V/H/S (2012) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

Last Updated on November 29, 2023

The episode of Revisited covering V/H/S was Written and Edited by Ric Solomon, Narrated by Kier Gomes, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Ever find yourself breaking into someone’s house with the intention of not taking anything of value… just VHS tapes? While I don’t think, or want to believe anyone watching this video has ever thought of doing something that juvenile, it is the central story arc of 2012’s V/H/S (watch it HERE). I’m sure you’re thinking “Oh great, another found footage film. What can this one do for me that I haven’t already seen?” Well for one, it was a huge cult classic and so successful that it has spawned multiple sequels and spinoffs! So, on this episode of Horror Revisited, we ask that you not sit too close to the tv, turn up the volume and please remember to be kind and rewind as we explore V/H/S.

Horror anthology films have been around since the early 1900’s. If you’re wondering what exactly that is, I’m happy to explain it to you. A Horror anthology is a collection of short horror films each with a unique cast or premise. Some of the most popular ones include Black Sabbath, Creepshow, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Body Bags and even the recent cult hit Trick ‘r Treat. As you can see, there has been quite a demand for horror anthology films. But let’s not forget another type of horror genre that audiences have enjoyed as well, maybe even more. Found footage horror films became popular back in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project. Because of its small budget and huge box office success, it would inspire other filmmakers to explore this new format. Out of that, we were treated to some genre defining classics such as Paranormal Activity, REC, and J.J. Abraham’s sci-fi epic Cloverfield. We’ve seen so many types of both anthologies and found footage, that someone was bound to breed these two types of films… right?

Brad Miska, the founder of Bloody Disgusting would team up with production company The Collective as well as five horror hungry directors and writers to create V/H/S. The plot is somewhat simple but in it we have our main narrative entitled Tape 56 as well as our five short stories that follow. In Tape 56, we watch four guys who make money putting their violent acts online. They are hired by someone anonymous to break into a house and steal a VHS tape. While filming inside the house, you follow each of them around as they encounter a dead man, as well as, you guessed it, lots of VHS Tapes. One of the guys sits down to watch a few tapes to look for whatever was being asked and we then dive right in.

The first story is called Amateur Night. It was directed by David Bruckner, who would go on to direct the 2022 version of Hellraiser. We follow three friends who want to find some girls, get them drunk and have sex with them…to then make an amateur porn video. They have one of their friends wear glasses that are equipped with a hidden camera and microphone. They eventually find some girls and the one wearing the glasses, whose name is Clint, is noticed by a very quiet woman, named Lily, who keeps repeating the same thing. They eventually go back to a hotel room, but one of the girls passes out. Shane, one of the friends, tries to have sex with Lily. She starts displaying odd behavior and kills Shane as well as the third friend Patrick. We find out Lily is a succubus and Clint tries to dart out of the hotel, but instead is carried away as we see the glasses fall to the ground… and that’s it.

Second story is called Second Honeymoon and was written and directed by Ti West. We follow a married couple, Sam and Stephanie as they travel around Arizona on their honeymoon. Stepahnie documents the whole trip. They stop as some Wild West themed attraction and she receives a prediction from an mechanical prospector claiming that she will soon be happily reunited with a loved one. The next night a stranger eventually comes to their motel and asks Sam to give her a ride somewhere the next day. We then see someone go into their motel room, put Sam’s toothbrush in the toilet and steal money out of his wallet. Sam accuses Stephanie of stealing his money and then we cut to the that night where the girl comes into their room again, but stabs Sam repeatedly. He chokes on his own blood and dies. The killer goes to clean her blade and makes out with Stephanie, revealing she was her lover.

Third story is entitled Tuesday the 17th, which was written and directed by Glenn McQuaid. He would later go on to direct a somewhat cult hit I Sell The Dead. A group of 20 somethings join their friend Wendy on a trip to a lake in a forest. Strangely, when the camera scans certain areas, it glitches showing mutilated bodies. Wendy says to them they are all going to die. She then tells them about a murderer who killed many people years before…the group thinks its a joke and laughs it off. One by one the group is killed off by a strange figure who can’t be viewed and makes the sound of an old Sony Ericsson phone being too close to a computer. Wendy reveals to the friend, before he is killed by this glitchy person, that the murderer had slaughtered all her friends and she was using this group as bait. Wendy runs away and lures the glitch into a bear trip. She tries to film him but is still obscured by tracking errors on the camera. The glitch breaks free as we see the last friend walking to his death and dying. The Glitch is then impaled on a bed of spikes. Wendy thinks she has won, but he reappears in a tree and kills Wendy. We see him turn Wendy into a glitch.

With two more short stories to go, we’ve made it to our fourth one called The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger. It was directed by Joe Swanberg and written by Simoin Barrett, who would go on to write the somewhat continuation to The Blair Witch Project simply entitled Blair Witch in 2016. This movie is told entirely on computer video chats. We meet Emily and her boyfriend James. Emily tells James about this mysterious bump on her arm and how it reminds her of an accident she had when she was younger. Emily starts to hear noises outside her door and sees small ghost like children rush into her room and slam the door shut. This makes her feel her house is haunted. She eventually gets the landlord involved asking if anyone has died in the apartment… they tell her no. Emily digs into her arm where the bump is and James urges her to stop before her wound becomes infected. He says he will be checking on it when he sees her in a week. The next night, she tries to contact the ghost children who knock her unconscious. James then quickly enters the apartment. The children aren’t ghosts but instead…are aliens. James removes an alien fetus from Emily’s torso and its revealed that she is an incubator for alien/human hybrids. James has been working with the aliens and worries that she won’t survive if they keep doing this to her. They erase her memory and James breaks some of her bones. In their next hat, Emily believes she suffered injuries after wandering into traffic. She says James deserves someone better, but James tells her he wants to be with her. After their chat ends, he starts talking with a new woman, who now has the same bump on her arm and believes James is her boyfriend, revealing that the aliens are using multiple people as incubators.

