When I found out that V/H/S: Viral was going to be the 2014 Mile High Horror Film Festival’s opening night film, I was a bit bummed since I checked out both V/H/S and V/H/S 2 and wasn’t much of a fan of either. Although many would feel that the found footage genre has been done to death, there are still the small indie flicks that have creeped onto our screens. In October 2012, V/H/S was released and, on a very mediocre budget (even by indie standards), went on to take in almost $100k by the end of November. Since then, it’s raked in even more profit and, immediately all three production studios (Bloody Disgusting, Haxan Films, and The Collective) rushed into a sequel (appropriately titled V/H/S 2). Yet again, after premiering at Sundance in 2013, horror fans became infatuated with the film, ranking it quite high among the found footage film genre. I, however, did not care for either. Yet, I have to say, sitting in the packed theater, with the energy vibrating at 10 pm on a Friday night: I started to become a bit excited. Thankfully, I found V/H/S: Viral to be the best out of the three with it’s fantastic story-telling.
As with the other two V/H/S films, we have one scenario that leads us into the various short films that we view through some kind of means. With this film, we have the story Vicious Circles. This plot line is described as: A police chase after a deranged ice cream truck has captivated the attention of the greater Los Angeles area. Dozens of fame-obsessed teens flock to the streets with their video cameras and camera phones, hell-bent on capturing the next viral video. But there is something far more sinister occurring in the streets of L.A. than a simple police chase. A resounding effect is created onto all those obsessed with capturing salacious footage for no other purpose than to amuse or titillate. Soon the discovery becomes that they themselves are the stars of the next video, one where they face their own death. I found this refreshing since both the original and it’s sequel opened up with people viewing, well, VHS tapes. The stories that were wedged between Vicious Circles were (surprisingly) well written. Let’s start with the first short (and in my opinion the best): Dante the Great.
With Dante the Great, one knows immediately that something will not only be scary but also that it will evolve into something quite sinister. A down-and-out magician is looking for success and has yet to find it. Dante (Justin Welborn) has had enough with the day to day struggles of life and has been down on his luck for quite some time. One day, he finds a cloak that belonged to Houdini and its powers are vast. Unfortunately, having that power means feeding its energy in a most horrific way. This short was phenomenal. The story was such a great change considering my opinion of it’s predecessors. Outstanding work by director Gregg Bishop. He captured the horrific heart of story telling.
Our second short in this twisted anthology is Parallel Monsters. Although not as gripping as Dante the Great, Monsters did deliver a pretty cool sci-fi story. In the short, we have a man who has built a parallel universe and meets his “other” self. They decide to switch realms for 15 minutes and see what happens. Unfortunately, our today’s man finds out that their lives revolve around a very, very different universe. Throwing in a few aliens, man-eating vaginas, and a race to get back to a normal world, this short was story driven, which made it terrific. Was it as great as Dante? No. But, still better than where the V/H/S writers have taken us before.
And then we come to Bonestorm. The short that was shown all over the trailer and made fans excited to see this flick as soon as it comes in. A couple of teenage boys (who apparently have rich parents since every one of them has a Go Pro camera) decide to go to Tijuana, grab some beers, and skateboarded their heart out. Alas, they ignore the weird witch woman, the pentagram drawn on the concrete they decide to film from, and they seem to not mind the creepy Skeletor-faced fellows who seem to be angry about these kids riding through their ritual. Not as scary and definitely funnier, this was a good story but it fell flat with the audience. Great ride…just not as strong as the others within this film.
After viewing Viral, I decided to give the other two V/H/S films a couple more watches. And, although I am still on the fence with them, I did enjoy them a bit more. I didn’t fall asleep with V/H/S 1 like I always have (about 3 to 4 times) and I started to enjoy the 2nd flick, I do have to say that the quality (both writing and directing) have improved IMMENSELY. If these films continue to get better with each one, then I would like to redact my vocal disapproval for these flicks. Maybe it took having a bit of success to gain better writers, but whatever they are doing, continue to do it. You turned this V/H/S hater into a possible believer. That being said, your other films were barely watchable. Keep looking towards better horrific and frightful stories to tell us. That is exactly what we are looking for.
Rating: Since it’s a vast improvement on the V/H/S series, here’s to hoping these films will get better with each morbid and fantastical installment (6.5/10)
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