“V/H/S” Movie Review

Runtime: 116 minutes

Rating: R

Release Date:

Director: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti Wet, Glen McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Radio Silence

A bunch of loser guys like to film themselves running around town like crazy people and doing shit like ripping woman's shirts up on video. After selling some of their footage as porn, they learn that they can make even more money by breaking into a house and stealing a video from the owner. After gaining access to the home, they discover the dead body of an old man in front of a television. While going through the videos in his house, they start disappearing one by one.

“V/H/S” has a few different segments that are shown as the videos that the thieves watch. One involves three men who use a hidden camera to catch themselves having sex with women on film. They bring back two women to their hotel room, only to discover that she's a crazed psycho who may or may not be human. Second two revolves around a couple on their honeymoon. Weird things keep happening at every hotel they stay in, and someone finally takes their video camera to capture them as they sleep on their last night together.

Segment three follows a group of friends on a camping trip in the woods. One of the girls, Wendy, tells them that she was the survivor of a mass murder in the same woods. They don't believe her until the killer comes after them one by one. The fourth segment, and my favorite, focuses on a young couple talking over video chat because they are across the country from each other. Emily keeps experiencing weird things around her apartment and becomes convinced that it's haunted. While chatting with him, he sees a little child running through the apartment. The ending is a little twisted and completely unexpected.

The last segment is about four best friends who go to a Halloween party. When they don't find anyone else at the house, they decide that it must be a haunted house. They make their way through the house until they find a group of men screaming at a woman who is chained to the walls of the attic. After helping her escape, they discover that they should have left her hanging.

“V/H/S” is definitely an odd little film. Some of the segments are much stronger than others, but I get the feeling that everyone will like one more than the others. My favorite was segment four, if only for the job that I got when the little kid came out of nowhere. A friend was more of a fan of the last segment, which reminded him of the old Resurrection Mary legend.

The wraparound story wasn't as good as it could have been. There aren't many scares, and it seems to drag on a little too long. Jumping back to the story in between the other segments is sometimes confusing and often distracting. I think the directors could have cut a few of the wraparound segments to focus more on the individual segments/short films, which were far more entertaining.

It's been a few days since I watched it, and damn if that one story didn't stick with me! I found myself telling other friends about a girl getting a C-section done on her in the middle of her own living room and how another scene made me literally jump out of my seat. Even if I never watch the film again, I can't imagine myself forgetting about that one little segment.