoff. I believe this was Ti West’s entry and its his worst effort to date (I love everything else he’s done from the Roost to the Innkeepers.)
Story #3: Young adults in the woods story. You’ve seen it all before and this adds nothing new.
Story #4: Skype-filmed story about a young woman haunted by ghosts or something. This one was ok but adds nothing new to the genre. Some particularly bad writing in this one and bad acting in this one by the boyfriend. Note his (non)reaction to watching his girlfriend dig a hole into her arm.
Story #5: A bunch of friends go to a Halloween party only to find it deserted…or so it seems. My favourite story but still, it is not executed too effectively. Some nice touches (the arms out of the walls, the mayhem as they run out of the house) but other scenes were very cliched or poorly acted (the “sacrifice” setup). The ending is also pretty lame.
Negative aspects:
1. An almost embarrassing lack of imagination among the stories is the worst aspect of “V/H/S”. The “sameness” of these stories may strike the viewer as almost comical. Here are some examples:
- Every story features main characters of the same age group – college aged twenty-somethings, most of whom are very juvenile and immature. You know the type.
- Related to the first point, four out of the five stories feature characters who want to film themselves having sex or film female nudity. I don’t offer this as a negative aspect due to any specific moral objection (though, clearly this can be counted as part of the long tradition of sexual exploitation in horror films). Rather, I include it here to demonstrate the “sameness” of the characters and the fact that almost every director involved here thought it was a necessity to include this motif in their films. I am inclined to believe that this like-mindedness may speak to the juvenile sensibilities of these directors but perhaps there were more commercial considerations involved.
2. Too many instantly detestable characters. The wraparound story, story #1, and #3 all feature characters that I hated almost immediately. Moreover, no single character in any of the stories was sympathetic which leads to an indifference to their fates.
3. You are expected to ignore a lot of stuff that makes no sense in terms of logic and rational decision-making. For example, in story #3, why would the girl run up to the demon killer guy while he’s in one of her booby traps and get close enough so that he can stab her? For that matter, why didn’t that killer demon guy try to kill her when she went back to that wooded area to make those booby traps? In story #4, we are reminded twice that the boyfriend is NOT recording his Skype conversation…so how are we watching it on a VHS tape?
You may also come away asking a lot of questions about why/how things happen in each story ie., what is the nature of the demon/fat old man in the wraparound story? Is the demon girl in story #1 mentally challenged? The degree to which this lack of explanation bothers you will depend on how much you need. Mostly, I wasn’t bothered by this.
4. Simply not scary. In place of fright, you get mostly gore (ie., a young girl gets disemboweled and another gets an abortion performed through her back) or found footage horror cliches (ghost girl in mirror, camera pans away then pans quickly back and ghost girl is gone).
5. Maybe misogynistic – the women in these shorts are variously depicted as conniving, deceptive, murderous, evil, promiscuous or aloof. Still, as I said earlier this may simple be a retread or homage to the horror genre which is no stranger to this kind of portrayal.
6. Some bad acting ie., boyfriend in story #4, demon girl in story #1.
Positive aspects:
1. Good concept – found footage horror anthology was a good idea but these directors were not the right ones to execute it.
Overall, I gave VHS a 4/10 but even that seems generous. This is mediocre and often bad horror film-making. The concept will probably get a lot of praise and attention but I wish there was better talent involved.
Found footage has become one of the most annoying gimmicks in recent memory. For many filmmakers; it’s cheap – and in more ways than one – and convenient for starting a career. It astounds me that people still eat this shit up. There have been countless films made within this horror sub-genre over recent years yet hardly any of them will truly be remembered, because hardly any of them are actually innovative and were made by people who actually had an understanding of when the gimmick is appropriate, stylistically, and when it’s not. “V/H/S”, the first-ever found footage horror anthology (to my knowledge), is described as being the perfect antidote for those who hate found footage, made by those who also hate found footage. So basically, that’s assuring you that you’re getting genuine sub-genre innovation when you sign up for this one.
A group of men, probably criminals, harass a woman on tape and then break into a house to retrieve an unknown VHS tape, recording everything as they go along. They search everywhere in the house for the tape, eventually finding an old man – presumably the former house owner – motionless, most likely dead, on an armchair. He’s watching dead air. Near the many televisions, there are also many VHS tapes, not one of them being the one the thugs are looking for. Nevertheless, one of the members stays downstairs and starts viewing the contents of the tapes; and thus begins the anthology, with only the break-in plot with the old man, who eventually disappears from his chair, keeping the whole thing together.
The first segment is titled Amateur Night, directed by David Bruckner of “The Signal”. It concerns a group of drunk and horny douchebag males who go out clubbing to meet women and take home only two. One is beautiful, but passes out before anything can happen, and the other is peculiar and has huge eyes; and she, more or less, goes absolutely wild and shows these boys the night of their lives. This is a very good way to kick off the anthology; a creepy short cinematic tale with social commentary and lots and lots of gore (there’s even a bloody dick and balls). Next up is Ti West’s Second Honeymoon, my personal favorite segment, which is about a couple on a road trip who are stalked by a deranged psychopath who breaks into their motel room, steals their money, and wields a switchblade. Expect West’s signature slow-burn suspense; even though it could have been even better if stretched out into a feature film.
