V/H/S: Difference between revisions
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Chad, Matt, Tyler, and Paul (dressed in Halloween costumes as [[the Unabomber]], a pirate, a [[nanny cam]], and a marine, respectively) head out to a [[Halloween party]] at a friend's house, only to find it deserted. Sneaking inside, they begin to experience paranormal |
Chad, Matt, Tyler, and Paul (dressed in Halloween costumes as [[the Unabomber]], a pirate, a [[nanny cam]], and a marine, respectively) head out to a [[Halloween party]] at a friend's house, only to find it deserted. Sneaking inside, they begin to experience paranormal phenomena and decide they are on a [[haunted attraction]] house and have fun with it. In the attic they find their friend -- along with several other men-- shouting and chanting [[Bible]] verses at a young woman whom they've suspended from the rafters. Not realizing that they have interrupted an [[exorcism]], the boys believe that this is part of the experience until their friend reacts angrily to their presence and physically assaults the young woman. More violent, overtly threatening paranormal phenomenon then begins to occur, such as the men being thrown against the ceiling and birds begin appearing out of thin air and attacking. The boys initially flee before realizing they should try and rescue the girl; returning to the attic, the boys work to untie her and get her to safety, as the house itself comes to life and attempts to stop their escape. |
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Exiting through the basement, the boys pile into their car with the girl and drive away. The car abruptly stops and the girl disappears, reappearing in the street before them and walking away amidst a flight of birds. The car then rolls itself onto nearby train tracks and comes to a halt in the path of an oncoming train. The boys attempt to get out of the car, only to find that their doors are locked and will not open. The tape ends just as the train strikes the car. |
Exiting through the basement, the boys pile into their car with the girl and drive away. The car abruptly stops and the girl disappears, reappearing in the street before them and walking away amidst a flight of birds. The car then rolls itself onto nearby train tracks and comes to a halt in the path of an oncoming train. The boys attempt to get out of the car, only to find that their doors are locked and will not open. The tape ends just as the train strikes the car. |
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Revision as of 17:30, 7 January 2013
| V/H/S | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Adam Wingard David Bruckner Ti West Glenn McQuaid Joe Swanberg Radio Silence |
| Written by | David Bruckner Glenn McQuaid Ti West Chad Villella Justin Martinez Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Nicholas Tecosky Simon Barrett Tyler Gillett |
| Produced by | Brad Miska David Gary Binkow Roxanne Benjamin |
| Starring | see below |
| Cinematography | Adam Wingard Glenn McQuaid Radio Silence Ti West Victoria K. Warren |
| Edited by | David Bruckner Glenn McQuaid Ti West Simon Barrett Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Magnet Releasing |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 116 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $100,348[2] |
V/H/S is a 2012 American anthology horror film. It features a series of found-footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the directing quartet known as Radio Silence.[3]
The film debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in January 2012,[4] and released on demand on August 31, 2012. The film made its limited theatrical premiere in the United States on October 5, 2012 and in Argentina on November 1, 2012.
V/H/S is being released theatrically in the UK on the 18th January, 2013.[5]
Synopsis
The film is presented as an anthology of short horror films, built into a frame narrative which acts as its own short horror film. The separate stories are all thematically linked by the concept of found footage.
Tape 56/frame narrative
- Directed by Adam Wingard
A group of young criminals videotape their exploits, which range from destroying abandoned houses to assaulting women in parking garages, forcibly removing their tops and selling the resultant footage online as reality porn. Looking to "upgrade" their criminal enterprises, they eagerly take a job given to them by an anonymous third party who is willing to pay them a large sum of money to burglarize a house and steal a single VHS tape.
Breaking into the house, the criminals find the sole occupant-- an old man-- dead in front of a blank of television sets playing white noise. Feeling free to roam the house, the criminals quickly discover hundreds of unmarked VHS tapes, and set about collecting them all to ensure that they retrieve the right one. Meanwhile, one of the criminals stays behind in the room with the old man's body to watch the VHS tape left in the VCR. The contents of the tape-- and subsequent videos put into the player-- comprise the bulk of the film, with the action cutting back to the criminals' efforts between each short.
As the frame narrative progresses, the criminals encounter a strange figure moving around the basement which appears to be the old man; glimpses of the TV room demonstrate that, oblivious to the criminals, the man's body disappears at one point only to reappear in the exact position. Similarly, the criminals return to the TV room to find that the first viewer has disappeared, prompting another of the criminals to continue watching the tapes himself. At the climax of the segment, the leader of the criminals returns to the TV room to discover that he is the only person left and that the old man's body is gone. Searching the rooms upstairs, he finds the decapitated remains of one of his men, and is subsequently attacked by the now zombified old man. The leader flees downstairs, where he falls and is killed by the old man. The story ends with the camera left in the TV room picking up the sound of the VCR starting the final tape by itself.
