Review of V/H/S: Viral (2014) by Galen A — 20 May 2015

The first VHS about being low key, creepy and cool. This is seen in the way it used certain experimental film techniques in lieu of story but the effects were unique creepy, and jarring enough to keep the viewer unsettled despite the plot or lack of. The second VHS was the best of the series as it built on the groundbreaking use of off key special effects the and added a layer of unconventional storytelling. The first VHS was a series of creepy film experiments meant to unsettle you but the less low key VHS2 was a balls to the wall horror film with brilliantly told stories and doomed characters that you could care about. VHS Viral is none of that. It's an incoherent mess that adds nothing new to the series in terms of experimenting with story or using new effects to shock the viewer and creep under your skin. It could be hundreds of other poor low budget horror anthology films and it had me actually laughing at points where I don't think I was supposed to. I'd like to see Rifftrax take this one.

Anyway the first story is about stage magician who uses his cape to perform real magic. I was surprised with the lack of emotion displayed by people he's performed for, especially, a couple who went to the show in NY and left in LA. That whole part reminded me of Aziz Ansari' and Paul Scheer's Illusionators sketches on Human Giant. The rest of the story was convoluted and, worst of all, not scary. It was like seeing an Are You Afraid of the Dark episode with the story told by the one kid in the Campfire Society that everyone else secretly hates.

The second story seemed to about invaders from another dimension. That's just a wild guess as its not in English or subtitled. I had no idea what was going, I was bored, and I did not care.

The third story is the strongest but I still have no clue what happened in it. It was mostly filmed on body cams placed on skate bored helmets which led to some cool shots and it involved four guys making a skate video on an abandoned area. The relationships between the skaters wasn't defined well. They seem like they know each other regularly but they don't know everybody's name. It's also unclear if there's four or five of them. Most of the time I thought four but then a fifth is guy is shown only to die immediately. It's unclear what or why anything happened here. There's allusions to shrines, occult markings, and a fight with some undead that is actually the best part of the movie. The speed, sounds and movements of the more skeleton like undead is spot on. They're fast and you can hear they're bones clacking together as they charge. They move very quickly in what I imagine to be realistic staggery hurky jerky way that may might be stop motion. The skeletons in that scene were the only thing here that scared me and the only thing here worth watching. If you like the first two VHS fils I'd recommend these other horror anthologies instead and avoid this.

Creepshow.

(George A Romero and Stephen King tribute to the horror comics of the 1950s. It's a lot of fun with scares and colorful enough to come right off the pages of a comic.

Night Gallery.

It's created by Rod Serling of the Twilight Zoneand both the show and movie are great. The movie has a great story called "Eyes" directed by Steven Spielberg in the early phases of his career).

Tales from the Darkside.

Early 90's horror anthogy spin off film from the TV series. Debbie Harry plays a witch. It's a fun film for horror buffs. A young Steve Buscemi has a central role in it too.

Talez From Da Hood.

A combination of horror anthology and hood film tropes done respectfully. This could've been a joke but uses horror to bring up important themes that are then taken seriously. It does get ham fisted at times but it's much better, much smarter, and scarier than it looks.