Third up is Tuesday the 17th. It’s a pretty standard slasher story in which some four ignorant college kids go out in the middle of the woods, smoke weed, go skinny dipping, probably have sex, and then get brutally murdered by a mysterious killer. The found footage aesthetic is worked into the plot in the form of static whenever the killer is on-screen, so we never really see him. Also, the camera sometimes shows bizarre images of dead bodies whenever it’s aimed at a certain location. Like all the segments, this is an entertaining one; but with Glenn McQuaid (“I Sell the Dead”) at the helm and that guy from “Poultrygeist” in the cast, it’s not particularly as impressive or effective as it wants to be. Tip to directors; by all means, use people who know how to act, but in found footage, casting someone I’ve fucking seen before is just going to ruin the entire thing. Most of the time.
Then there’s Joe Swanberg and Simon Barret’s “The Sick Thing that Happened to Emily When She was Younger”, which has the titular Emily and her boyfriend James talking on video chat the entire time. Emily believes there is a ghost living in her newly acquired apartment, and nighttime video footage proves her suspicions to be fact. Once she finally intends to confront the ghost, things get really twisty. It’s clearly the most ambitious of all the segments but a few major plot holes keep it from truly working. Perhaps a longer run-time would have given it the proper dramatic and narrative weight, although it’s admittedly better than McQuaid’s contribution. The film ends with “10/31/98″, which takes place on Halloween night. Some college kids – one dressed in a bear costume – go to a stranger’s house for a Halloween party and find out that it’s abandoned…or is it? This segment is a huge improvement on the last two; a bit special effects heavy, but wicked entertaining and creepy nonetheless.
“V/H/S” has the usual anthology film problems – a few good segments, a few not-so-good ones – but the directors obviously wanted to do something different with found footage and overall, I think they succeeded. The good segments clearly came from people who wanted to work in the sub-genre but didn’t want to feel as if they were jumping on the bandwagon while the mediocre ones are merely missed opportunities. At the end of the day though, this film is actually pretty darn scary and I’ll be sure to watch it again before the year is out. I think it could use some trimming (and I’ve heard rumors of a 93 minute cut, as opposed to the 116 minute one that I saw, hitting theaters and VOD when the film does) but I didn’t feel that it overstayed its welcome too much. “V/H/S” starts strong and ends strong; and while it’s probably not going to do anything revolutionary for horror or for found footage, it’s still one of the more fun affairs caught on tape.
SPOILERS!! Saw this at Frightfest, it was one of the most disappointing films of the festival for me. the wrap around was ok nothing special brilliant, none of the stories were very well written or executed, it felt like it had been rushed out or done without much care and attention. the VFX of the vampire bat was laughable, the story where the gf kills her husband was so boring you were just praying for the end to come quickly, as was the vampire movie. the slasher segment had some very dodgy FX in it that had nothing to do with the vhs look / aesthetic , and the ghost house was just innkeepers on a budget with some cheap FX thrown in (although this was easily the best segment) . all in all it felt like a gimmicky careless rushed out project that couldve been so much better
V/H/S was fantastic. I’m not going to go into detail on each segment, but I will say they were each unique and enjoyable. Both Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence knocked it out of the park, the latter being my favorite and a fitting end. For me the only let down was the wraparound piece, I felt it was an intriguing start but ultimately fell flat. Good job guys! I want to see more!
Full of sound, fury, and video artifacts and somehow signifying less than nothing. A film full of half ideas and pointlessness. I wanted to love this flick and knowing the talent involved had high expectations. None of the segments really went anywhere and most of the characters were annoying and repellant. Kudos on having a first release. Better luck next time Bloody Disgusting.
Definitely one of the better found footage films that I’ve seen. However, there were some segments that would have been better had they not gone in the direction they did, an example being a segment involving a woman named Emily who thinks her apartment is haunted. The two best segments were the first involving a succubus (sp?), and the last segment involving a group of guys who go to a Halloween party.
I totally agree with you Grizz. You parse out how bad this movie is pretty nicely. Does anyone else feel cheated about spending money for this? Bloody-Disgusting hypes it for so long and then delivers what I almost consider an unwatchable film. The found footage thing has been absolutely done to death. Lovely Molly is the first film I’ve seen in a long time that does something a little different with it.
Where do I start with how bad a film VHS is? Not only is found footage a completely unorginal format, the shaky camera is so bad in this movie that half the time I couldn’t even see what was going on. It’s almost like the makers were trying to shake the camera so bad that you wouldn’t be aware of the bad acting, script, screenplay, direction, etc. And speaking of camera shaking, did anyone else see the mistake in the first story where the nerdy guy runs in the bathroom and you can see him in the mirror but he not holding a camera and neither is anyone else?
Grizzlybear is right. The guys who break into the house are scumbags and I couldn’t care less about them when watching the movie.
Oh man, what a bad movie.
P.S. Sorry for repeating myself from above. I wanted to submit my own skull rating.
