“What the fuck was that?” one of the characters in V/H/S asks in disbelief. You definitely will ask yourself that same question after you see the quintet short films scare-fest V/H/S.
V/H/S is a genius anthology of five “found footage” horror mini movies that are supposedly “found” (and viewed) by a gang of thieves who are sent on a job to a house to find a single VHS tape (aka Tape 56/the main story; Adam Wingard, A Horrible Way to Die). All of the shorts are crazy creepy, but three really take the freak-you-out cake. The trio that will have you trying to wrap your head around the madness long after you finish with V/H/S are stories 1, 2 and 4 or rather: Amateur Night, Second Honeymoon and The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger.
Amateur Night (David Bruckner, The Signal) focuses on a group of young men who take two girls to a motel after a night of partying only to find out the one that is a sex maniac is also a succubus! She goes from doe eyed, cute (and a little odd when she keeps repeating “I like you” to her unsuspecting prey) to absolutely frightening once she turns into a dismembering killing machine!
Second Honeymoon (Ti West, The House of the Devil) tells the tale of a married couple on their second honeymoon, and during their hotel night stay a strange woman ends up in their room videotaping them sleeping while she runs a knife up and down their bodies. The twist of who the woman is and what she does is beyond disturbing, and unless you are a psychic you cannot see it coming!
The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger (Joe Swanberg, Kissing on the Mouth & LOL) is about a young woman who while video chatting with her doctor boyfriend tells him that strange bumps on her body have reappeared like when she was younger. Also, that her home is haunted. Ghost kids, a gruesome back extraction, and tracking devices are the insane things that are in Emily. This tale will literally make your skin crawl and you’ll nearly jump out of it!
Tuesday the 17th (Glenn McQuaid, I Sell the Dead) the third short and 10/31/98 (Radio Silence, a four man film making team) the last, are still spooky, particularly Tuesday, but not as much as Amateur, Honeymoon and Emily. In Tuesday the 17th a group of friends go on a trip in a wooded area where one of them sets the others up as bait for a teleporting killer, and in 10/31/98 some friends go out on Halloween searching for a party and end up in the wrong house where an exorcism is taking place.
DZI: The Voice 