Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Bryan M. Ferguson, Casper Kelly, Micheline Pitt-Norman, R.H. Norman, Alex Ross Perry, Paco Plaza, Anna Zlokovic
Starring: David Haydn, Samantha Cochran, Natalia Montgomery Fernandez, Teo Planell, Lawson Greyson, Riley Nottingham, Stephen Gurewitz, Rick Baker, Noah Diamond
It's almost two decades since its post-Paranormal Activity peak, but the found footage sub-genre continues to live on via the V/H/S anthology series. Now in its eighth instalment, the series has become something of an annual tradition with a new release popping up on Shudder just in time for Halloween each year. It's fitting then that this latest chapter should be themed around spooky season, with its segments all playing out on or around the most wonderful night of the year.
The traditional wraparound segment, which is intercut with the other shorts, comes courtesy of Scottish music video director Bryan M. Ferguson. Set in the 1980s, 'Diet Phantasma' sees the manufacturers of a new soda test their latest product, "Phantasma", on various unwitting test subjects. Drinking the soda has horrific effects, akin to the TV broadcast from Halloween III, with all manner of exploding heads and stretchy body parts. It's fun for a couple of segments but it soon grows repetitive as it essentially repeats a variation on the same theme throughout its allocated slots.
The first of the regular shorts is Anna Zlokovic's 'Coochie Coochie Coo'. Two obnoxious college kids decide to go trick or treating on Halloween night, stealing candy before actual kids can get to it. They get their comeuppance when they arrive at a mysterious house that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. The horrors that reside in the house are certainly novel, but with nobody to root for this short is a little like watching a walkthrough of a haunted house attraction.
The slickest of the shorts comes courtesy of Spanish director Paco Plaza, whose 2007 zombie thriller REC (co-directed with Jaume Balagueró) was one of the highlights of the noughties found footage explosion. 'Ut Supra Sic Infra' is set during the aftermath of a Halloween massacre in which partygoers were killed and their eyes gouged out. The only survivor is Enric, and the police aren't buying his story of becoming possessed after answering a disconnected telephone. The cops take Enric back to the scene of the crime, where he relates the evening's events (as seen in flashbacks) before the very same telephone rings once again... This one boasts some seriously impressive effects that will have you looking for strings and trying to figure out how they were pulled off on such a small budget. In terms of building to a payoff it's perhaps the most narratively satisfying of this bunch of shorts.
The most entertaining segment is Casper Kelly's 'Fun Size'. Like 'Coochie Coochie Coo' it shares the premise of annoying college kids trick or treating, but this one is far more inventive. A group of four friends come across a bowl filled with obscure candy and a sign that reads "one per person." When the bowl seems to come to life, the quartet find themselves trapped inside the most sinister chocolate factory since the old Wonka place shut down. The spirit of early Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson lives on through Kelly, who fills his limited run time with all manner of smartly executed madness and bad taste.
Undoubtedly the most acclaimed filmmaker to ever contribute to the series is Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell; Golden Exits). Having recently demonstrated his love for the video store era with his documentary Videoheaven, it's perhaps no surprise to find Perry shooting his segment on what appears to be actual VHS tape. Set in 1992, 'Kidprint' might be the darkest of any segment in the entire series. The short sees a small town ravaged by a series of murders and abductions of children and teens, so a local electronics store has offered a service that allows parents to record video footage of their children in order to make them easily identifiable should they disappear. Inspired by the real life service of the same name offered by Blockbuster in the '90s, 'Kidprint' nails the look of that era with an unsettling lo-fi aesthetic that recalls early episodes of Unsolved Mysteries. The grisly theme makes it a disturbing watch, but Perry doesn't have time to develop what could make for a worthwhile feature, but which simply fizzles out here in a spree of bloodshed before it can develop its story.
The final segment, Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman's 'Home Haunt', has a great hook. A decade after he first started building an annual Halloween haunted house attraction in his yard, a father finds that his once enthusiastic son is now a surly teen who has no interest in spending Halloween with his old man. Nevertheless, Dad forces his boy to help him run the show once again, but thanks to the inclusion of a mysterious old LP found in a vintage store, the haunted house becomes just that. Like 'Coochie Coochie Coo', this segment also feels a lot like we're simply watching strangers take us on a tour of an attraction, but there are some impressive gore effects, which might explain the inclusion of FX legend Rick Baker in the cast. The short disappointingly fails to make anything of its initially intriguing father/son dynamic.
As ever, this latest instalment of the series is a lucky dip. It boasts some of the most impressive effects we've seen from the series, but while there are plenty of tricks there simply aren't enough treats here. Plaza and Kelly's shorts are fleetingly compelling, but the rest lack enough substance to make them worthwhile. Perhaps the biggest issue is that setting all the shorts on the same night of the year leads to repetition, and only Kelly's 'Fun Size' does anything novel with the assigned task. There's too much fudge and not enough caramel in this spooky season selection box.
V/H/S/Halloween is on Shudder from October 3rd.
