The Pick: I'm playing it fast and loose with my picks for Shocktober 2017. Instead of doing any extensive planing, I decided that I would make all of my picks from the streaming services to which I am currently subscribed. So, as I found myself scrolling through the countless titles on Netflix, I began watching the short, 30 second autoplay "trailers" that Netflix adds to each film. Now, I typically find autoplay videos irritating, but I figured if I was going to do this all-streaming Shocktober right, I should use all of the resources put before me. With some pumping electronica, flashing red lights, and some mysterious red hands emerging from a black wall, I had the impression that I was selecting a surrealist horror film of some kind. My watching The Black Room is a direct result of that autoplay trailer.
The Film: Let's be clear, The Black Room is not a surrealist horror film. In fact, in the first five minutes of the film, I became fairly convinced that I had accidentally stumbled across a softcore porn flick on Netflix. Alas, but I am committed to the purity of the 31 Day Horror Movie Challenge, and, once the pick is made, I feel a strong sense of duty that the film must be viewed to completion. Lucky me; lucky you; lucky Mrs. Manson.
A nubile young blonde, staying with her elderly grandmother, is accosted by an unseen demon that makes her feel tingly in her naughty bits. The young woman seems rather content with the entire situation, and makes quite the show of moaning and writhing. There's even a topless scene with the most impressive invisible demon-powered nipple manipulation special effect in all of recorded movie history. As can be surmised, The Black Room hits a very high bar in its opening few minutes.
In terms of story, we skip ahead and are introduced to the protagonists of the film, a happily married middle-aged couple whom are buying the sexy demon house for a bargain price. Eagle-eyed horror fans may recognize the lead actress as Natasha Henstridge, who famously portrayed the sexual reproduction-obsessed human-alien hybrid, Sil, from the film Species back in 1995. I say eagle-eyed, because who on earth would be looking to recognize Natasha Henstridge in a low budget, horror nudie flick some 22 years after debuting in one? I suppose that is being unfair to Species which, as I recall, was a comparatively high budget horror nudie flick, but I digress.
Natasha gets to really express her acting chops here, playing against her unlikable husband, her unlikable sister, the unlikable neighbor, and the unlikable neighbor's unlikable wife. There's also an unlikable electrician in there, but at least he has a ton of great dialogue and makes all sorts of sexually suggestive gestures towards Natasha in front of her unlikable husband. I'm not entirely sure why an electrician was called about replacing a furnace, but at least he has the opportunity to say, "there sure is a lot of pipe down here" while simultaneously gesturing toward the HVAC ducting and his crotch.
Back to the story, Natasha's husband gets possessed by an incubus, which is a type of male sex demon. For being some sort of embodiment of pure sexual lust, this demon somehow manages to be even more unlikable than the husband. Meanwhile, Natasha has some demon-powered masturbation sessions which include sexy times in the bath, and another where she presses her mons pubis into the corner of an old, rocky washing machine. 2,000 years of pent up demon lust, and the best this walking Kama Sutra can only come up with is making her hump the washing machine?
Also, I'm not sure why"body horror" falls under the purview of an incubus, but he teaches a rude waitress a lesson by shrinking her breasts to complete flatness before placing her breasts on her back. We never really see what happens to this woman, but I can only image a very strange series of doctor visits are in her future.
Anyway, spoiler alert, the demon gets sent back to hell, but not before transforming into a sexy and very nude lady demon because, uh, reasons. And then Natasha and her husband go back to their lives. The end. Oh, and the movie ends on the note of the two of them engaging in some sweet-ass sex, made all the sweeter since, during the possession, the incubus made the husband's dick way huge. So, Natasha's sister and all of their friends are still dead, but whatever! Sweet-ass demon-dick husband is here to stay!
One star.
The Pick: As I scrolled through Netflix on night two of my annual pilgrimage that is Shocktober and the 31 Day Horror Movie Challenge, how could I not stop and closer examine a film with a name like Zoombies? At first, when I had only read the title, I thought the movie might be about zombies that visit a zoo. Then, I thought maybe it was pronounced "zoom-bies", which I briefly imagines as zombies that must zumba everywhere they go.