Now to the fifth and final short story 10/31/98. It was written and directed by the guys from Radio Silence. If you’ve been following their career in the past ten years, they’ve directed three big horror films Ready or Not, Scream V and Scream VI. This takes place in 1998 on Halloween night. Tyler and his buddies Chad, Matt and Paul are going to a Halloween party. Tyler is wearing a teddy bear costume implanted with a nanny cam, so we can see what happens throughout the short. They’ve arrived early and believe they’re in a real haunted house attraction. Some antics ensue and they eventually make it to the attic. There they see several men gathered around a woman who is being suspended from the rafters…they are performing an exorcism. Their presence gets alerted to the men and several of these men are pulled into the darkness. The boys flee but go back into the house to get the girl. When they free her the house comes to life with ghost arms rising from walls and floors trying to prevent them from escaping. They eventually get in the car and drive away. The car stops abruptly and the girl disappears. She then reappears in the street and the boys notice their car is stopped on a train track. They realize the girl they rescued is actually a witch. The boys are unable to get out of the car as the train approaches and the car won’t start. The train kills all of them inside… In the end of Tape 56 we see all of the boys get murdered by the old man, who appears to be a zombie. Glad I was able to summarize all of that for you!

Back in 2012, I remember watching V/H/S and renting it from one of the few remaining Blockbusters. For the most part I didn’t love the movie as a whole but some of the stories are pretty good and actually show potential. I’d say my favorite is 10/31/98. Why? Well, it’s the only one out of the whole bunch that truly feels like a fun short story. It’s a good premise, great visuals for a film that’s budget was $242,000 and very engaging. I also liked Amateur Night. It’s the perfect grasp to get the anthology started and keeps you glued to the screen. The sound mixing and costume design on the succubus are truly terrifying. When rewatching it recently, with my noise canceling headphones, I got goosebumps thinking Lily was right behind me about to kill me.

I’m sad to say that Ti West’s short film, Second Honeymoon, just didn’t do it for me. Same goes for the fourth story with the incredibly long title. You know, the one with Emily and the aliens. Both stories felt disjointed without really engaging the audience or keeping them invested in what was going on. But I give the Emily story a lot of credit for having it feel like the whole film was done on a computer. Did it inspire filmmakers to create the film Unfriended? Who knows, but that aspect was certainly impactful. Tuesday the 17th is the one I just can’t wrap my head around. It truly doesn’t make any sense but yet I’m so curious about it. Who was this killer, why does he make the sound of an old school phone being too close to a modem? Why can’t we see him? Was he even real? Maybe it’s a good thing I’m asking these questions and maybe that’s what the director wanted the viewer to think.

Each segment in V/H/S was 20 minutes and were designed to not overstay their welcomes. Brad Miska was approached by The Collective to make a Bloody Disgusting movie. Originally this was going to be a tv show, with the premise being what Tape 56 was. Miska described the process as a “trust fall” exercise, with the creatives developing the initial premise, which he designated as a “wrap-around” of each film; followed by the additional segments that feature as the horrific video tapes that the characters in the recurring wrap-around sequences discover. He encouraged creativity from the respective filmmakers, with each segment being distinct in style and story.

The movie was submitted last minute to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival due to its crazy post production process. It was received well by critics audiences. Magnolia Pictures purchased the North American rights for over $1 million. Its limited release started on October 5, 2012. During its limited theatrical window, critics weren’t so kind to it. Shockingly. Empire gave it four out of five stars! Even The Hollywood Reporter called it “refreshing”. I remember seeing that this was playing at a local theater near where I was living at the time. Instead, I decided to watch both Taken 2 and Frankenweenie. Did I make out better watching V/H/S at home instead of its limited theatrical release? You be the judge. It would release on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download almost two months later on December 4 of that same year. It even got a VHS release on February 5, 2013.

One thing everyone who’s seen it will tell you is that it’s just too long. Clocking in at 116 minutes, just shy of two hours, some of the stories drag or feel like they could have been cut out, hence the ones I mentioned above. Roger Ebert as well as other critics would all agree that it was overlong. On average, most found footage films end around the 90 minute mark. Because of that runtime, it feels like you’re watching the camera’s battery drain and just give out when the film ends.In the end, the runtime doesn’t matter because it would go on to spawn multiple sequels and spin offs. Some people, including myself, have even said the sequels are much better…but that’s a story for another day.

V/H/S is an experiment done right. Horror anthology films offer a rich and varied experience for fans of the genre. Brad Miska collaborated with some of the best working directors and writers in the horror industry today. The central concept was to create a found footage horror anthology that paid homage to a beloved format, known as VHS, and deliver a mix of chilling, gritty, and innovative scares. With its interconnected short stories directed by various talented filmmakers, it offers a variety of horror subgenres, keeping the audience engaged with a fresh and unpredictable experience. The found footage format adds realism and immersion, making the scares feel more immediate. As stated before, not all the segments are equally strong. But it’s still a must-see for fans of horror anthologies and those looking for something different in the found footage realm.

Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!