One of the best found footage films I’ve seen in a while. Although each individual “VHS tape” had a different premise, each one had a creepy atmosphere with a looming sense that something terrible was going to happen. If your into this genre or horror, definitely check it out.
“V/H/S” comes to us as the first film produced by the amazing folks here at Bloody Disgusting. The concept alone had me excited as I am not someone who immediately writes off a film because it falls within the “found footage” genre. However, I rarely get excited for one based solely on its premise.
“V/H/S” is hands down the best example of a found footage flick since, well “REC”. “V/H/S” delivers scares, convincing performances (which could be a major killer in this sub-genre), and some nifty “how’d they do that” type of moments.
By now you should all know the general wrap around conceit of the flick, which in this viewer’s eyes is one of the weakest aspects of the film. It has a great sense of building tension. There were moments that reminded me of the original “REC” in a very good way, but the pay off fell flat.
The stand out of all the videos was definitely Ty West’s segment, “Second Honeymoon”. While I’m sure most fans were anticipating this to be the case, I tend to find West’s films to be pointlessly long winded and truncated at the same time, aside from “The Roost” and “Cabin Fever 2″ (though he has publicly stated his disappointment with that film). I believe that West being forced to follow certain guidelines and keep things short was a benefit to his unquestionable talents. The segment was quick, eerie, and had a nice little twist at the end.
Another true spine tingler was “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger”. This short had me squirming in my seat, yelling out loud, and generally unnerved.
There’s even a nice dead teenagers short, “Saturday the 17th”. It has a nifty visual trick that seems to harken back to the annoying necessity of the VCR tracking button. It’s a major plus that this segment truly brings the gore and is heavy on the nostalgia factor if not much else.
If you haven’t checked this out yet because you’re wary of the found footage angle, get over it! Pop this sucker in the VCR. It has a little something for everyone. The whole VHS angle really makes the film feel like a leftover from the video-nasties era, and as someone who is always looking for that one overlooked gem from the 80′s, “V/H/S” made me feel right at home. There sure were a lot more tapes in that house…fingers crossed for “V/H/S 2: Late Fees”!
Comment V/H/S provided a good scare and is one of the best recent horror movies thus far. The first segment was the best. The feel of panic was great when the succubus attacked due to the fact that the guy took forever to get the hell out of the motel room. Your friends have just been slaughtered but you haven’t, so haul ass! The second segment was difficult to get into. The whole knocking on the door at night deal brought up a similarity to The Strangers and the ending was abrupt. However, the husband was one of the best characters from the whole film. The third was okay but didn’t really scare. It had more humor than horror. The characters were enjoyable but the killer was a joke. The fourth was an improvement from the second and third. The twist was great but on the other hand left a lot of answered questions. The final segment was the second best and had an interesting storyline. The mix of Halloween and a demonic girl went great together. V/H/S did not measure up to the hype, but it is a good horror movie. Definitely revamps the found footage genre.
It is my favorite horror film of the year so far. It is also one of my favorite films of the year. I loved almost every single minute of the film. Here’s my list of the stories from favorite to least favorite (Number’s 1-5 are the stories in order. 6 is the wrap around story): 1,5,3,6,4,2. It is disappointing to me that Ti West’s short is my least favorite, but it is still good. That’s the thing, all of these are good or better. Every story has great payoff, especially Ti West’s. All of these, except the third one with the woods, are scary. The blood is great. What I like about the third one is that it’s a throw back with a twist. I can’t wait to add this to my collection.
The rating won’t work, so 5 out of 5
The film was a fun break from the lazy, over stylized watered down “PG-13 horror” we usually get throughout the year. It was raw, original and entertaining. The first and last segments were my favorite, but I do wish that the “men breaking in to steal a VHS tape” segment had a better pay-off, It ended too abruptly and didn’t answer any of our questions. Now, I don’t usually need all questions answered, however, that segment badly needed some kind of resolution. Overall the film was very original and I look forward to V/H/S 2
Great anthology concept. Plenty of vicious, scary parts, but too many are shown in the trailer
4/5
Adam Wingard, Ti West, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the YouTube sensation Radio Silence have all come together to create “V/H/S”, which simultaneously resurrects the anthology film with gusto, places itself among the scariest of scary movies, and makes the found footage genre more legit than it has ever been.
Set in the narrative framework of a group of villainous hoodlums with a v/h/s camcorder, we follow them into a house during a “job” to steal a precious v/h/s tape for a mysterious third party. When they arrive, however, they are met with a dead body and stacks upon stacks of unlabeled v/h/s tapes. As they put the tapes into the player to discover which one they’re supposed to grab, we watch in horror as the sick stories play out in front of us. We witness five v/h/s stories, each directed by a different master of modern horror, before the outside story begins to unravel into something as twisted as what’s on the demented tapes.
The stories range from a cautionary tale for predatory men, to a modern take on the “trapped-in-the-woods” slasher. We witness a second honeymoon gone horribly bad, an ingenious use of Skype, and a take on the haunted house genre that will not be bested for a long time. And I won’t even tell you what happens in the house where the criminals are looking for the tape…
This is terrifying filmmaking, original and ingeniously twisted. Watching the film feels like experiencing a living, breathing nightmare. Cold sweats, confusion, shock, nausea – it all comes with this territory.