But then I saw the poster art and it cleared things up for me. I mean, look at the poster for this film! Look at the Netflix art, below! How could I resist the siren song of zombified zoo animals? Choice made.
The Film: From the artwork alone I had already divined that I would be in for a special treat, so imagine the giddiness I felt when I pressed play and was immediately greeted by the Asylum logo. For those of you that don't spend your free time slumming it in the bowels of made-for-TV low budget horror (you poor souls), this is same company responsible for the Sharknado series on SyFy, 5 Headed Shark Attack, and the forever beloved children's classic CarGo! When you see the Asylum logo before a piece of cinema, you know you are in for a special kind of schlock which, dear reader, I mean in the most loving way possible.
The film is about Eden, a new-age all encompassing animal conservation and zoo. Almost immediately, you can see the film's inspirations. In fact, I imagine that the pitch meeting was something like this:
Pitch Person: Audiences really liked and connected with Jurrasic World. Imagine a theme park where dinosaurs roam the earth, but of course get loose and wreck havoc. Now imagine that those dinosaurs are also zombies. We call it, Zombisaurus Park!
Asylum Executive: I love it! But our special effect guys just finished African Safari Massacre 6, and we've got all these assets to reuse.
Pitch Person: We'll call it, Zoombies!
Asylum Executive: What do zoo animals have to do with zumba?
Ah, unbridled creativity at its finest!
In the opening segment of the film, which plays as an extended commercial for Eden, we meet the blonde boss lady that will surely want to save the park and the animals at the cost of many human lives before realizing, far to late, that the park cannot be saved. You'll have to excuse me in that I have no idea what the names of any of these characters might be, but trust me when I say character development is not why you want to watch Zoombies. You want to watch Zoombies to see zombie giraffes pick college interns out of a tree and literally rip their arms off in a game of zoombie tug-of-war. Seriously, that happens. I can wait here if you want to go watch this film right now.
Still here? Huh. I really thought the zoombie giraffe thing would get you. I really don't have much more to contribute here. How do you feel about zombie lions, warthogs, elephants, and gorillas? Does a zombie parrot do anything for you? How about a zombie Koala bear that a child beats to death with a baseball bat (off-screen)?
Look, you know what this is. I know it, and you know it. The CGI is bad. The acting is bad. The story is bad. The stunt person in the gorilla suit that is inter-cut with the CGI is really, truly, very bad. If you're the sort of person that might want to watch Zoombies, you probably already know this about yourself. I enjoyed it.
Two stars.
The Pick: I've had this particular film on my radar for some indeterminate amount of time now. I'm guessing that I first saw Night of the Living Deb show up on Netflix maybe 6 months ago and added it to My List around that time, but if you told me that this occurred over a year ago, I suppose I would believe you. What I do recall is watching a trailer for the film and immediately thinking that this one looked special.
The Film: As the poster for this film states, I found Night of the Living Deb to be a real crowd-pleaser of a film. There is a light hearted, comedic tone to this tale, which finds the titular heroine, an unrefined redhead named Deb, waking up after a one night stand to find herself thrust into a zombie outbreak.
Maria Thayer brings an adorable manic quality to Deb, and it is largely the strength of her comedic performance which propels this movie forward. Along for the ride is local heart throb and other one night stand participant Ryan, played by Michael Cassidy. Michael does a good job playing the good looking but shallow social justice warrior, who manages to portray this character while never quite crossing the line and becoming unlikable.
In terms of character progression, Deb mostly remains a static character throughout the film. Ryan, on the other hand, begins the film as "that guy" after a one night stand- trying his best to get Deb to leave his apartment the following morning. As we learn more about Ryan, we discover a character that feels ashamed of the privileged life he's been afforded, and, through the events of the film, he grows into a more proactive and amiable character.
