Regular readers know that I am not a fan of the “found footage” movie, especially “found footage” horror films.
I HATE it when somebody is being chased by a monster or an evil cat or whatnot, and they manage to keep the film rolling. That’s crap! They would either drop that camera or use it as a weapon.
So I sat down to watch this one with a certain amount of dread—and not the sort of dread one is supposed to feel before a horror-film viewing. This is another found-footage thing, with two people playing creepy VHS tapes in a strange house.
Lo and behold, we actually have a found-footage movie that works for a change. It’s more of an anthology, with four segments nicely handled by four sets of directors.
Eduardo Sanchez, co-director of The Blair Witch Project (and, therefore, one of the people most responsible for the found-footage craze) does his best work yet in a segment in which a man goes for a bike ride in the forest. What Sanchez gives us is one of the best zombie scenarios in many years, one that’s equally revolting and funny. I expected very little from Sanchez, but I got some hardcore horror that I won’t soon forget.
Jason Eisener, director of the sick and fun Hobo With a Shotgun, offers a crazed alien-invasion segment involving hilariously bad costumes and sloppy lighting that somehow works—and winds up being effectively nightmarish. His scenario involves a slumber party that goes wrong; we see much of the action from a camera strapped to a dog’s head.
Gareth Evans (The Raid: Redemption) comes up with the film’s sickest segment, involving a cult and a truly disgusting birth. There’s an energy to his piece that is hard to describe—and hard to erase from one’s head.
The least effective segment, a short film involving a man with an eye implant, is the weakest, yet it’s still pretty good.
I never did see the first V/H/S. After seeing its sequel, I’m definitely going to check that one out.
V/H/S/2 is available on demand, on iTunes and via other Internet venues, including Amazon.com.