“The Blair Witch Project” started a long string of found footage horror movies. Some good, some bad. Some weird and pushing into the new age of analogue horror, like “Skinamarink. But some of the most fun are the anthologies. The little vignettes tied into a longer film. The “V/H/S” movies take found footage and turn it into a romp through the visions of different directors. All stories connected with a single thread of a VHS tape. A thread of film tape, if you will. That franchise is continuing with “V/H/S/85,” which will be a Shudder Original and be available on AMC+.
Like most of the “V/H/S” movies, the appearance of a VHS tape piques the curiosity of its finder. What seems like harmless home movies turn into something horrific. And like a box within a box, those who watch don’t realize that they’ll be the victims of another recording, watched by someone else. It’s a fantastic structure, and cohesive without needing to be linear. Most of all, they’re fun. Because the directors for the stories get to take them in all sorts of directions.
Speaking of directors, the lineup for this anthology includes David Bruckner (“The Signal“), Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange,” “The Black Phone“), Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani (“Lucky“), and Mike P. Nelson (“Wrong Turn“).
“V/H/S” has been distributed by Shudder since “V/H/S/94“. And while some of them might pale in comparison to the originals, distributed by Magnolia Pictures, they don’t fall far. Anthology series have the benefit of telling a lot of stories at once, means a lot of voices can be heard and a lot of styles of horror can be explored. It’s a grab bag, which is what makes them infinitely watchable. And always leaving us with the mystery of where the tapes themselves originate.
The trailer takes us into the 80s, which could be a fun romp. The 80s were weird, in music, in fashion, in look. The 90s seem pretty tame by comparison, so the stories therein could be pretty fantastic. You’ll more than likely see a review from us in the days to come.
“V/H/S/85″ hits Shudder and AMC+ October 6th, 2023.