Combining the low-budget style of found footage with the low-budget look of shooting on v/h/s tape gives these filmmakers the opportunities to offer big scares, scares that don’t give themselves up with CGI cheapness or flashy editing. No, “V/H/S” is down and dirty reality horror that digs so far under your skin it threatens to burst out the other side.
The filmmakers wisely choose to leave many details out, dropping us into stories that have long-since hit the ground running, giving us only enough exposition-laced dialogue to let us form our own conclusions, and often the films are left partially unresolved. Exactly like you’d expect found footage to be. It’s bold and risky, and some will find it confusing, but it couldn’t be more perfect.
If you’re looking for something new to be scared of, pop in “V/H/S”.
This is what nightmares are made of.
-Thomas Bond, TheFilmDiscussion.com
A good effort. Ti West’s piece was amazing… a slow burn, until… BAM! The other pieces were varied, and kept me on my toes. I would have appreciated, as others have mentioned, a more cohesive wrapper story. I would have liked to have seen the asshole hipster losers that are tasked with stealing the tape actually meet their various fates, instead of screaming (mostly) off camera. Oh well. Maybe they did this on purpose. Pretty good, folks!
I really enjoy found footage, and I thought this one did a great job with it.
However the general consensus that there is an imbalance of quality between each segment is completely true. I would have loved to see this film be about the first and last segments. They were by far, the strongest.
Although exposition went a bit too far a lot of times, I enjoyed this movie.
I’m not much of a film critic, but I had to register on Bloody Disgusting to write a few words after seeing V/H/S. I watched it after much anticipation and although I didn’t have “High Tension” hopes, I wanted it to be good. It wasn’t. It felt cheap and disappointing (kind of like Ti West’s “House of the Devil”) and definitely missed its mark. All of the vignettes were choppy, riddled with plot holes, and failed to scare or delight. They were actually pretty laughable — just plain silly. I’m sad to have to write this review and while some people seemed to enjoy this one, I’m doing my part in trying to spare unsuspecting people from wasting their time and money. Unless you’re a super fan of any of the writers/directors, you’ll probably be disappointed. I know I was. Sorry BD!
I’ll give a skull for every story that I liked. Amateur Night, 10-31-98 and Second Honeymoon.
for fuck’s sake, I gave a 3. -_-
Didn’t live up to the hype for me. I only found the first and last stories to be decent. Seemed sloppy and rushed for the most part. Not a bad movie but could have been much better.
I watched this the other night. I’m a bit mixed on it, though I think it falls well short of being what it could be. I think the concept and ideas are strong..I even think most of the stories, though flawed and cliched if handled differently could have been really well done. Since the film was a concept by Brad Miska here at Bloody Disgusting it reminded of the kid you know in school who seems to know all about a certain subject and is book smart but when it comes to actually applying the knowledge they have no concept of how to do it. In this case the subject matter is horror the kid is Brad. Who by the way seemed to criticize Rob Zombie’s latest movie Lords of Salem and it’s poor writing and ending. I think before Brad starts pointing fingers for such flaws in movies he needs to look at his movies.
Great concept that just didn’t pan out. As others have, the almost total lack of any sympathetic characters, in any of the stories, made it a really difficult movie to connect with. Also, while some films make the mistake of saying to much, I found that some of the stories here said to little. While ambiguity helped “Second Honeymoon,” it would have been nice to see “Tape 56″ and “The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily…” a bit more fleshed out. “10/31/98″ ended up being my favorite story, probably because it was the only one with characters I ended up caring about. It was an okay way to kill 2 hours, but not quite what I was expecting. (2 skulls, 2 1/2 tops.)
Stephen King (in Danse Macabre) wrote that to be a horror fan, one has to develop a taste for good bologna. The reasoning is that the genre, seconded only by porn, is considered a fast, cheap buck. Well: yes. It is.
Shooting in the “found footage” format has lowered the cost factor, which either forces the filmmaker to be creative and innovative or expose themselves for the talentless hacks that they are.
This rather interesting piece has its moments of cringe-worthy, eyes rolling and groaning: One wants to blurt into the faces of all involved with a simple “Dude: seriously?”
Fortunately, the dudes are serious.
The opening moments of the film introduce us to a group of misogynistic video rapists, tracking down women and assaulting them, exposing their breasts on camera and then fleeing. The “male possessive gaze” that the feminists use as a term of disgust is shoved into our faces from the start. Throughout the opening segment, there are Cloverfield back flashes of one of this crew trying to catch himself and his girlfriend on tape while having sex. Like the limp, peek-a-boob shots caught in violence, it is as impotent a gesture as ever caught on film.
These are not men. They only rate as demented, weak children. That is why, when one of them even tells the crew to give up on the porn to take a job that promises “real money,” he becomes threatening to the other males. His grabbing of the phallic baseball bat and smashing the TV (the actual focus of the male possessive gaze throughout the film) is a form of homoerotic assault, and one that the entire crew immediately accepts.
