V/H/S Review

26th Jan 2013

V/H/S is another in a long line of found-footage horrors. The framing device for this one is a group of camera-obsessed petty criminals, whose filmed exploits we see ranging from violently molesting girls to smashing up empty buildings, are hired to steal a VHS tape from a house. Once there, they begin watching the tapes, which, as they soon discover, is not a very good idea. These tapes make up an anthology of mini-films, each with different directors and stories. The sections are written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the directing collective Radio Silence, and as such are quite different, not only in terms of subject matter, but also in terms of skill.

While I have a small reservation about how these tapes came to be in one place, not to mention why, there is a very natural set-up for each of the vignettes. Believable explanations for the presence of a camera help to ease us in to the story–rather spending time wondering who or why the incidents are being filmed, we can automatically accept the camera’s output and happily watch them play out. The individual films themselves are, on the whole, quite inventive and the characters mostly sufficient to sustain their own narratives. There’s not a huge amount of time for anything else. The initial gang are appalling specimens. Absolute tools, in other words. Waiting for them to get gutted or otherwise horribly murdered was almost painful. In fact, the films seemed to be predominantly populated by terrible people. Annoying, brash, devious, or just plain boring. And these are the victims, not the killers.

In reality, only a couple of the segments really fulfil the promise of the intense trailer. The first was my favourite, with a creepy, Splice-like feel to its creature. One or two sections I found a little dull, which is in itself impressive, given their 15 minute run-time. There are some good, genuine scares that I really enjoyed. The handheld shaky-cam factor was nowhere near as annoying as I had feared it would be. The constant change of pace, tone, place and time was also surprisingly enjoyable. As a format, I do think it works. Obviously someone else agrees, since a sequel, S-V/H/S, was quickly commissioned and began production last year. And I will, however, be lining up for the next one, given the talent already attached–The Raid’s Gareth Evans and Hobo with a Shotgun’s Jason Eisener to name a couple.

This is the kind of film that I see the trailer for and can’t wait to see. It looked creepy, gory and violent. And for the most part it doesn’t disappoint. By its nature, V/H/S was always going to be slightly uneven, moving from story to story, but it is the unevenness in quality that lets it down. There is creepiness, goriness and certainly violence, it just doesn’t quite sustain the kind of horrifying tension that would make it totally successful.