V/h/s (2012)

[Hellbilly]

Magnolia Pictures has bought the North American rights to Sundance Midnight entry “V/H/S.”

A “found footage” anthology of twisted tales all recorded on VHS tapes a group of robbers watch during a robbery, the shorts were directed by Adam Wingard, Glenn McQuiad, Radio Silence, David Bruckner, Joe Swamberg and Ti West.

After watching the movie, Eric Kohn wrote that "V/H/S" delivers “the creepiest first-person horror movie since the original ‘Paranormal Activity’ while pushing the genre in a fresh direction with the sheer visceral energy of its execution.”

With raucous screenings not only in Park City but also when it screened in Salt Lake City, the movie’s scary cred was locked when it was reported one audience member had to leave a screening during the first short. A day after, one of the directors, Ti West, tweeted, “All horror movies should be shown at high altitudes.”

Magnolia’s genre arm Magnet Releasing will release the film.

WME negotiated the deal.

Source: indiewire.com

Sounds good, doesn't it? Personally I love me some early hype.

[CPT HOOK]

Saw it tonight and loved it! V/H/S is one of the best found-footage horror films I have seen, if not the best. It’s a very creative and fun anthology film. There’s not a weak story in the bunch. It is pretty long too, it was going on 2:30AM by the time the movie got out. It gives each story a chance to fully develop.

The opening scenes are really obnoxious, it is basically just these guys running around smashing stuff. Even though the movie starts out pretty rough, stay with it. I was hooked by the end of the first story.

I’m going to go into a little detail as to what each of the segments are about, but I’ll avoid any spoilers. I have no idea who directed what.

The wrap-around segment involves a group of men who are being paid to break into a house and steal a VHS tape. Once inside, they find the dead body of an elderly man surrounded by numerous tapes. Each time they plug a tape in, it jumps to one of the segments. This was my least favorite of the segments. It gets off to a very rough start, but it does end extremely well.

The first segment is about three friends who get more than they bargained for when they try to lure a girl back to their hotel room in order to videotape her without her knowledge. This is by far the most extreme of the segments in regards to both violence and sex. Like the wraparound, it starts out a little rough, but about halfway through it grabs you by the throat. Definitely one of the stand-outs!

The second segment also takes place primarily in a hotel room. This one follows a couple on vacation, who notice a strange girl lurking outside their motel room. This one is kind of like The Strangers in a motel. I’m guessing this is the one Joe Swanberg directed, as he stars in it as well.

The third segment is a backwoods slasher. Four friends go into the woods and… we’ll just leave it at that. Fun segment, but not my favorite (which is surprising, because I’m all about the backwoods slashers). I really liked the characters in this one.

The fourth segment seemed to be the audience favorite, because it definitely got the most crowd reaction. This one is filmed entirely via Skype, where a boyfriend talks to his girlfriend as she experiences paranormal activity in her apartment. Very strange twist in this one, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. But it definitely has some very effective scares. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that a Skype conversation would be recorded onto a VHS tape, but this is easily overlooked for the sake of entertainment.

The fifth and final segment was my personal favorite. Four friends head to a Halloween party at a creepy old mansion, but when they get there they find the house seemingly vacant. Are the strange occurrences in the house a Halloween prank, or is there something in the house with them? Very playful and fun segment, I really enjoyed it!

Overall, the movie does a really good job toying with the experimental nature of the found-footage genre. Nowadays, computer effects really take away some of that movie magic, but there are a lot of effects here that look so convincingly practical that I was wondering how they did it. It is extremely impressive, especially combined with the long takes. Even though you’ll catch occasional shades of other films in V/H/S, its creativity and originality makes this essential viewing for all horror fans.

[x666x]

Saw it as well. For a found footage film, it was very well done and actually had graphic violence. Interesting stories to boot.

[aoiookami]

Mixed bag for me. First, fourth and fifth weren't bad, second and third were pretty awful. Especially the third, the one with the friends in the woods, I couldn't believe how terrible the acting was. The second, the one with the couple on vacation ended too abruptly with not much of a worthwhile 'payoff' for the 10 minutes of setup. The 'main story' that ties them all together is pretty flimsy and predictable as well. Not bad, but certainly nothing special.

[Dobby]

Originally Posted by aoiookami

Mixed bag for me. First, fourth and fifth weren't bad, second and third were pretty awful. Especially the third, the one with the friends in the woods, I couldn't believe how terrible the acting was. The second, the one with the couple on vacation ended too abruptly with not much of a worthwhile 'payoff' for the 10 minutes of setup. The 'main story' that ties them all together is pretty flimsy and predictable as well. Not bad, but certainly nothing special.

OK not to thrilled with your review.

[Dobby]

You have all been warned don't expect anything it's was bad. This was indEEd awful all they did was rip off youtube videos.

They combined these two videos lame lame lame!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcQdP0YxAfk
Then they did this one lame lame lame!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1XqTVVFc4g

[x666x]

Originally Posted by Dobby

You have all been warned don't expect anything it's was bad. This was indEEd awful all they did was rip off youtube videos.

They combined these two videos lame lame lame!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcQdP0YxAfk
Then they did this one lame lame lame!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1XqTVVFc4g

Really? Didn't know that. All of them? Luckily I do not watch You Tube videos as they definitely ripped these off. Sucks.

[x666x]

You are on the money, Dobby. I thought I was up on my shit. Can't believe I had no clue. And yes, I hate rip off artists, too. Now I am pissed at these guys.

[MisterTwister]

Rip off or not I still enjoyed it. It wasn't as good as the hype said it was or the trailer I saw but I liked it.

[Ash28M]

Watched this today and loved it. Easily the best horror film of the year imo. I enjoyed all the segments to different degrees With 1 and 4 being strongest and 3 and 5 being the least effective. As for the youtube videos all i see is that they might have borrowed a couple of scare ideas. I guess we better discount Carrie for borrowing from Deliverance or Halloween from Black Christmas Cabin in the woods from every horror film in history or Tarantino's entire filmography ect.

[bruce h]

Pre-orders now up for 12/4:

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ag=cinema09-20
BLU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ag=cinema09-20

It had one screening in Baltimore for the MD FilmFest (in the MICA auditorium), but I wasn't able to make it. I've heard reasonably good things, but like all anthologies I'm sure some bits work better than others.

[soxfan666]

This is showing on HDnet movies on October 3rd.

[Hatchetwarrior]

Loved it!!! I honestly can't see any other horror film this year topping it. For those of you who are not fans of the "found footage" subgenre, this won't do much to change your mind. But if you are a fan, like me, this is everything you could want.

[Zombie Dude]

I had mixed opinions about this. I didn't like the way they ended most of the stories. They felt too abrupt for the most part.

Spolier:
Also, what was with the wrap around story not wrapping around? It ends with the second last story and then randomly we're watching the last story which is one of the better ones in the mix.

[Paff]

Bump for tonight's showing on HDNet Movies. It seems to be getting a mixed response on this site from those who have already seen it, so maybe it's best to watch it for free...