After recently watching The ABCs of Death, the most twisted, horror anthology out there, it got me to come back to the last horror collection that I watched and reviewed. V/H/S was a movie that I got to enjoy at the True/False Fest last year, as we were the second audience to see the movie since Sundance. It was a compilation of new and veteran directors getting to play with the found footage medium while dazzling us with small vignettes of horror. A clever ruse was in place as the found footage sections played into a much larger, overarching piece of footage, a meta found footage movie happening within the found footage movie.
My initial review for the movie was fair I think. I talked about the fact that since the movie was a moment to let the directors put in their visual flair for directing, we got some movies that were stellar and ones that needed some restraint. Even going back to watching the movie, which is on Netflix, I still feel the review score is the solid. The movie does utilize the low-fi found footage angle and while I usually hate this medium, I mean I had to find a way to just go with it. There were a few shining moments with the use of the medium and a few times when a couple of the directors just amped up the shaky aspect and artifact imperfections that VHS can have when old or not taken care of properly. You get a lot of use of static, remnant artifacts of other footage, or even some tearing, which are done digitally from what I can and a bit too much.
But the few flaws in the movie is made up by the stories and horror of the film. At times it is visceral and thrusting in your face and then it can turn on its heel to become a very slow burn, jumpy movie. Each has a distinct, unique feel to the vignette and definitely has a lot of personality from the director in it. I will say that about two of the scenes were not typically strong, but the others anchor it down well enough. The only other complaint that I have is that the movie is long and you feel it. Having to sit through 2+ hours of found footage can be fairly grating so beware.
Here is an excerpt of my review and a link to the full review.
V/H/S is a visceral ride, with gore and blood being used liberally in several vignettes, but the best moments are the subdued times where we get to see a tightly wound story start to unroll before our eyes and it offers true horror moments. But there is really only two bright spots in an otherwise tedious movie. At two hours, this is a long and unnerving movie to sit through. It’s not because of the content, which is good mind you, but it’s the thrusting of this found footage angle that just starts to chip away at your patience. You have to put up with grainy images, static, analog signal scrambles, abrupt jumps and cuts, shaky cams handling and a litany of other things that come with the territory. It will try your patience much like it did mine. Full Review
