Movies
‘V/H/S/85’ Trailer Rips Five Brand New Terror Tapes Out of the VCR!
Shudder, Studio71, Cinepocalypse & Bloody Disgusting are this time rewinding all the way back to the 1980s with V/H/S/85, which will have its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, Texas (September 21 – 28). V/H/S/85 will begin streaming only on Shudder on October 6, 2023, and today we’ve pulled the official final trailer straight out of the 1980s.
Explore the grim underbelly of the ’80s by watching the V/H/S/85 trailer below, previewing five horror stories from the filmmakers behind The Black Phone, Hellraiser, and Scream!
The trailer was debuted by IGN this afternoon.
In V/H/S/85, “Unveiled through a made-for-TV documentary, five chilling tales emerge: scientists observe an unusual boy fixated on his TV, kids embark on a lake skiing adventure, a TV crew fights to survive a natural disaster, the early days of VR awaken something terrifying, and a deadly dream is captured on tape.
“Sinister secrets of the 1980s come to life in a way you’ve never seen before.”
V/H/S/85 joins our growing franchise that now consists of several films, including V/H/S, V/H/S/2, V/H/S: Viral, V/H/S/94, V/H/S/99, and the spinoff feature SiREN.
Here are the directors who took part in 85…
The only legacy filmmaker is David Bruckner, who will be spearheading the latest entry. Bruckner directed the “Amateur Night” segment of the first V/H/S which featured the breakout performance of Hannah Fierman as a succubus. Bruckner, who also directed Searchlight’s The Night House, just celebrated the release of his Hellraiser reimagining. We’ve been huge fans of Bruckner since he co-directed The Signal and also absolutely love his Netflix creature feature The Ritual.
Needing no introduction is Scott Derrickson, who recently directed the original horror blockbuster The Black Phone for Blumhouse. His horror fame comes from his chilling Sinister, but we became fans after his excellent The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Derrickson also directed Marvel’s Doctor Strange and interestingly got an early start in horror helming Hellraiser: Inferno. You won’t believe what he’s dreamed up.
Popular Mexican filmmaker Gigi Saul Guerrero has also joined the V/H/S family, shaking up the new tape with something earth-shattering. We became huge fans of Gigi after catching her gruesome short film “El Gigante”, which set the stage for her to direct both Bingo Hell and Culture Shock for Blumhouse, as well as episodes of “The Purge” series.
One of the coolest up-and-coming filmmakers horror fans should get to know is Natasha Kermani, who broke onto the scene with the indie Imitation Girl and saw huge festival success with Lucky. Natasha is going to fill theater seats with her shocker of a segment.
Last but certainly not least is Mike P. Nelson, a director with a remarkable gift for taking films in bold, unique, and unexpected directions. He directed the post-apocalyptic horror The Domestics for legendary Orion Pictures and also helmed the wild, crazy, and extraordinarily gory Wrong Turn remake that’s become an instant favorite among fans. His entry into the V/H/S world is going to be a blast.
Writers include C. Robert Cargill, Zoe Cooper and Evan Dickson.
The cast for V/H/S/85 includes Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror) alongside Jordan Belfi, James Ransone, Dani Deetté, Rolando Davila-Beltran, Justen Jones, Marcio Moreno, Ari Gallegos, Forrest Hartl, Duffy McManus, Eric Pierson, Felipe de Lara, Tom Reed and Vivian Morse.
Producers of V/H/S/85 include Josh Goldbloom for Cinepocalypse, Brad Miska for Bloody Disgusting, David Bruckner (V/H/S, The Night House, Hellraiser), filmmaking collective Radio Silence (Chad Villella, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, & Tyler Gillett; Ready or Not, Scream), and James Harris.
V/H/S/85 is executive produced by Michael Schreiber & Adam Boorstin for Studio71.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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