The film itself goes some interesting places and does develop its own zombie lore. There are a number of entertaining side characters in the film, including Ryan's younger brother, Chaz. and Ryan's ex-girlfriend, Stacy. The entire cast benefits from the strong chemistry they share. Special mention to Ray Wise who brings the evil charm while playing Ryan's father. Wise does his usual best here; chewing the scenery whilst baking a very special batch of Independence Day brownies.
The zombie action in this film is largely mild, and those scenes are played for comedic effect. The film is missing the unabashed gore which helped similar-toned film Shaun of the Dead reach legitimate fanfare amongst hardcore horror fans. This will help Deb be more of a company-friendly film but will be less likely to appease longtime genre fans. Overall, I quite enjoyed this one and I look forward to future films staring the captivating Maria Thayer.
Four stars.
SHOCKTOBER 2015 continues with movie #16, Attack the Block. I can barely believe that I'm keeping up not only watching movies, but also writing about them. I am a bit behind now on the writing, of course, but not obscenely so. I'm up to film #19, having missed only one day so far. I'm hoping to be able to make up for that lost film this weekend, and thereby get my days and films back in sync, but honestly this plan might be a bit too ambitious.
Anyway, Attack the Block is a solid, fun alien invasion flick with some original creature designs. The characters are a bunch of South London street thugs, all about 15 years old, and are initially demonstrated to be completely unlikable. In the opening moments of the film, the little rascals mug a perfectly nice woman, a nurse possibly on her was home from work. The movie is trying to reinforce that these hoodlums are not likable, which is potentially one of the biggest faults of the film. It is somewhat difficult to root for characters that are unlikable, but I will admit that at least here these feeling play into the arc of redemption that the lead character, Moses, goes through during the course of the film.
The aforementioned mugging is interrupted by something falling out the sky, smashing a car parked on the side of the street. The hoodlums investigate and are attacked by a relatively small creature covered in whitish fur. They realize that this is likely an alien and, just as an rational person might do upon establishing first contact with an extraterrestrial race, they stab it until it dies. They parade their trophy around town, and eventually decide to stash it in an apartment building safe house which is usually used as a drug distribution center. Again, these characters are not presented as likable.
The situation escalates upon the arrival of more aliens, which fall out of the sky like meteorites. These creatures are different in appearance from the earlier alien; they are larger in size, like one of the bigger apes, and are covered in the blackest fur imaginable. Special effects are used imaginatively here, and CGI is used to make the fur appear as close to absolute, flat black as possible. The creatures also have one other major characteristic; their teeth glow a strange fluorescent blue-green. It's a pretty unique design, and although you might fault the creatures for lacking detail, you have never seen another monster like this on film before. At least, I hadn't.
The film goes on to reveal to a pretty unique vision of these aliens' life cycle. They are presented as being spore-like, traveling through the cosmos and settling upon hospitable worlds. It is suggested that the smaller alien killed in the beginning of the film is a female, and the larger creatures the males. The males are attracted to the female across space due to a pheromone trail, which is also leading all of the male aliens to the apartment complex where the female's body is locked away. It's a back story that makes no sense if you think about it - creatures made of familiar, living tissues, as these aliens SEEM to be, can't survive the vacuum of space or the heat of entry through the atmosphere. But whatever; the actual biology of the creatures is presented by a stoner dude that happened to catch a documentary on the National Geographic Channel, so I guess the source of the info is unreliable anyways. Still, its the only explanation offered by the film, so you sort of have to presume it is true by default - much like the much maligned comet explanation for the zombies in the original Night of the Living Dead.
Like I said, whatever.
Attack the Block is a fun alien romp, and an effective redemptive arc is demonstrated by the unlikable protagonists. Combined with the cool alien designs, this is a Sci-fi film that I can pretty easily recommend. Although, some of the London slang dialogue can be hard to parse from time to time.
Three stars.
Wow, movie #15 of the Shocktober 2015 season. I had doubts that I would make it this far, to be honest. This weekend will prove to one of the toughest- if I can maintain my momentum through some days filled with traveling and family functions, I might just be successful in my quest to watch 31 movies in the 31 days of October. Today's film is [REC] 3: Genesis.