Amateur Night
- Directed by David Bruckner
Shane, Patrick, and Clint, are three friends who have rented a motel room with the intent of bringing women back for sex; Clint's glasses have been outfitted with a hidden web cam that will allow them to turn their planned encounter into an amateur porn video. While the three men are bar-hopping, Clint encounters a mysterious young woman, Lily, who acts aloof and will only respond to him by whispering "I like you."
In addition to picking up Lily, the men also succeed in convincing another young woman named Lisa to return to their motel with them. Due to heavy drinking, Lisa passes out as she and Shane start kissing on the bed. Lily continues to tell Clint that she likes him and attempts to initiate sex; Clint becomes nervous and hesitates, prompting Shane to come on to Lily. Lily appears responsive, pushing Shane onto his back and then beginning to undress Clint, seemingly attempting to begin a threesome. Overwhelmed, Clint moves away from the bed; oblivious to Shane, Lily has begun to sprout scales on her feet. Patrick attempts to take Clint's place in the threesome, but Lily tells him "no" and makes animal noises. When Patrick ignores her admonishment, she bites him in the hand. Clint tries to repair Patrick's hand in the bathroom as Lily and Shane continue to have sex; when Clint next exits the bathroom he discovers that Lily has transformed into a monster and has begun eating Shane. Clint and Patrick attempt to escape the motel room, but in the escape Lily devours Patrick and the sleeping Lisa. Clint escapes the room, but falls down the stairs and breaks his wrist. Lily catches up to him, but instead of attacking him attempts oral sex on him because she "likes" him. When she believes Clint doesn't like her attempts, she begins to cry and retreats. Clint attempts to get help from people in the motel's office and parking lot and is suddenly lifted into the sky by Lily, who is now a large winged bat, and then the glasses fall on the ground.
Second Honeymoon
- Directed by Ti West
A married couple, Sam and Stephanie, go out to the West for their second honeymoon and rent a motel room. The couple visit a Wild West themed attraction where Stephanie receives a prediction from a mechanical fortune teller that she will soon be reunited with a loved one. That evening (and off camera), a girl comes to Sam and Stephanie's room and attempts to convince Sam to give her a ride the next day. In the middle of the night, a woman breaks into the room and records herself as she caresses Stephanie's buttocks with a switchblade, removing $100 from Sam's wallet, and putting Sam's toothbrush in the toilet. The next day, Sam notices his money missing and accuses Stephanie of taking it while they are visiting a canyon. That night, the woman enters the room again and murders Sam with the switchblade. The camera then captures Stephanie and the woman kissing passionately and then leaving the motel as Stephanie asks if the footage has been erased.
Tuesday the 17th
- Directed by Glenn McQuaid
Three friends- Joey, "Spider", and Samantha- accompany their new friend, Wendy, on a camping trip. The group film themselves as Wendy leads them through the woods, occasionally mentioning "accidents" that took the lives of her friends. Wendy then tells them that a murderer killed her friends during a camping trip here the previous year, but the group laughs it off as a joke. "Spider" and Samantha leave the group and are kille by something appearing in the form of a figure obscured by tracking errors. At the lake, Wendy soon tells Joey she lured all three of them to the grounds so she can kill the mysterious force as the entity walks up behind Joey and slits his throat. Wendy runs away, luring the figure into two easily escaped booby traps and is cut by it in the second one. As Wendy runs through the woods, she finds Joey in his death throes. After he dies, the figure approaches Wendy and a final trap impales the thing. Wendy gloats at it and walks away but when she turns around, it is gone; it reappears in a tree and jumps down, beats her with the camera, then kills her.
The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger
- Directed by Joe Swanberg
A woman named Emily and her doctor-to-be boyfriend, James, video chat about the strange bump on her arm and how it reminds her of an accident she had when she was younger. Strange things happen in her apartment and a small, childlike figure running into her room and slamming the door. She begins digging in her arm with a scalpel and James tells her to stop cutting her arm. Emily believes her house is haunted but finds out no children lived there.
Emily attempts to contact the being, and it knocks her out. James quickly appears in her apartment and surgically removes an alien fetus from Emily. He asks the aliens how much longer they will continue using Emily as an incubator for alien/human hybrids, and revealing James has been removing the fetuses for some time, with the aliens wiping Emily's memory. James also reveals the arm sore is a tracking device and it may be harmful. The aliens reply belligerently in their language. James then chats once more with Emily, who believes that she sustained her injuries after wandering into traffic in a fugue state and a friend of James has diagnosed Emily as schizoaffective and can find a better lover.
James assures her he still loves her before switching chats to speak to another woman who aliens are doing experiments on.
10/31/98
- Written and directed by Radio Silence
Chad, Matt, Tyler, and Paul (dressed in Halloween costumes as the Unabomber, a pirate, a nanny cam, and a marine, respectively) head out to a Halloween party at a friend's house, only to find it deserted. Sneaking inside, they begin to experience paranormal phenomena and decide they are on a haunted attraction house and have fun with it. In the attic they find their friend -- along with several other men-- shouting and chanting Bible verses at a young woman whom they've suspended from the rafters. Not realizing that they have interrupted an exorcism, the boys believe that this is part of the experience until their friend reacts angrily to their presence and physically assaults the young woman. More violent, overtly threatening paranormal phenomenon then begins to occur, such as the men being thrown against the ceiling and birds begin appearing out of thin air and attacking. The boys initially flee before realizing they should try and rescue the girl; returning to the attic, the boys work to untie her and get her to safety, as the house itself comes to life and attempts to stop their escape.
