V/H/S/2

"VHS 2" redirects here. For the firearm, see HS Produkt VHS.

V/H/S/2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Simon Barrett (Tape 49) Adam Wingard (Phase I Clinical Trials) Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale (A Ride in the Park) Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans (Safe Haven) Jason Eisener (Slumber Party Alien Abduction)
Written by	Simon Barrett (Tape 49 and Phase I Clinical Trials) Jamie Nash (A Ride in the Park) Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans (Safe Haven) John Davies (Slumber Party Alien Abduction)
Produced by	Roxanne Benjamin Gary Binkow Kyle David Crosby Brad Miska Jamie Nash
Starring	see below
Cinematography	Tarin Anderson Abdul Dermawan Habir Stephen Scott Seamus Tierney Jeff Wheaton
Edited by	Jason Eisener Gareth Huw Evans David Geis Bob Rose Eduardo Sánchez Adam Wingard
Music by	James Guymon Steve Moore Aria Prayogi Fajar Yuskemal
Production companies	Bloody Disgusting The Collective Haxan Films
Distributed by	Magnet Releasing
Release dates	January 19, 2013 (2013-01-19) (Sundance) July 12, 2013 (2013-07-12) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes
Countries	United States Canada
Languages	English Indonesian
Box office	$21,833 (North America)

V/H/S/2 (originally titled S-VHS) is a 2013 horror anthology film produced by Bloody Disgusting. A sequel to V/H/S, it comprises five found-footage segments linked together by a frame narrative. V/H/S/2 features a largely different group of directors: Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, Eduardo Sánchez, and Gregg Hale, and franchise returnees Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard.

Plot

The film is presented as an anthology of short horror films, built into a frame narrative which acts as its own short horror film. Each short film is linked together with the concept of found footage (each segment is from the VHS tapes found in the first film).

Tape 49/frame narrative

Directed by Simon Barrett

A college student's mother requests that a private investigator, Larry, and his girlfriend, Ayesha, also a private investigator, look into the disappearance of her son Kyle. After breaking into Kyle's residence, they discover a large stack of VHS tapes and a laptop that is still recording a video and also contains the tapes from the previous film, including Tape 56. On the laptop, Kyle discusses the VHS tapes, saying where he got one of the most recent ones, and Larry tells Ayesha to watch the tapes while he inspects the house. As Ayesha begins to watch "Phase I Clinical Trials", a figure peers out from the shadows and watches her.

Ayesha calls Larry into the room, and they discuss the tapes' legitimacy. Larry tells Ayesha to continue viewing the tapes, which Kyle's video explains must be watched in the proper order "to affect you".

After she finishes watching "A Ride in the Park", Larry re-enters the room and finds Ayesha in a hypnotized state with her nose bleeding. After being woken, Ayesha says she has a migraine. Larry leaves to find medicine, and a seemingly entranced Ayesha watches "Safe Haven". From the shadows, the figure crawls out and watches her.

Upon Larry's return, he discovers Ayesha has killed herself with a gun. A VHS tape with the word "WATCH" written on it in lipstick, lies beside her. Larry picks up the tape containing "Slumber Party Alien Abduction" and anxiously watches it.

Confused, Larry watches the webcam footage and sees Kyle explain that he and his mother want to make their own tape; Kyle then attempts suicide on-camera by shooting himself through his jaw, but seemingly survives, even though his lower jaw is completely shattered, and runs off moments before Larry and Ayesha enter the dorm. As Larry watches it, an undead Ayesha suddenly rises and attacks him. In self-defense, Larry breaks her neck and rushes into the other room as Ayesha chases after him on all fours. Larry hides in a closet and shoots Ayesha in the face when she finds him. Larry hears a strange gurgling sound and explores the closet only to find Kyle hiding in the back, revealing that Kyle has been hiding in the closet the whole time. Kyle lunges at Larry and strangles him to death. Afterward, Kyle gives the camera a "thumbs up", revealing the plan his mother and he came up with being a success, before turning off the camera.