I watched the first [REC] a few years ago now, and really loved the zombie-infested apartment building story, particularly for its demonic twist at the end. Yeah, I've given up on hiding that particular spoiler, I mean, you are reading a review of the third installment of a film series. Sorry, I guess? Anyway, the second film followed with a very similar approach; high tension, good gore, and super serious treatment of the material. I really enjoyed [REC] 2, as you can read about in my review from earlier in this Shocktober season.
In this, the third installment of the series, the filmmaker take some fairly significant departures from the series' formula. First, they begin with a proper fake out, as the film initially appears to continue in the tradition of the found-footage styles films that came before it. After a late title card though, the film switches to a more traditional third person-style camera. Second, the film is much less serious than the first two films. I found many sequences were played for laughs, there is a significant amount of campiness to all of the proceedings, and the demon-possessed zombies seemed to be much less of a threat.
On the one hand, I like horror comedies a whole lot. They might be my favorite genre of film, thanks to that fine line that the best examples of genre walk. On the other hand, I loved the [REC] series as it was, super-serious and deeply foreboding. I wasn't really longing for a comedic turn from these particular films. So, I guess I'm conflicted by the series' new direction in this third film. That said, this is still a well-made film for what it is. The camp on display is cheeky and fun -the imagery of a bride in white wielding a chainsaw to take out hordes of demons is certainly setting off my highly tuned horror silliness detector.
Oh right, a bride in white. Maybe I should explain the plot of the film. It's pretty straightforward, the demon-infection from the first two films somehow finds its way to a wedding reception going on at the same time as the events of the first two films. This time line is revealed by some news broadcasts that you occasionally see in the background of this film. The infection at the wedding reception seems to originate with an uncle that claims to have been bit by a dog -how this relates to the events of the first two films, I cannot remember. Was there a demonic dog at one point in those films, perhaps the first film since it has been so long since I've seen it? In any case, I was somewhat confused as to exactly HOW the demonic infection spread from the apartment to this location, but I guess that doesn't really matter.
As the reception turns into a living hell, with all of the friends and family dying and turning into zombies, the bride and groom get separated. The film tells the story of them finding one another through these extenuating circumstances and their attempts to survive the demon plague. As Mrs. Manson pointed out, you might even be able to consider [REC] 3 a love story. A gruesome love story in which arms are severed and tongues bitten and torn out of people's heads, but a love story nonetheless.
[REC] 3 has some clever moments, and the campy visuals and sequences are decidedly fun. I liked this film; it plays very well. The only caution I offer is that you need to be able to let go of those things that made [REC] and [REC] 2 great. If you can't deal with the loss of the self-serious tone, your will find [REC] 3 to be very difficult to enjoy.
Four stars.
It's time to talk about Movie #14 of the October Horror Movie Challenge. I have to admit, I'm somewhat impressed that I've managed to maintain the momentum for this long. I think I've chosen a bunch of really good films so far, for the most part (The Demon's Rook, I'm looking at you). I've tried to balance the horrific with the humorous, mostly just to keep my palate refreshed. Tonight's film, Elvira'a Haunted Hills, definitely falls into the latter category.
Does Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark, need any introduction to the folks visiting this page? I'm guessing not, so I'll just introduce the film. This is actually Elvira's second feature film, the first being Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988). That first film was less of what you might expect from the horror hostess, playing more like a spoof of Footloose. Elvira's Haunted Hills, on the other hand, is a play on the classic sort of horror films that Elvira made a career out of hosting and lampooning. All told, this vehicle felt more natural for the character than did the earlier film.
