By the time Bloody Disgusting’s V/H/S was released in 2012, the found footage sub-genre was far removed from those early days of The Blair Witch Project. The most admirable thing about this movie was its ability to play with that sub-genre in a fresh yet familiar way and being able to shift things about every 15-25 minutes with a new take on it.
Success meant a sequel (and a good one at that), but the series petered out after a dismal third entry. That remained the case until horror streaming channel Shudder helped bring it back nine years after the original.
We’re now six movies deep into the V/H/S series. After three films in three years the first time around, it’s happened again, with V/H/S 85 following its predecessors swiftly.
Hit the rewind button — it’s time to take a look back at the series.
6. V/H/S Viral
The final entry of the pre-Shudder era, V/H/S Viral tries to continue the good work of the second film and has its moments, but it’s a largely forgettable found footage collection despite a skateboarders vs. necromancers segment from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead of Moon Knight and Synchronic fame.
Two really good segments aside, this is far too messy an anthology. Not a total disaster, but it could have done with a tidy-up.
5. V/H/S 85
The latest entry is one of highs and lows. Interestingly, I think I’ve seen more debate over which segments are best and worst with this one than any other.
David Bruckner (Hellraiser, The Night House) returns to direct the wraparound tale of a Body Snatchers/Thing study gone wrong, but Mike P. Nelson’s two-segment story of a trip to the lake gone wrong and Sinister director Scott Derrickson’s swimmy nightmare slasher tale are the highlights. Gigi Saul Guerrero puts together an intriguing earthquake horror as well.
But the movie suffers from overexposure. There are lots of things we’ve seen all too often in this series, making what it does less special.
4.V/H/S 99
The fifth movie had a lot to live up to after V/H/S 94, and it delivers the most consistent collection of segments so far.
Johannes Roberts‘s Suicide Bid segment indulges in some claustrophobic tension, Flying Lotus goes gonzo with deranged kids’ game show Ozzy’s Dungeon, and Tyler MacIntyre’s The Gawkers turns a teen sex comedy gag into a grisly nightmare, and Vanessa and Joseph Winters take the camera on a trip to a mad hell dimension.
With this and the films that follow on the list, I could pick a different favorite on any given day, but I think more of V/H/S 99 has stuck with me than the others.
3. V/H/S
The original 2012 collection came late to the found footage party but spiced things up with some genuinely impactful horror shorts that still rank high in the annals of found footage.
The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger by Joe Swanberg (who has two segments here) acts as a progenitor to the likes of Host, Unfriended, and Searching and is a great indicator of what deliriously creepy heights the series can reach.
But we all know the star of the show is Amateur Night. David Bruckner creates one of the finest segments in the series with a truly unexpected turn in the documentation of a leery guys’ party. Its full-length adaptation didn’t quite capture the same highs, though.
2. V/H/S 2
V/H/S 2 is a strange one. More consistent in quality than its predecessor but generally lacking the impact of it. The goofy yet genius Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale’s A Ride in the Park, where a zombie apocalypse is captured through a cyclist’s Go-Pro, makes swift, fun use of its time. Jason Eisener’s Slumber Party Alien Abduction doesn’t quite nail its landing (and made for an awful feature-length film in Kids Vs. Aliens). Adam Wingard’s opener mixes things up with a digital eye that sees ghosts, but it’s not especially strong stuff from the director.
So why is this so high? That’ll be the absolute chaos of Safe Haven by Gareth Evans (The Raid) and Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us). An investigation into a cult that transforms into a living hell that’s documented in all its blood-splattered glory. The whole thing is set during the day, but that does nothing to detract from a bonkers bloodbath.
1.V/H/S 94
After V/H/S Viral looked to have buried any shot at a continuation, the reveal of a new entry seven years later was somewhat surprising. The break helped, though, because V/H/S 94 was an immediate return to form.
Timo Tjahjanto‘s return to the series gave us yet another whirlwind slab of bloody carnage with the tech horror Frankenstein reimagining The Subject. Chloe Okuno’s Storm Drain gave us a weirdo riff on The Howling through 90s local news (Hail Raatma!). Then there’s Simon Barrett’s purist found footage short set in a funeral home, The Empty Wake — one of my favorites.
The only real drawbacks are a weak wraparound (not that they’re that good in general beyond stitching things together loosely) and that Terror by Ryan Prows suffers from coming after Timo’s segment. It’s by no means a bad segment – The Subject is just a tough act to follow.
