V/H/S: Viral 2014

First I'd like to say, as with any horror film, the less you know about the film going in the better it will be. For those wondering if they should spend their money on this. I would say wait for Netflix, IMO it does not live up to the previous VHS movies, and actually seems to lose what the unique premise was. I love VHS and I liked VHS 2 a good bit, but this feels like a drop off of sorts.

The previous 2 movies have gotten many talented young horror film makers and collectives together to make interesting short films. VHS was probably my favorite horror film of 2012, some of the shorts fell flat (static monster and connecting story) but most of the others are really amazing, especially the last. VHS 2 lacked some of the originality but still felt like a solid horror film. VHS Viral just feels like it lacks the same vision and direction that VHS 1 and 2 had. Lets go through the segments, shall we?

Vicious Circles AKA The Wraparound (dir:Marcel Sarmiento): A couple gets embroiled in a wild chase between an ambulance and the cops. Showing the worst of the shaky cam, this one starts out okay but ends with a whimper.

Dante the Great (dir:Gregg Bishop): A loser magician gets his hands on a cloak belonging to Houdini and becomes a star but the cloak has a dark side. A very fun segment with some seriously cool effects.

Parallel Monsters (dir:Nacho Vigalondo): A man discovers a parallel universe with a machine where he finds his counterpart and both decide to do a fun experiment which goes horribly wrong. This was very weird and odd. Really not sure how I feel about it.

Bonestorm (dir:Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson): A group of slackers go into Tijuana for drugs and partying but run into trouble. They decide to fight back. A good start to a segment which lasts way too long. Becomes incoherent and irritating after a point.

Whether you like it or hate it VHS is built around the idea of playing with portable cameras, experimenting with the "found footage" horror sub-genre, and really presenting a horror film from the POV of those going through it. It is basically like a haunted house on film, some with interesting stories and ideas. VHS 2 didn't really revolutionize anything but was still interesting. It stuck with the premise and kept it going in interesting ways. Probably my biggest issue with VHS Viral is that it ostensibly completely drops the found footage premise, but still sticks with the found footage type editing and shooting. This breaks the immersion, which is The whole point of found footage stuff. 

As you can tell I didn't like the movie for the most part. Dante the Great was most likely my favorite segment. Ultimately though I am disappointed because they didn't really try anything interesting with the found footage format, especially the way that the previous 2 films did. Also 3 segments feels too short, even though this film has a lot of filler. I had some expectations for this film. Maybe that was my problem. If you like the gene and idea of the VHS movies, then I suggest you skip this one all together.

4/10

4.8/10 IMDB