Oddly enough, despite the more natural fit of the character, I think I enjoyed Elvira, Mistress of the Dark more than Elvira's Haunted Hills. This film seems more like a series of amusing scenes than a cohesive whole. But, really, who came to this film for expert storytelling? Really, there are only two reasons to watch Elvira, and they appear below:
If you said, for the sheer camp and Cassandra Peterson's divine facial expressions, you'd be correct! I've always liked the Elvira character, and, no, it's not just because of her sheer enthusiasm at embracing her more, ahem, ample assets. A quirky, sarcastic gothic vampire lady that talks like a valley girl and revels in double-entendres and self-deprecation - it's a firmly tongue in cheek character, that is hard not to love (Haha, "hard").Anyway, the film is serviceable enough. Taking place in the mid-1800s, Elvira and her maidservant ZouZou get waylaid at a Carpathian castle -I'm trying my hardest not to laugh and reiterate that I used the word "laid" there- and they get caught up in a dysfunctional family curse. There's really not much to say about the plot of the film; it's just good, dumb fun. Elvira does her thing, mugs for the camera, does an almost titillating showgirl routine (the movie is rated PG-13, after all), and that's pretty much all that there is to it.
Three stars.
What the hell did I just watch?
I seriously considered having that previous sentence compose the entirety of this review, as I actually think it does the film, The Demon's Rook, justice in some regard. This is a movie with a lot of ideas and a lot of ambition. Don't get me wrong, I think the Demon's Rook is a terrible film, but I sort of enjoyed watching it. Weird, right?
We meet Roscoe, a young boy that is frequently visited by a demon. One night the demon vaporizes Roscoe's parents and brings the child to some sort of alternate dimension known as the Dark Womb. It is here, under the tutelage of this demonic mentor, that Roscoe learns the dark arts and grows into adulthood. Eventually, for reasons I won't disclose here, Roscoe returns to his home world, but three evil demons cross the gateway with him. The demons then go about causing havok- one turns men into beasts, another drives people to commit violent acts, and the last one raises the dead. It certainly doesn't look good for earth.
Luckily, Roscoe is able to combat the demons using the dark magic that he was taught by his demonic mentor. Roscoe is even able to "save" one of the men turned into a beast, freeing his mind to take revenge against the demon that disfigured him. He meets up with his childhood friend and potential love interest, Eva.
Spoilers ahead.
The film builds up to this moment where Roscoe and Eva will face off against the most powerful of the three demons. Roscoe shares his magic with Eva, and it seems that their forces combined might stand a chance at eradicating this evil threat. When the showdown does finally happen. the demon smokes their asses without even a semblance of a fight. Then, out of nowhere, the beast-man whom Roscoe "saved" runs out of the woods and kills the third demon by ripping out its heart. The End.
The experience of watching this film is really strange, surreal even. It has all of the makings of a b-movie, including gore and and special effects, but none of it is played for scares. The Demon's Rook is played completely straight, with no winks or nods to the audience. I actually came to watch this movie off of the strength of its trailer - go ahead, watch the trailer on Amazon Prime. The film looks like a fun b-movie romp, with an angry bearded fellow fighting demons - not too dissimilar in tone to something like Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. Instead, the Demon's Rook plays out more like a self-serious independent film, or maybe more of an urban fantasy, than a more traditional horror movie. At any rate, I found the film to be a very different movie than the one advertised in the trailer.
It has a lot in common with 80's Italian horror cinema, with little dialogue and a constant electronic Goblin-like soundtrack running almost the entire length of the movie. I definitely found this to be a strength of the film. In some ways, I was reminded of the long, lingering cinematography of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Two strong comparisons for sure. For a a low budget film, the Demon's Rook is well-made.
Story-wise, I understand why this film is called the Demon's Rook: Rook, verb: to swindle or cheat. This film definitely cheats the audience out of a satisfying conclusion with the sudden deaths of both protagonists. I don't know of any other films with this type of campy subject matter that also display this degree of self-seriousness. It's a strange experience from start to finish.
I definitely don't recommend the Demon's Rook, but I think I respect it.
Two stars, but maybe ignore the low rating? This film is weird and it might be the right weird for you.
