Horror Movie Reviews #3

V/H/S 94 was released in 2021, the most recent instalment in the V/H/S series. If you’re not familiar with the series, V/H/S films contain several short found footage style films that show a variety of horrific creatures and killers. V/H/S/94 is no exception, showcasing 5 found footage style tapes. Every ‘tape’ is wildly different from the other, so to review it I want to talk about the individual tapes and how I believe the film works as a whole. I saw a lot of buzz around V/H/S 94 online after its release due to its enticing and terrifying concepts, mainly the concept of the first tape in the film, ‘Storm Drain’. This shocking short film tells the story of a reporter and her cameraman investigating the local myth of a ‘rat-man’ that lives in the city’s sewer. The atmosphere builds beautifully as the reporter edges herself further into the grimy and dark sewer, coming across a disturbed looking man. His chilling  stare and demeanour is truly terrifying, and the horror doesn’t end there. Ratman is soon revealed to the audience, and although ‘ratman’ may sound like a slightly odd cartoon superhero, i can assure you this monster is far from that. Ratmans design is truly horrifying. As if this wasn’t frightening enough the short ends with a newscasters face melting off before it quickly switches to an infomercial. This short is truly perfect horror. It’s outrageous and yet still terrifying, a ridiculous concept that still chills you to the bone. And better yet, the ridiculous concept becomes almost believable due to the found footage style and realistic situation the reporter finds herself in. Although found footage is a very controversial style, it’s certainly not controversial to say that this short is an excellent use of it. Combining classic found footage style with footage from a local newscast and of course the infomercial wrapping it all together works very very well. 

The second ‘tape’ however left much to be desired. Entitled ‘The empty wake’, this short followed a young girl left in charge of a funeral home, waiting for guests of a wake to arrive, but things take a turn for the worse as the body in the coffin doesn’t appear to be quite dead. I found this to be a very basic concept, and while it built up a spooky atmosphere and executed a decently disturbing ending, it lacked originality. 

Entitled ‘The subject’, the third tape in the film is truly a treat to watch. Following a scientist determined to combine humans with robots, this tape is shot from a camera attached to the body of a woman. And not only is it attached to her, it is her entire head. This immediately sparks morbid curiosity in the viewer, itching to know what this poor woman looks like. And it holds this curiosity for a while, eventually satisfying it when she looks in a mirror. This is just one of the many things that makes this short so interesting. After the scientists motives are explored, the latter half of the short follows the young woman trying to escape her captor. And because this whole short is shot through her POV, watching her battles with robot soldiers and police feels very reminiscent of a first person shooter game. I really enjoyed that aspect of the short, because everything is through the young woman’s point of view, we root for her and fight with her against the disgusting scientist and corrupt policemen, making the ending of the short all the more brutal. 

Tape number 4, ‘Terror’, was very difficult to enjoy. The concept of a bunch of right-wing militia idiots who plan to use a vampire as a weapon is a great premise, but ultimately it was very difficult to immerse in. It felt like the makers of this short were unsure of how they wanted to do it, and it shows. It was very slow and unenjoyable, a frustrating note to end the film on. 

Overall, I really enjoyed V/H/S 94. 4 wildly different short films set in 1994, in the style of found footage, it was very interesting and fun to watch, and whilst I didn’t love every short, they certainly were not awful at all. I can’t wait to see the next instalment in this series!