We are up to day 11 of our K-O-ween 31 Days of Halloween Feature. Today we are taking a look at what will likely be the lowest rated movie on this entire list. The horror anthology V/H/S from 2012. I will try to keep this as short as possible which is kinda tough with anthologies..

I was seriously debating whether or not to include this at all. There is a big part of me that thinks it is just not a particularly good movie. There is another part of me that believes that variety is key and that is one thing V/H/S offers – variety. With that in mind, let’s take a look.

V/H/S (2012)

V/H/S is a found footage horror anthology in the style of the style of the old Tales From the Crypt movies and TV shows. We have a collection of stories all loosely connected together by a frame narrative story called Tape 56. This is a movie that spawned an entire franchise. With the V/H/S movies still appearing almost annually 12 years later (updating this review in 2024).

Tape 56, directed by Adam Wingard, focuses on a gang of criminals and their exploits. We first see them committing acts of vandalism and sexually assaulting a woman. The gang are apparently offered a significant amount of money to retrieve a video tape from a house. They enter the house and find a dead man slumped in a chair in front of several televisions. The gang flick through the various video tapes. Each of which features the stories contained within this horror anthology.

There is far too much Frat Boy bullshit in V/H/S

The stories are Amateur Night by David Bruckner. The Second Honeymoon by Ti West. Tuesday the 17th by Glenn McQuaid. The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger by Joe Swanberg and 10/31/98 by the collective Radio Silence. 

Amateur Night sees a group of frat bros on a night out where they encounter a sexy siren with deadly intentions. The Second Honeymoon follows a couple taking a vacation unwittingly finding themselves the victim of a stalker. Tuesday the 17th sees a group of friends head to a lake for some fun in the sun, only to encounter a strange murderous creature. The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger follows a couple as they chat on webcam. Attempting to uncover what is the cause of the strange things happening to Emily. And 10/31/98 sees a group of friends heading to a Halloween party where the props seem just a little too authentic.

A Mixed Bag

The difficulty in recommending V/H/S comes from the difference in quality between the stories. Amateur Night and The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger are clearly the best stories. Amateur Night is both amusing and quite shocking in parts. It actually went on to become a movie in its own right – Siren. Unfortunately Siren did not manage to capture what made Amateur Night so good and was, in fact, utter dog shite. 

At least one of the segments is pretty awful.

The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger has a really compelling plot, a few decent scares, an unsettling tone and some genuinely decent acting from Helen Rogers. This is one of those shorts that could have worked really well as an actual movie. The scares could have been given more time to develop, the relationship between the two could have been expanded on, and the story left to simmer for awhile.

The rest of the segments, however, are just nowhere near as interesting. The adjoining story is particularly bad and uninteresting. The theme of overly sexed up young men doing aggressive things is a little too overplayed in V/H/S. The main segment is the one most guilty of this. Tuesday the 17th is awful and features absolutely terrible acting. It is given far too much time and features a cast of horribly annoying characters. If they were aiming to create a villain you could cheer for when he brutalises a group of assholes then mission accomplished.

Time to Breathe

Some of the stories here just needed a bit more time in the pot so to speak. They were severely undercooked. The Second Honeymoon kind of falls into this category but I am not so sure director Ti West could have managed to do much else with it. He likes to meander with his storytelling and I think we would have gotten more of the same here, just extended over an hour and a half. As it stands, it’s just a boring story with little to cling onto. 

10/31/98 felt like something of a rinse and repeat of Amateur Night. Sure, the story is different but the frat boy theme was well and truly played out at this point. Perhaps as a full movie we would have a chance to develop the characters a bit more. Perhaps the history of the house could have been expanded on? Either way, I don’t know if this would have helped as the segment just felt a bit generic and boring.

This is an issue with Anthology Horror as a whole. You will likely want more time from the good segments and the segments with potential. Bad segments will feel as though they are dragging on. It is worth pointing out, as well, that just because a segment seems like a good idea for a movie doesn’t mean the director will do a good job. Siren is proof of that though director David Bruckner did not take the helm on that production.

Violent and Hyper Sexed

Not exactly the tagline you want to put on your Tinder profile. V/H/S is very violent, features a lot of gore, and is hyper sexualised. There is a lot of injury detail and some gnarly practical effects. Amateur Night stands out in this regard. There is obviously tons of language, drug use, and sexual references. Most of the characters are totally unlikeable as well. The adjoining segment, in particular, features an awful group of dudes that I doubt many viewers could give two shits about.

Expect to see a hell of a lot of nudity in V/H/S.

I think this is also worth pointing out as some viewers hate nudity in movies. In my opinion, nudity has an important place in horror movies. I think, used correctly, it can add a sense of vulnerability to protagonists or be used for shock value to add to the horror. I rarely think horror nudity is out of place outside of some of the 80s pointless stuff. V/H/S, however, feels like the producers decided they were making a movie and asked “How many girls are getting their tits out in this?” and the reply was “Yes!”. There is tons of nudity in V/H/S and a lot of it is pointless.

Found Footage Anthologies

Found footage and horror anthologies make perfect bed mates. There have been a fair few and that’s probably due to the low cost of filming. If you have an idea for a horror movie and don’t have a lot of money, why not knock out a short on a handheld camera? It works well and keeps at least some cohesion between the stories. On top of that, this format offers a wider audience the chance to witness some brilliant directors in a much more easily digested way. Something that horror anthologies are perfect for.

V/H/S is, however, particularly guilty of some of the most egregious found footage sins. Shaky camera is everywhere and particularly bad in certain segments. Special effects are, at times, pretty terrible. Filming quality is very grainy and can be hard to watch and some of the content is very obviously improvised. If you are a found footage aficionado then you know what to expect. Many people, however, will be put off before even getting ten minutes into the movie.

Should You Watch V/H/S?

I have complained a lot here. I actually loved V/H/S up until re-watching it for this review. It sort of dawned on me that a lot of it is just not very good. I still absolutely think it is worth a watch, however. V/H/S is plenty of people’s favourite horror movie. It is, at the very least, easily digestible and quite a lot of fun. The overall runtime is too long and they could have cut a few segments in my opinion. But if you aren’t enjoying a segment, just skip to the next.

A lot of the concepts are really interesting and at least two of the segments are really good. Helen Rogers and Hannah Fierman are both great and many of the directors have gone on to become a who’s who of modern horror film making. Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Radio Silence and David Bruckner, in particular, went on to huge things. The talent is obviously here.

If you enjoy frat boy humour and a ton of nudity then V/H/S is right up your street. If you are just looking for something easy to watch then V/H/S might also be a great option. It’s a bit different from most horror movies around and the short segment format means you don’t have to invest too much in the story. It is worth a watch but it’s hard to say it is fantastic.