You’ve broken into a house in search for supposedly rare, possibly pornographic movies. The house is abandoned and four TV screens are buzzing with white noise, surrounded by video tapes. So what do you do? Sit down and watch them of course. In the dark. With a dead man behind you.
V/H/S is somewhat of an enigma to watch due to its mixture of horror shorts, featuring work from a variety of enterprising directors which makes up an anthology of short stories all being tied together by the frame narrative (Tape 56 by director Adam Wingard). This preliminary film follows a group of young burnouts looking to earn money through retreiving tapes from a spooky house. The motive is a little mysterious but aside from this the story inspires no real emotion, with the found footage, shaky technique, reminiscent of REC and Home Movie, being so hyperbolised it actually becomes a little nausiating.
However, this is only initial impressions, after all, and if this story is the cover then we certainly shouldn’t be judging the book just yet. As I discovered, and thanks to the compendium of varying narratives and execution, you’ll no doubt at least find one parable to get those juices oozing and if you’re a sick little pup like me, enjoy the myriad of gore-fest moments, at times laughable and others explicitly bile-curdling.
The first discovered tape is Amateur Night directed by David Bruckner. The camera follows three young and magnificently irritating frat-boys as they attempt to make a greenhorn porno latter to installing a camera into Clint’s (Drew Sawyer) glasses. The acting is as hollow as their evening and while their night takes a turn for the downright disgusting I was actually spurring on the villain, bug-eyed vampire monster, Lily (Hannah Fierman), not that this was a problem. Much like a lot of the clips featured, the characters are no-more believable than the concept of their horror and yet the brash monster depictions and interminable supply of fake blood, perhaps overcompensating, are enjoyable non-the-less.
The next two, Second Honeymoon by Ti West and Tuesday the 17th by Glenn McQuaid, are not quite as memorable as the others, although they certainly have their moments. Second Honeymoon surveys a couple on a road trip, while Tuesday the 17th’s headliner is a quad of friends on a short getaway, a typical “psycho in the woods” plot line but with a slight bitter twist. As it reached this stage in the movie, I was left pondering various signals and symbolism regarding women and sexuality, what with the brutal way the anti-heroines went about finding their prey or “bait”. Either this, or numerous shots of tits, or thanks to the gonzo style camera shots, jocks fixating on shots of tits, it’s difficult to tell whether this is a really offensive depiction of the female form or actually quite a, dare I say it, empowering one. It’s true, the directors are all male but in their words, they want the audience to “have fun” with the film. As David Bruckner said in an interview, “we’re absolutely poking fun at our own idiosyncrasies. I think there are actually many very, very powerful moments for female characters throughout the piece.”
Although female empowerment may not be true for the last two shorts, here I was presented with my favourites, The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger by Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence’s 10/31/98. These were the two that contained the sickest and yet most amusing framework, both involving satanic forces implicit of Paranormal Activity and The Amityville Horror. Each one had their own differing charms, of course. 10/31/98’s haunted house depiction, although a little tacky, certainly picked up the animated terror Silence was clearly trying to obtain. Think back to your first fairground house of horrors experience except at the end you find a demonic cult ritual with a group of perturbed halloweeners and you’re there.
V/H/S will almost definitely never reach a classic cult status likes it’s comparatives such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield and there’s no doubt that there are a few predictable moments. However, there’s also some repugnant gore and genuinely creepy elements that make up for the somewhat dry periods. A good film for wrapping up warm with your loved ones and a bowl of popcorn. Oh, and don’t forget the sick bucket. It may come in handy.
