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V/H/S Trailer - Horror Anthology

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E

Expendable.

Member
Trailer - YouTube

Makes it seem like an incoherent mess, but it's a pretty fun movie. I saw it a Sundance and have a rundown of all the different shorts. First is the best, but opinions were widely varied when I saw it.

Directors: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and the quartet Radio Silence.

VHS-finish-GM_sm1-620x918.jpg


V/H/S will hit VOD on August 31st, followed by a limited theatrical opening on October 5th.
 
H

HIGH DEF JEFF

Banned
Outside of the Radio Silence vignette I hear the movie is pretty awful. I'm surprised they aren't doing a "demand it in your town" campaign.
 
E

Expendable.

Member
HIGH DEF JEFF said:
Outside of the Radio Silence vignette I hear the movie is pretty awful. I'm surprised they aren't doing a "demand it in your town" campaign.
Click to expand...

It's releasing on VOD, so little need it seems.

The short I loved (the first one) others hated at Sundance, but thought it was super effective. The rest are a mixed bag, but there's good in each.
 
M

MoonsaultSlayer

Member
Just watched this on PSN tonight with my wife. I didn't mind it at all. They took cliches and spliced in original ideas. Pretty neat with some great gore and cg effects for what I presume is a very low budget film. It could have been scarier, but it wasn't completely void of creepiness. If you have a thing against shakey cam stuff, stay away.

I guess I'd call it the Tales from the Crypt of found footage movies.
 
R

Replicant

Member
Eh, after Paranormal Activity I'm pretty skeptical of doco-style Horror films and this looks in-line with some of those films. Here's hoping it won't be as sleep-inducing as PA. The only doco-style horror film I liked so far is [REC] and that's more like pseudo-doco.
 
O

oatmeal

Banned
Just watched it....

Overall I enjoyed it. Pretty fun stuff.

I think the most effective was TI West's, which was the second one. It was short, and very creepy. One moment in particular which I won't spoil here. But it happens in the first night.

Here's some non-spoilery impressions...

I thought the framework of the film (with the guys breaking in) could have been shorter, especially the intro. But it's kind of a mini-horror movie itself, with a young Jeff Foxworthy leading the heist.

The first film was really cool and sets up the anthology really nicely. Effects were great, had just the right amount of creepy and jump scares, and it had a great gimmick to tell the story. Guy wearing 'emo' glasses with a camera in it as these three dudes try and get laid. They bring back a couple to the hotel...and...one of them isn't what she seems. Actually she is creepy from the moment we meet her...

Second was TI Wests, which was great. I really liked House of the Devil, the guy knows subtlety. It's about a young couple on a road trip.

Third was by far the worst. I liked the concept behind it, but couldn't get over the poor acting and bad effects. The build up was nice, but when you get to the location where the shit goes down...it falls apart. And I think it's 100% on the actors, they didn't carry it out very well. The script was pretty lousy, too. It's basically a slasher in the forest, but the killer is a killer that could only be in a found footage film. The effect is actually pretty cool, very videogame-y.

Fourth was a great gimmick for a short, and it was pretty effective for the most part. Creepy, and had a cool payoff. I'm not entirely sure...what happened...but it was cool. The whole thing is a series of video chats on a Skype-like application between a young couple. One of which is convinced her apartment was haunted.

Last one had the best effects, the CG wasn't particularly amazing, but the practical stuff was very cool. Premise is guys going to a halloween party (not sure why it takes place in 1998, maybe just to make it feel old...but I'm pretty sure I saw a lot of anachronisms in it) and find themselves at the wrong house (or right, I guess). And think it's all a game, but it's clearly not...

Anyway, definitely worth watching. Lots of tits in it, too. And a dick.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
SPOILERS










Holy hell was this disappointing for me.

The beginning was awful with so many jump cuts it's like I was watching a Paul Greengrass movie if Paul Greengrass was 14 and a YouTube star.

1 was too out there and a poor way to start things.

2 was probably the best and should have been the first, but it made the least sense out of all of them. "I'm gonna sneak into your room somehow and put your toothbrush in the toilet! Tee hee, I'm such a prankster!" Next night: "Tee hee! I'm just gonna STAB YOUR FUCKING NECK OVER AND OVER WITHIN 10 SECONDS OF TURNING ON THE CAMERA. Then I'll point it at us as we make out! Why am I recording this? Good question! But we won't answer it so we can be MYSTERIOUS!"

3 was Slenderman except 1000 times more boring.

4 was weird. I guess she was a robot? Were those people ghosts? I guess not? Meh.

5 was a neat idea let down by poor acting, poor effects, and no real tension (though that could be applied to the entire movie.)

The intercut footage was kind of creepy with the dude disappearing from the chair but the payoff was completely laughable.

Too many cooks spoil the stew, and too many shorts spoiled this movie. The worst part of every horror movie is the "setup" before the creepy atmosphere sets in, and that was repeated for not only every short but also the actual "movie outside the movie" too. The teardown/buildup ratio was way too much and as a result any real tension or scares have to be incredibly rushed.
 
B

border

Member
Is there an official thread for this movie? This is the only one that turned up on Google Search.

I saw this today and my thoughts were pretty mixed. Spoilers below:

I can't believe anyone thought that the second short ("Young Couple on Road Trip") was even remotely good. 15 minutes of dull, completely mundane buildup followed by a few seconds of brutal violence. As others have pointed out, the problem is that the buildup in almost all of these shorts is no good -- they really needed to inject some more humor and not assume that throwing in some tits in going to keep us engaged. It makes little-to-no sense either. Why does the wife's lesbian lover show up to ask for a ride? Why does she videotape them sleeping on the first night?

