The V/H/S found footage horror anthology has somehow been around for over a decade of weird and twisted tales. The franchise helped launch the careers of the Radio Silence collective, who are now known for horror hits like Ready or Not and Scream (2022). And it satisfies the fans who crave that guerilla style filmmaking complete with practical effects and effective jump scares. With the majority of these installments releasing in October for very obvious reasons, it is surprising that we are just now getting V/H/S Halloween. This latest effort is a mixed bag of gross fun with more treats than tricks.
V/H/S Halloween consists of five short horror films, which are interspersed between a frame narrative (written and directed by Bryan M. Ferguson) that is its own horror story. The latter, “Diet Phantasma,” is a dark satirical glimpse into a focus group taste testing a new soda with a special, ahem, ingredient. Predictably, the subjects are incarcerated people who have little to no agency, hence the reason they are test subjects. Things go wrong in various ways as the drink has different effects on each person’s body. Why are they doing this? Who knows. But it is disturbingly entertaining with a dollop of splatter gore that plays into consistent fears about the safety and actual contents of what we consume.
A couple of segments have at least some loose inspiration from very recent successful horror narratives. One is Anna Zlokovic’s “Coochie Coochie Coo,” which follows two high school seniors circa 2004. The girls are told they are “too old” to trick-or-treat, so they decide to spend Halloween night taking treats and playing tricks. The pals head out for a few hours of fun to stave off the uncertainty of college and young adulthood looming in front of them.
This story interweaves a few common horror tropes like the small town harboring sinister secrets, the “weird house” with a possibly dark history, and local lore surrounding a series of mysterious events. Dressed as babies and fully aware of a tale that someone is kidnapping young people, they venture into a house of horrors with a disturbing secret. In the vein of Barbarian, there’s a gruesome figure lurking and wishing to treat victims like suckling babes. But, Zlokovic takes things to another level with ample suspense, stomach churning visuals, and a finish that leaves you feeling sick.
The next segment, “Ut Supra Sic Infra” (meaning: as above, so below) by Paco Plaza and Alberto Marini includes a strange and seemingly untethered black phone with an ominous ring. That visual is certainly in the minds of horror fans with Black Phone 2 delivering supernatural scares. However, this Spanish segment tees up a premise that I wouldn’t mind seeing in a longer format. A group of kids donning Halloween costumes sneak into a medium’s spirit room… and only one lives to tell the tale. He takes the cops back to this location and, well, a disturbing truth comes to the horizon about what really went down. This frankly too-long segment’s conclusion undermines what precedes it in an unsatisfying manner, unfortunately.
“Fun Size” by Casper Kelly takes us down an absurdist path that stems from a seemingly small moral choice. Once again, the concept of “you’re too old” rises again with two twentysomething trick-or-treaters who take more than one piece of candy from a bowl. Things get supernatural quickly as they find themselves in a strange place with a human-like gumball machine that desires to use their body parts to create sweet treats. This is by far the most bizarre segment in V/H/S Halloween with exceptional visuals that probably won’t land with people who are not amused by super gross horror.
RELATED ARTICLEV/H/S/85 Provides Surprisingly Consistent Level of Found-Footage FrightThe “Most Out-of-Sync Segment Award” goes to “Kidprint,” which steps away from otherworldly/inexplicable horrors to ground us back into real-life scares. Does it throw off the balance created by the horror stories surrounding it? Absolutely. Does that make it not effective or a bad saga? Not at all. It hearkens back to the ‘90s “Do You Know Where Your Children Are?” PSAs that used to remind our parents to make sure we are actually home at 10PM. In this tale, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children creates Kidprint, a free program that allows parents to bring their kids to Blockbuster to record interviews. These tapes are an identification method that the police could use if kids went missing. And, soon there’s a serial kidnapper in the mix whose exploits are far darker than you’d imagine. I’d dare say that “Kidprint” and the final story of V/H/S Halloween, “Home Haunt” are the most enthralling parts of this installment. Shudder“Home Haunt” by Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman could easily become a fan favorite. It really embodies the spirit of V/H/S franchise lovers who want something that fits the theme and delivers some legit scares without taking itself too seriously. A father and son’s intricate and self-built Halloween horror house becomes a real nightmare because the decorations spring to life. There’s something fiendish yet cozy about this tale full of cheesy jokes and delightful practical effects, and that’s truly the spirit of the season overall. Generally speaking, V/H/S Halloween is a fun and entertaining watch. It’s a bit all over the place and messy in some aspects, but there’s a little something for just about every kind of horror fan.V/H/S Halloween ⭐ (3.5 of 5)
V/H/S Halloween hits Shudder on Friday, October 3.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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