This opening segment, as an attempt to be the center of the entire film, is also guilty of the cringe moments. There is no real closure to the segment, there is no sense of a clear end and that is a weakness. It does, however, underscore several moments throughout the remainder of the film, and does that portion of its purpose brilliantly: it sets up the remainder of the film.
The first story (as opposed to the opener) seems to be another typical male rage against female film, with the notable exception of the “virgin” in the group. He is the one fitted with the glasses-cam, and the story is shown through his “eyes.” The virgin is pretty typical of any frat comedy, but as the piece progresses, as his buddies prepare to commit a date rape in front of him, he flees. Forcing himself to go back, then, he and his buddies are given an in-your-face depiction of female power and authority.
This leads us to the next story, which is also an examination of female power in the face of male transgression… notice, if you will, the moment in which the male lead faces down the female lead over missing money.
Next is a trip to the woods, and again, here we are given nothing new… at first. But as the piece continues, we see the huntress engaged.
A series of (No, honey I didn’t record anything) Skype messages piece together a story of one man’s bizarre desire to destroy women long distance. Not just one woman, but as it goes through to the end, others.
The final segment is a corker. Total frat boy party, but in a film of this nature, the story line would have more women in it. It does, but only so the “we have to go back, guys!” white knight moment can occur. Which it does, and then all goes to madness. Some may complain of the over the top effects, but for me, they were a total shock. The rest of the film had simple, inexpensive make-up, or inserted video glitches; standard low budget horror tricks used to good, um, effect. The final story in the anthology pulls out all the stops, and the tension that was building throughout the film comes out of the walls.
I loved this. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because of “The Second Honeymoon” segment. I guess I’ll never understand the appeal of TI West. He is so totally and irritatingly overrated. I called him being the director of TSH as soon as it was over…. Not enough payoff and more bullshit “slow burn.”
Can we stop trying to make TI West happen?
Forgot to add, I may be in the minority but Tuesday the 17th was my favorite segment. I thought it was the most fun out of all of the segments.
Comment
A collection of shorts might not be the best format for horror. It’s a lot to ask to have the viewer sit through the same slow build-up to pay-off formula so many times in one sitting. Add to that the fact that all but two of the shorts are pretty poor. The low budget should not have held these directors back as much as it did.
Held together by a thread, but woven beautifully,
The sense of unease I felt after watching each of these vignettes was profound. The short story form is the best way to deliver an intense, sharp shock, and these filmmakers lay to waste any idea that either horror or found footage movies are past their prime.
I expected an above-average horror film after some nice word-of-mouth and a slick trailer. Holy hell I did not expect to have my world rocked. The guy’s radius, the train, the “offspring”… Some of us of a certain age may remember randomly renting Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and after watching, asked themselves, “Why didn’t anyone warn me about this?”
Consider yourself warned.
I’m always up for a b-movie, but this was difficult to swallow. Some of the stories were good, but it’s definitely not the “scariest” movie or even on the top 100 list.
There were many gaps and flaws that were just oversights by the filmmakers… which is a shame. The premise was great – but a few more weeks of filming key components would have made something epic.
A: What’s wrong with Emily? The entire plot… A young girl is on iChat with her boyfriend and once a ghost is seen, she asks him to record the story. Here’s the question – how are the hooligans watching a VHS of this? It may be nit picky, but something that could have been easily avoided.
B: How to the films tie into each other and what role does the old man play? Well… great question… maybe the filmmakers want the audience to discover this on their own? Well, that’s cool…. but as a horror/film buff… I’m left a little pissed off. If there was a common theme or just some follow up – I would have been way more satisfied.
C: The make-up/special FX… seriously? The blood was so red. It’s so easy to do excellent make-up, not something to take short cuts on.
D: The acting… meh. The core storyline was okay and the final story was really good… but I wanted to characters to die. They were annoying and awful actors.
It did end on a good note, the last story was awesome! The effects were good and it was a quick story.
I’ve been waiting for an amazing horror story and unfortunately believed the hype. I’m glad I didn’t see it in the theatre but I’m disappointed I wasted my Saturday night on this rubbish.
“One of the best horror movies of recent years. Scary as hell. A original, sinister horror show. Its clever, wicked, twisted fun!”
Roger Ebert’s Review was pretty accurate
Wow, where do I begin? I enjoyed this movie a lot, its different, I know what your thinking,How is the home video thing different? Well, I know its been done to death in the past few years but believe me they didn’t have 5 fucked up stories in the mix. The stories are basically the climaxes of 5 different horror films, think of it as skip the bullshit five times and skip right to the climaxes. Its so random and weird I think it works, people bitch about not having an explanation of why these things are happening but its an anthology, who needs an explanation. Do you guys really think they have time to go over the origins of the story when there are five stories in the movie? Anyways my favorite stories had to be Tuesday the 17th, that was the goriest one, and 10/31/98. The skype one is really confusing I would have to say thats my least favorite. Give it a watch, you might enjoy it.
