V/H/S made a splash earlier this year when not one, but two people fainted during screenings of the found footage anthology horror flick. After killing it at Sundance I was pretty eager to see the film but then our own Graham Malin caught it at SXSW and through his mini-review put things into perspective for me. I’ve finally had my chance to sit down and experience one of this years’ most talked about horror films and, like for Graham, it wasn’t everything I had hoped it would be.
At its core, V/H/S is about a group of crazy misfits who like videoing themselves destroying and stealing shit. They are hired by someone to go into an old man’s house and steal a rare VHS but once inside they discover an empty house, a dead body and a plethora of tapes which they start playing, each one progressively getting weirder and more disturbing as the night goes on.
V/H/S takes a while to get out of the gate as it starts off with a gang of rebellious guys and some other nonsensical content. There’s 22 minutes of destruction, sex and dialogue before we get our first dose of horror in this two hour flick. Once we finally arrive to that first bit of horrific footage you know immediately what kind of madness you’re in for during the rest of the film. Though after finishing the film I came to the conclusion that there is no real coherent story, it’s merely short films tied together by a burglary (hence anthology). The only common themes amongst most of the segments was that sex was always mentioned and that when people died, somebody/thing would cut a body open and take out an organ. I couldn’t tell you why, I guess that’s all men think about?
SPOILER The best way to describe V/H/S is that it is a found footage film within a found footage film. Sure that may ruin the “twist” that comes at the end but if you don’t suspect the events that happen within the house to actually happen when the gang of guys enters it, then you clearly have never seen a horror film. END SPOILER.
So is V/H/S interesting? Sure it is. There are some really cool effects and ideas a
long with one or two terrifying images but other than that it doesn’t really amount to anything. It is two hours of horror by some of the most recognizable names in the indie realm (Adam Wingard, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Ti West). Some of it is weird, some freaky, some of it will stick with you but very little of it is actually “screaming” scary, which is too bad. I think the use of hardcore and graphic gore is over utilized and ineffective for the modern horror audience because we have grown numb to it, the shock factor is almost gone, which is probably why I didn’t react much throughout the film (though that probably isn’t the case for everyone).
If you’re an avid horror fan and looking for something to scare the crap out of you V/H/S isn’t the right option but, if you’re looking to freak someone out who isn’t a huge horror fan then this will most certainly do the job. Certain segments are much better than others and everyone will have their own opinion on which one is the best but the movie is one of those that you’ll see when it presents itself, it’s not necessarily one you have to seek out.
Rating: Gruesome, graphic, and occasionally freaky but it’s nothing to rave about (5/10)
Recent Comments