Oh man, here we are yet again. #SHOCKTOBER, am I right? This time, I have to come up with a bunch of words to put in some sort of order to talk about Movie #12 of my October Horror Movie Challenge, Tremors 5. Stick around and see whether or not the latest installment in this long running franchise is worth its 99 minute runtime.
I'm not going to lie, I knew when I heard that there was going to be yet another Tremors film and that it would once again star Michael Gross as everyone's favorite globe-trotting, gun-loving monster hunter, Burt Gummer, that it was going to be less than great. Nevertheless, I also knew that I was going to have to see this film. I love Tremors, the first film, as it is one of the best examples of a modern dumb, fun creature feature. I say modern, but of course it has been 25 years since the original was first released. Actually, just a quick peek over at IMDb... oh, man. Tremors 4 was released in 2004! Even the most recent installment happened over a decade go!
That said, Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward really hit it out of the park in Tremors, and it is that good will that continues to propel me through every installment of the series, including the abysmal TV series. Despite being only a bit part in the original film, it has been the Burt Gummer character which has been the constant in the entire series. The character is likable enough, but I've always sort of hoped for the return of Fred Ward, whom last appeared in part 2, or Kevin Bacon, which is, of course, never happening. But a mad doctor can dream, can't he?
Anyway, this film picks up with Burt Gummer being solicited to go Graboid hunting in Africa. For those just joining us, a Graboid is the official name of the underground, worm-like monsters of the series. They are named for the three retractable, snake-like appendages that come out from their mouths, grabbing their prey and pulling them into the larger creature's gaping maw. Burt has a new colleague, a videographer that is looking to remake the Burt Gummer brand and turn him into an international icon. Hijinks ensue.
The movie is mostly fine, but I had a few disappointments. Despite being the true big baddie, the Graboids play a much diminished role in this film. The majority of monster screen time is given up to the sophomorically named Assblasters. The lore of the series in complicated, but, basically, the Graboid worms give birth to small, ground walking monsters called Shriekers that can see with infrared vision. In turn, Shriekers mate and give birth to Assblasters, creatures that are primarily teeth and wings and which fly by emitting a noxious chemical mixture that causes flames to erupt from its rear-end.
Yes, really.
Anyway, these subsequent stages of the Graboid life cycle were introduced in the subsequent films, and have always made me like each of those films a little less than the movie previous. There's just something pure about giant tunneling worms with retractable snake mouths that ass-blasting offspring ruin for me.
Yeah, I just typed that sentence.
At any rate, I consider the increased screen time of the Assblasters a negative for this film over all. The one true Graboid that appears in the film is somewhat cool, and they introduce some interesting ideas that suggest that the creatures are evolving based on their environments at a highly accelerated rate. In that regard, it's nice to see that the filmmakers aren't afraid to mess with the existing formula, and it definitely keeps the audience on their toes. Still, I'm fairly certain that they only had the money to animate one sequence of the Graboid, a relatively cool moment where the Graboid bursts out the ground, leaping like some sort of sand-based killer whale, spinning in a corkscrew as it soars through the air. It's a cool animation, but I'm fairly certain they reuse it no less than 3 times throughout the movie; kind of a bummer.
This is a direct to video sequel to a film series that has had nothing but direct to video sequels. You know what quality to expect. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Tremors, though, and will likely continue watching new films for as long as they keep making them.
Maybe we'll get another one in less than 11 years this time?
Two stars.
For the 11th movie of #SHOCKTOBER 2015, I've returned once more to the found-footage genre. Digging Up the Marrow is a mock documentary, following director Adam Green, playing himself, as he goes in search of real-life monsters.
I should probably preface this by saying that I have not seen any of Adam Green's TV series, Holliston, which is now in its second season. If I had seen that show, I would probably be much less surprised by how good of a job Green does as an actor in this film. I knew that he had horror chops, having seen and loved both Hatchet and Hatchet II, but wasn't sure how he would fair in front of the camera. Turns out, he's a pretty charismatic, animated fellow and he transfers over to film very well.