Last night was one of those nights. The wife and I sat on the couch, nothing to do, wanting badly to find something good on TV to watch. Luckily for us, we have Comcast which offers on demand movies, including those in theaters. I’m not one to usually pay to watch a movie on my cable box. I’d rather wait for it to show up on TV or fall under the free section, but we really wanted to watch something. With us being avid horror fans, when we came across V/H/S we thought that it sounded interesting.
We had no idea what we where in for.
V/H/S is a found footage film like I haven’t watched before. Here we have five stories, all presented in the found footage format, and wrapped together with a sixth story. The concept of the movie has been done before, and so has found footage, but this felt like a different genre as the two collided. V/H/S is an unique experience, that most true horror fans will find as a truly entertaining watch.
That’s not to say that this film doesn’t have it’s flaws, it does, but those flaws are easily overlooked due to the type of movie it is. V/H/S tells the story of a group of criminals hired to steal a VHS tape. Upon arriving the are greeted by a seemingly dead person and a ton of tapes. While looking for the tape they are supposed to steal, they watch what is on the videos.
Each video contains a different “story.” It’s almost as they took the basic elements from different horror movies and compressed them into short stories without worrying about the whys and what fors, and that is OK with me. Each video a little it more disturbing than the last. At one point I had to turn my head during one part of the movie that involved a knife and an arm. Makes me shudder thinking about it.
The concept of the entire movie is interesting. Each short story directed by a different director with a different premise. While not everyone will enjoy this, I feel true horror fans can appreciate V/H/S. I’m not even a fan of most found footage movies, but completely enjoy this one. Only one of the stories I couldn’t get into, and that was the main wrap around story of the criminals hired to steal the VHS tape. It didn’t feel right to me and the end was easy to see coming. Otherwise each story kept me guessing, and kept me immersed into wanting to know where they where going and what was next.
I highly suggest you check this movie out, as it is different. It may not be the future of horror films, but it is something that will obviously be used to inspire horror movies and film makers for time to come.
I loved this movie. It was just good front to back. I would recommend it to any horror fan out there, it’s a creepy good time.
Definitely one of the most anticipated films for fans of this site. I totally loved it, every short provides an interesting new story that could easily be made into its own feature. While I agree that the main story throughout fell apart at the end with no satisfying conclusion, overall one of the better flicks this season. I would have gave it 4 or 5 skulls had the ending been better. Still AWESOME! SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!
I watched this movie last night VOD. I was super excited to see it because I thought the idea and concept were great. Boy, was I Bloody Disappointed. The characters in this film were unlikeable and very flat. I know the segments were very limited with time, but why does weird shit happen to assholes? Oh wait, karma is a bitch. So besides the character flaws, It would have been nice to have the wrap around story filmed normally to give my eyes a break. The shaky cam was terrible on these and even though they were supposed to be filmed with older equipment and obviously didn’t have image stabilization capabilities. Get a GO Pro dude! The stories themselves weren’t that bad. I found it very ironic that the last story wasn’t by Ti West because it seemed to be a mash-up of The Innkeepers and The House of the Devil.
first of all
Congratulations BD members..
i really really liked the acting and Effects
really good effects specially at the END VHS
but comon..i wanna send message for VHS makers
whats the point of shoing Tits all the time?
u think u only guys have girls or somthing !!!
first VHS and last was goood..not great but v.good
the rest was just waste of time and tity stuff
is reallly waste of time and shame
plz guys..u were going to make exelent movie
but u fail cus of shitty tits scenes and
wasting time in repeating stuff
Good Luck
A interesting review, i almost forget about the nudity, not sure why nearly every seen contained female and/or male nudity. Was the movie lacking that much it required tits and ass to give it a boost?
Absoluteley incredible. Alongside with Paranormal Activity the definitive flick of the found footage genre.
V/H/S is probably one of the better films that I have seen in a long time. I hope there will be more like this because something like this can be habit forming! A good habit! Films like V/H/S clearly shows that you can produce a good “found footage” film without overusing CG or any other effects that can get in the way of a good story or stories as the case is here.
I did not enjoy this very much. I stopped and started it a few times because it was so long and the camera was so choppy my eyes needed a break. I know it is found footage and it’s not going to be smooth and seamless filming, but this was too much for two hours straight. Worst of all, I was not scared by any of the vignettes. Sometimes budget movies are redeemed by really good acting or original and interesting concepts. Other than the anthology concept for found footage (for anthology in the broader horror genre is not a new idea), there was nothing particularly new here and what was here was not done that well. Disappointing. Maybe they’ll get their shit together for S VHS? This was not as bad as Bats, my yardstick for what represents a truly awful film, which would get zero skulls. Relative to that, I think this sits at 1.5 – 2 skulls, and today I will be generous with my score and go the high end of that scale.
The dialog/acting/ad-libbing was trying at times, and some stories started out great but finished weakly, or started badly but redeemed themselves later. But overall, an impressive low-budget effort. The gore was plentiful when it needed to be, and the general premise of the anthology was solid. It was gritty and dark and unapologetic. 7.5/10
Comment
Way better than expected even with all the hype! This might have the only exciting thing West has ever directed. The first “tape” is by far the best though.