Exiting through the basement, the boys pile into their car with the girl and drive away. The car abruptly stops and the girl disappears, reappearing in the street before them and walking away amidst a flight of birds. The car then rolls itself onto nearby train tracks and comes to a halt in the path of an oncoming train. The boys attempt to get out of the car, only to find that their doors are locked and will not open. The tape ends just as the train strikes the car.
Extended ending
The home video release contains an extended ending of the VHS, in which the boys escape the car at the moment of impact. The boys all cheer as the car explodes, walking off into the night as they discuss what a good Halloween it turned out to be after all.
Cast
- Tape 56
- Calvin Reeder as Gary
- Lane Hughes as Zak
- Kentucker Audley as Rox
- Adam Wingard as Brad
- Frank Stack as Old Man
- Sarah Byrne as Abbey
- Melissa Boatright as Tabitha
- Simon Barrett as Steve
- Andrew Droz Palermo as Fifth Thug
- Amateur Night
- Hannah Fierman as Lily
- Mike Donlan as Shane
- Joe Sykes as Patrick
- Drew Sawyer as Clint
- Jas Sams as Lisa
- Second Honeymoon
- Joe Swanberg as Sam
- Sophia Takal as Stephanie
- Kate Lyn Sheil as Girl
- Tuesday the 17th
- Norma C. Quinones as Wendy
- Drew Moerlein as Joey Brenner
- Jeannine Yoder as Samantha
- Jason Yachanin as Spider
- Bryce Burke as The Glitch
- The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger
- Helen Rogers as Emily
- Daniel Kaufman as James
- Liz Harvey as The New Girl
- Isaiah Hillman as Boy Alien
- Corrie Lynne Fitzpatrick as Girl Alien
- Taliyah Hillman as Little Girl Alien
- 10/31/98
- Chad Villella as Chad
- Matt Bettinelli-Olpin as Matt
- Tyler Gillett as Tyler
- Paul Natonek as Paul
- Nicole Erb as The Girl
- John Walcutt as Cult Leader
- Eric Curtis as Roommate
Release
Trevor Groth, a programmer of midnight movies at the Sundance Film Festival, said, "I give this all the credit in the world because conceptually it shouldn't have worked for me. ... Personally, I'm bored by found-footage horror films, which this is. And omnibus attempts rarely work. But this one does. It's terrifying, and very well executed."[3]
At the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Magnolia Pictures purchased the North American rights to the film for slightly over $1 million.[6] Limited theatrical release began October 5, 2012 in the United States and November 1, 2012 in Argentina.
The film was released onto DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital download December 4, 2012.
Reception
Reviews for the film has been mixed.[7][8][9] with the film holding a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus, "An uneven collection of found-footage horror films, V/H/S has some inventive scares but its execution is hit-and-miss."[10] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film holds an average score of 54%, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[11]
Empire gave the film four stars out of five, saying that "the biggest twist is its consistently high quality... anything goes, and all of it works".[12] The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mildly positive review, stating "Refreshingly, V/H/S promises no more than it delivers, always a plus with genre fare."[6] Variety noted that "the segments vary in quality and the whole overstays its welcome at nearly two hours. Some trimming (perhaps relegating a weaker episode to a DVD extra) would increase theatrical chances."[13] Fangoria praised the film while remarking that "the mystery of why/how some of this stuff is even on VHS tapes to begin with" was a bit of a leap.[14] 3 News also positively reviewed the film, writing that the movie "definitely works" but that the usage of video defects in the shorts "wears a little thin at times".[15]
References
- ^ "V/H/S (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ^ V/H/S at Box Office Mojo
- ^ a b Breznican, Anthony (December 1, 2011). "Sundance 2012: Midnight Movies highlight the horrible and hilarious". Inside Movies. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^ Schulz, Chris (Aug 3, 2012). "'Chilling' horror film comes with a warning". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "Press Release - V/H/S". Fetch Publicity.
- ^ a b Lowe, Justin (January 27, 2012). "V/H/S:Sundance Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Rother, Simon. "V/H/S Movie Review". Horror-Movies.ca. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Wampler, Scott. "SXSW 2012: V/H/S Review". Collider. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Goldberg, Matt. "Sundance 2012: V/H/S Review". Collider. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "V/H/S". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "V/H/S/". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
- ^ William, Owen, V/H/S, Empire magazine, p. 56
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (January 27, 2012). "V/H/S". Variety. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Pace, Dave. "LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH – "V/H/S" REVIEWED". Fangoria. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Rutledge, Daniel (01 Aug 2012). "2012 NZ International Film Festival review: V/H/S". 3 News. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
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