In Digging Up the Marrow, Adam is approached by a man, William Dekker (Ray Wise), that claims he can prove that monsters are real. This leads to Green and his cameraman, Will Barratt, following Dekker out into the woods to observe these monsters. Much of the film is spent trying to determine whether or not Dekker is just a crackpot, or if there is something more substantial to his claims of monster sightings. The performances are good all around, and there's even a cameo by horror genre staple Kane Hodder.
For a found footage film, I was frequently awed by the picture quality and cinematography. This may be related to my having just previously watched V/H/S, in which the picture quality is as grainy as possible. Clearly both films made differ net decisions in terms of their aesthetics, but watching these films on consecutive days really highlights the range of quality possible in the found-footage genre.
There is some discussion within Digging Up the Marrow as to the true nature of monsters. Dekker presents these fiends as mutated human births, just trying to live out their lives in the relative peace of their underground kingdom known as the Marrow. The monsters are also rather content to continue living in obscurity, and do not take kindly to the presence of the men and their film equipment. Although the film does take its time getting there, once the creatures are eventually shown on film I found the designs to be imaginative and fulfilling. The monster attack sequence is particularly well-done.
Overall, I enjoyed Digging Up the Marrow. I was fond of the light-hearted take on the horror genre after watching some more serious horror films in the days leading up to this one. This film is funny and only sometimes terrifying. I think it's a good film to sit down with friends for whom horror is not necessarily their forte. As always. I look forward to the next project from Adam Green.
Three stars.
Doc Manson returns to B-Movie Geek this October to take the #SHOCKTOBER Horror Movie Challenge! The goal? 31 films in the 31 days of October. We're up to movie #10, the highly regarded horror anthology V/H/S (2012). So, how does this one hold up under the watchful eye of the B-Movie Geek?
Quite well, actually! Each of the five stories told in the film is directed by a different director, adding a bit of variety to the proceedings. The film also has an over-arcing story, revolving around a group of hoodlums that have taken to filming themselves committing petty crimes. They are hired by an unknown party to break into an apartment and steal a VHS tape, although its contents are not specified to the audience. The hoodlums find a dead man in the apartment, and they spread out to search for the tape. One of the vandals sits down in front of a television and plays one of the nearby VHS tapes, beginning our first story.
Of all of the tales spun in V/H/S, the first, Amateur Night directed by David Bruckner, might be my favorite. It's a tale as old as time; a bunch of college-age bros go to the bar to pick up loosely-moraled women for a night of casual sex and they record themselves using a camera hidden inside a pair of eyeglasses. Like I said, a tale as old as time. It turns out that one of the women they bring back to their hotel room is way more woman than any of these boys can handle. Amateur Night tells a complete, compact story and features a visually striking monster design.
My second favorite tale is titled Tuesday the 17th, an obvious ode to the Friday the 13th series. In this short, a survivor of a massacre returns to the wooded lake where it occurred in an attempt to discover the true nature of the killer. The twists here are two fold: 1) the girl has brought a group of friends with her in an attempt to use them as bait for the killer; 2) the killer has some sort of metaphysical presence, where he can appear in multiple locations at once and, when harmed, can simply sort of phase in and out of reality and be healed. Supplementing this latter point, the killer also causes some sort of artifact to appear on film, so we never get a clear look at him/it. I thought this short was a exceptionally cool modern interpretation of the classic slasher story.
There are a few other shorts, but I think the only other one I want to mention is Second Honeymoon, directed by Ti West. West is a known horror director, and he has a number of well received throw-back style films on his resume. Offered as context, I am a pretty big fan of his slow burn haunting picture, The Innkeepers. This short might have been the least interesting in the film. It isn't bad, necessarily, and it fits thematically, but there's really nothing especially unique about this story. I honestly felt it could have been elimated from the film without any great loss. Sorry, Ti. Better luck next time.
All said, V/H/S is 116 minutes well spent for any horror fan. I don't often find competent anthology films, but when done correctly they can be very engaging thanks to their oft-quickened pace. V/H/S is no exception, and is easily a film that every horror fan should at least check out.
Five stars.