V/H/S is an epic movie of extraordinary proportions. From start to finish, the movie never loosens it’s hold of your attention and takes you through a wonderful, gory experience. So fast paced that once it’s finished, you won’t believe that it was almost two hours long. The combination of found footage and anthology works perfectly, and is one of the most original ideas in motion picture history. Most of the time, torture porn makes me like a horror film less than usual, but the sex and nudity doesn’t take away any of the love I have for this movie. V/H/S is the most insane film you will ever experience. Bloody Disgusting did a phenomenal job with their first film and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
My tablet is acting stupid saying I only gave the film 4 skulls. I meant to put 5.
For starters what I like about this movie is that it is a collection of movies in one. So I would like to reveiw each story and rank if among the other stories, then wrap it up with a overall review.
Story#1 rating: #1 – Yep the first story was my favorite out of the whole film, so they started off right. I could tell from the get go however that something was up with Lily. Her killing the glasses guy’s friends was the most scary part of the movie for me. The end is also creepy where she tries to give him oral sex cause she likes him only to have him not get excited which results in her crying thinking he doesn’t like her. The last creepy moment is when he escapes to seek help only to be pulled into the air by Lily who is now a giant bat which shows that she was a vampire.
story#2 rating: #3 – This was by far the most oh my gosh moment of the movie for me. Cause the rest I kinda saw coming. I never expected the guy’s wife to actually be a lesibean who allows her lover to break into they’re motel room and kill her husband. The ending is also messed up as it shows them kissing and how the dudes wife basically had no feelings for him at all.
story#3 rating: #5 – My least favorite out of the films. There just wasn’t nothing scary about a ”glitch” monster man killing people. The twist was one of the girls made it her goal to stop the glitch and uses her friends as bait. Just not the best story in my opinion.
story#4 rating: #4 – There wasn’t much scary about the guy the girl talks to over the camera cause he doesn’t show emotions much, but I guess that fits his character cause you learn the girl that thinks her house is haunted is nothing more than a tool that aliens are using to make human/alien hybrids. The ending where it shows the ”innocent doctor” setting the stage for a new girl was creepy however. Just not the best story.
story#5 rating: 2 – I liked this story but not as much as the first. So a group of friends rescue a girl that is being given a exorcism only to have her kill them as they are hit by a train cause they’re car won’t move. It sounds basic but this story was the most scary with the exception of 1.
overall: I enjoyed this film. The stories were creepy and had some crazy twist to make them even more memorable. I would of loved this movie had it only been the first story cause for me that is vampires done right. So whoever wrote that one I give you major kudos. The shaky camera did not bother me as it added to the found footage film to the movie. My only grip is how dull the main characters are that start out this movie. I didn’t get how after the first tape the guy doesn’t freak out and leave considering he has proof that vampires exist. But they keep on watching creepy tape after tape until the old man they believe to be dead kills them. I give this movie as a whole 4/5 skulls. I would of gave it 5/5 but a kinda dull story to piece the other stories together along with 2 out of 5 minor stories that I didn’t really care for.
I’ve since learned that Lily was actually a succubus. That bat scene really put my into a vampire state of mind haha.
I’ve seen some pretty sick and twisted films. Nothing compares to the carnage in V/H/S. It is the single most twisted, terrifying, creepy and sinister film I have seen in a very long time. Every single anthology segment, every terrifying moment is a non stop relentless descent into madness. This is a film to define a decade.
watching ‘some’ is clearly not enough. You need to see more.
The movie was not scary in the slightest, never mind terrifying.
How on earth could you give this movie a 5? Are you on the pay roll?
The movie is not, not stop descent into madness. The movie’s earliest sequences are the craziest, so if anything the movie becomes less crazy as it progresses.
If you want twisted movies, just watch some French or Korean movies and you won’t sleep for weeks if you consider VHS as ‘terrifying’
This by far is the best film Bloody-Disgusting has put out. That being said. It’s damn near flawless. Each story in the anthology is great, although there was a few and I do mean few weak moments. Not enough to give it less than a perfect review. I sure every horror fan who is a member of this site has seen it by now and are like myself can’t wait for the sequel “S-V/H/S.” I know a lot of people are not fond of the found footage genre and myself being one of those. I did however find “The Blair Witch Project” great and a very few afterward. But in my opinion this is the best of the whole found footage genre. The twist’s in this film are superb to say the least. The gore is fantastic and looks very realistic. To fans on the genre this is a must see. It has everything a horror fan would want. T&A, Gore and great stories. My personal favorite of the movie was The first with a very creepy girl named Lilly. And of course the last with the friends thinking they have found a Halloween party, only to be surprised by anything but a party. Great film and I certainly hope the sequel is as good if not better. 5 skulls in my opinion.
After all the hype and orgasmic reviews, I finally tracked down this flick at my local Redbox. I completely wasted that dollar! Plus two hours of my life that I will never get back. What a terrible movie. There was not a single remotely scary thing in it. I know alot of folks have said “some of the segments are better than others” so I kept waiting for the good ones. Before I knew it, it was over, and I was thinking, “Really??” Still waiting for the good segments! I’m always looking for a good scary movie, but the recent ones that are supposed to be so good are just terrible (Cabin in the Woods, Rec). I saw “Mama” this morning at the theater, and though just pretty good, it looks like fucking Citizen Kane compared to this VHS piece of shit.