The third short ("Killer that Shows Up as a Blur on Video") had pretty much the same problem with dull, lackluster buildup. There's nothing really that scary or interesting about being stalked by MPEG-video artifacts either. I gotta give them credit for at least trying something interesting, though it was an idea that definitely sounds better on paper than it does in execution. There was one good shot though, where you faintly notice a black blur slowly moving in from the deep background.

The fourth short ("Skype Videochat Ghost Story") was good, though I have no idea what the hell actually happened. Can someone explain? The boyfriend was apparently collaborating with the ghosts to extract fetuses from multiple girlfriends? Why did they need tracking devices in their arms? Someone here said the girlfriends were robots - huh?

The fifth short ("Haunted House Pedobear Cam") had just enough buildup, and a really cool final sequence. I think the dialogue during the human sacrifice sequence made things really unclear though. My presumption is that the hillbilly cultists wanted to get a demon to possess the girl. The spirits in the house objected to that and killed off the hillbillies, but the demon still took over the girl. Then the demon used its powers to kill the dudes that saved her.

The first short ("Naked WitchBatGirl") would have been fine except for all the really jarring shakycam and unnecessary sequence of the guys being frat douches at some club. Much like the Young Couple On Road Trip story, it felt like they were really trying to pad out the length of the story by putting in all that extra garbage.

Andrex said:
The worst part of every horror movie is the "setup" before the creepy atmosphere sets in, and that was repeated for not only every short but also the actual "movie outside the movie" too. The teardown/buildup ratio was way too much and as a result any real tension or scares have to be incredibly rushed.
Click to expand...

I disagree that the setup or buildup is always the worst part of the movie. Insidious immediately jumps to mind here -- awesome setup followed by a corny, crappy finale. Sinister also has far better setup than payoff. The problem is that there's very little effort put into the setup with V/H/S. Humor would have helped. Likable characters would have helped. The problem is that getting both of those elements down in such a short period of time is extremely difficult (particularly within the "Found Footage" narrative framework). Only a master of short-form cinema can really hope to accomplish that. And they just didn't have any masters working on this. The Young Couple On Road Trip short strikes me as a great example where they could have had a couple with great chemistry joking and playing around together and making us worry about what might happen to these cool, funny people. Instead we spend an insufferable amount of time on a scene where the husband pathetically begs his shy wife to get her tits out on camera. That would be lame even if there was nudity as a payoff for the audience. Instead she refuses to strip, the audience is denied the nudity they though was coming, and we just cut to the next scene -- DOUBLE LAME.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
By setup, I meant setup before anything happens. Insidious was great because its introduction was short and well done.
 
Arkos

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
Bump? I tried searching but this is the only thread I found...

I'm thinking about watching this movie, is it any good? I thought I remembered it being kind of a cult favorite type of deal.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Arkos said:
Bump? I tried searching but this is the only thread I found...

I'm thinking about watching this movie, is it any good? I thought I remembered it being kind of a cult favorite type of deal.
Click to expand...

I liked it. The first story, the haunted house story were great. Rest are forgettable. The second one is much better.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Arkos said:
Bump? I tried searching but this is the only thread I found...

I'm thinking about watching this movie, is it any good? I thought I remembered it being kind of a cult favorite type of deal.
Click to expand...
eh.

there is a sequel too.

its ok given the bar for horror nowadays.
 
R

Ryaaan14

Banned
Arkos said:
Bump? I tried searching but this is the only thread I found...

I'm thinking about watching this movie, is it any good? I thought I remembered it being kind of a cult favorite type of deal.
Click to expand...
I fucking looooove the first one.

Second one was pretty bad tho
 
Arkos

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
I will attempt to watch and report back. As one person said, it is a pretty low bar for horror nowadays. Hopes are cautiously high
 
G

gdt

Member
The one in the cult house was easily the best. Directed by the guy who did The Raid. I think that's in part two...so I'll give that one the nod.
 
Arkos

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
First part was like the succubus episode of South Park but scary. And feline. Meh. On to the rest of it (probably finish it tomorrow)

Edit: this dude's 'stache is killing it
 
B

bidguy

Banned
Arkos said:
Bump? I tried searching but this is the only thread I found...

I'm thinking about watching this movie, is it any good? I thought I remembered it being kind of a cult favorite type of deal.
Click to expand...

yeah definitely. some of the tapes suck but most of them are really entertaining. (especially the birth of the demon)

the sequel isnt as good as the first one though but that doesnt say much
 
Arkos

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
There are some creepy ass dudes in these first two. Weird laughing threesome guy and now date-rapey video guy? Lol
 
P

pretty done

Member
Both this and the sequel are absolute garbage. Avoid at all costs.

They both have one good story and the rest range from mediocre to atrocious.
 
P

PetriP-TNT

Member
I watched the first one some time ago and it was okay as far as horror flicks go but some shorts were too much on the "IF WE SCREAM VERY MUCH IT'S BECAUSE WE HAVE TOO MUCH FUN OR ARE ABOUT TO BE KILLED SO WE SCREAM ALL THE TIME" scale.

Gonna see the sequel sometime soon
 
R

rainking187

Member
I felt like the second story had the most potential, which it immediately squandered. When there was the scene where the camera was filming the sleeping boyfriend, then it pans over to reveal that the girlfriend is also asleep I was genuinely creeped out, but it just went downhill from there.
 
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