I know how you feel, I chose VHS over Dream House. I felt so stupid that I wasted my time watching VHS, the news would have been more entertaining.
I watched Dream House earlier today, this movie was far more entertaining and kept me interested till the end unlike VHS.
Really disappointed with VHS I had been looking forward to this movie since Bloody-Disgusting had praised the movie as the most scary movie this year. In context of the year being pretty pathetic in terms of disturbing or scary horror movies, there may be some element of truth to this statement, in all honesty i found ‘Insidious’ scarier than VHS.
I am relieved I did not buy this on dvd as I would be returning it for a refund.
I have to say VHS is probably the best horror anthology of all time in my opinion. I cannot wait for S-VHS the sequel and hope it stands up to the first, which I am sure it will. My favorite short had to be either Tuesday the 17th or Amateur Night. Second Honeymoon was a sick and twisted story also.
I was really looking forward to this movie due to the hype and limited accessibility of the movie. Oh was a I let down.
The movie is complete amateur which shows.
The short stories are boring and NOT scary, any way shape or form.
The acting is very poor.
The only element of the movie I liked was how the movie contained short twisted stories similar to ‘Tales from the crypt’, but sadly only the first story is remotely memorable.
I only paid £3.90 to watch this on SKY box office, but i felt robbed and wish I had watched anything else. My girl is a horror fan and found the movie ‘shit’ – in her words.
Serious horror fans will be really disappointed with this movie if you are expecting an entertaining or ‘scary’ movie.
For starters, I love a good anthology. Be it Tales from the Crypt or the Creepshow films or especially the delightful Trick R Treat, it is safe to say that anthologies often are capable of striking multiple chords in their viewers, while also providing a little something for everybody.
The general premise revolves around o group of thrill seeking thugs who are paid to break into a house in the middle of nowhere and steal a VHS tape. In the home they find a dead man in front of a television and a tape. While the rest explore the home, one man places the tape into the vhs and the story begins.
I found the first story to be my favorite, your typical cautionary tale, coupled with drinking and bad behavior ending in substantial horror. I won’t spoil it other than to see be careful whom you bring home….
The remaining stories, a couple on a road trip, a group of friends going to a remote pond and a haunted house each have their high and low points. As they were each shot by a different director, they each have a distinct feel, as well as each being a different found footage/hand cam style movie.
Overall I was entertained and compelled to watch them all and really only found the anthology shell, the thugs stealing the tape to be the least compelling story. Check this one out and be waiting for the forthcoming sequel as we have more anthologies on the way.
Oops, sadly I forgot the paranormal activity-esque story about the young man and his long distance girlfriend. I feel like this story should be removed from the film, re-worked and made the basis for a separate movie as I think the underlying premise could be pretty awesome in that cabin in the woods fashion.
I thought that this movie was going to be horrible, but it was surprisingly really well done. I found this movie to be really enjoyable.
Comment
I try and steer well clear of found footage films and just like the character Ripley in Aliens (1986) said ‘and now you want me to go back there’…I did go there and watched another production of this saturated POV style of filming. My favorite found footage films include Cloverfield (2008),The Blair Witch Project (1999) and the brilliant Troll Hunter, if you prefer an alternative extreme POV horror experience watch The Butcher(2008). This V/H/S anthology has a weak random introduction where whatever comes out of the characters mouths is boring and predicable, but there is a nice dose of vandalism which must have been incredibly satisfying for the cast to do. This is a generous anthology mix, however,the links which include the beginning just don’t work. The film would have greatly improved with something less manic. It’s scatter gun filming – all over the place. You must have delineation between the links and the actual found footage stories we witness. As it stands the in between links to each short story is pitched at the same energy as everything else. For a good example of links between short stories click here. The other negative is shaky camera work can be infuriating if it’s almost constant and there are moments when it seems that way. I wasn’t excited about this production before watching and I was close to reviewing something different.
If the atmosphere at the start didn’t change lanes I would have yawned and changed channel….but in the end I’m glad I watched it. The actual short stories aren’t bad at all, in fact I loved every one. Each short was paced just right, I was genuinely surprised and thrilled. This film would have worked if the actual found tapes were not on VHS format, then again it may not have captured its target audience if it was called ‘DVD’. The hook for me to watch V/H/S (2012) is down to Bloody Disgusting being a part of the production mix.
For the individual short stories themselves this film is definitely worth a look, even though they are stories from found individual VHS tapes and are shot POV style – don’t let that put you off. After the first awesome short I thought how are they going to continue this thrilling standard with the subsequent stories…and indeed they do, every story is an absolute gem. Forget the films limp intro, lazy links and the deep bass sound telling you when something scary is about to happen (that’s ripped from the Paranormal Activity series) and your left with this: V/H/S proves there’s still creative life in found footage stories.
bleedingcritic TM
@bleedingfilms