Phase I Clinical Trials

Directed by Adam Wingard

A man, Herman, is sitting in a doctor's office and the doctor is examining his camera. The camera is fitted into an ocular implant which has replaced Herman's right eye after it was damaged in a car accident. The doctor informs Herman that the camera will record and monitor everything he does for research purposes and there is no way to turn it off during this time. Herman is also told that he may experience some "glitches" because the implant is still in its experimental stage. As he leaves the clinic, Herman notices a young red-haired girl staring at him intently. Returning home, Herman passes time by playing video games and eventually gets up for tea. He returns from the kitchen to find his game controller far from where he originally left it, followed by the tea kettle crashing to the ground suddenly. Later, Herman sees what appears to be somebody lying beneath the sheets of his bed, but when he pulls back the sheets, the bed is empty. Herman then finds himself face to face with a bleeding man who appears to be dead, causing him to flee to the bathroom. After phoning his doctor to complain about what happened, Herman emerges from the bathroom and encounters the man again, this time with a young girl who also appears to be dead. Returning to the bathroom, Herman is disturbed by repeated banging on the door and ends up sleeping in the bathtub overnight.

The next morning, Herman emerges from the bathroom again and everything seems to be normal, albeit his room is in more disarray than the night before. Later, the red-haired girl from the hospital appears at his door and requests to be let in as she too is experiencing a similar situation. Giving her name as Clarissa, she explains that she was born deaf and had a cochlear implant installed in her ear, giving her the ability to hear dead people. Herman suggests to remove the implant to make the ghosts go away, but Clarissa says that doing so will only keep Herman from seeing the ghosts. As Clarissa claims that the ghosts will get stronger and more dangerous the longer one pays attention to them, an overweight underwear-clad man appears behind her. Herman alerts her to his presence, but Clarissa says she knows he is there and that he is her uncle, who wasn't a very nice person. Clarissa then initiates sex as a distraction to make the ghosts leave them alone.

Sometime later, Herman awakens and sees Clarissa sleeping on the couch. He finds the young girl in his bed and flees, before witnessing Clarissa being dragged into the pool by an unseen entity. Despite Herman's best efforts to save her, Clarissa drowns. Running back through the house in an attempt to escape the ghosts, Herman once again locks himself in the bathroom and uses a straight razor to cut out the implant. The ghosts of Clarissa and her uncle appear in the bathroom as Herman tries to escape it, but he unwittingly runs directly into the ghosts of the man and young girl, with the former throttling him. The man grabs the implant and shoves it deep into Herman's throat, presumably killing him.

A Ride in the Park

Directed by Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale

A cyclist, Mike, with a camera affixed on his helmet, is riding through a state park, when he runs into a hysterical and bloody woman, asking for help with her boyfriend. Mike then sees several zombies approaching them, before he is suddenly attacked and bitten on the throat by the woman, whom he kills. Mike staggers through the park, heavily bleeding, before finally collapsing and apparently dying. A pair of bikers come across him and attempt to help, but he reanimates, attacks, and partially devours them. Hearing noise in the distance, the three zombies head off towards it.

The trio invades a young girl's birthday party, killing several people, some of whom reanimate to attack others. While trying to attack a man and his three daughters in their car, Mike notices his bloodied reflection, which seems to subdue his aggressive behavior. When he accidentally pocket dials his girlfriend, Amy, he is shocked back to a semi-conscious state upon hearing her voice and kills himself with a discarded shotgun.

Safe Haven

Directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans

A news crew composed of 4 members (Malik the interviewer, his girlfriend Lena, and Adam and Joni the cameramen) infiltrate an Indonesian cult in the hope of shooting a documentary about their mysterious activities. Inside the building, they find the walls adorned in bizarre symbols, schoolchildren in classrooms, and women dressed in white garments. Malik overhears that his fiancée, Lena, is pregnant with Adam's child.

In the basement, Adam finds a bloody woman strapped to a chair who begins convulsing, causing him to run away. While the cult leader is being interviewed, a bell chimes, and he suddenly announces the "time of reckoning" over the intercom. The cultists begin a mass suicide via poison and gunshots, while Joni has his throat cut by the cult leader after repeatedly interrupting the announcement. Lena is abducted by several women in surgical apparel, and Malik is shot dead by one of the cult members. As Adam attempts to rescue Lena, an explosion knocks him down, he stands and attempts to advance into the fiery room only to be intercepted by the cult leader, covered in blood with the cult's symbol written on it, who then proceeds to explode into a cloud of blood and organs. Adam finds Lena placed on an altar but is unable to save her as a horned demon (which resembles The Baphomet) tears its way out of her body. As Adam attempts to flee, he is attacked by the previously deceased cultists and schoolchildren, including Joni and Malik, who have all turned into zombie-like ghouls. As he finally manages to get outside and get into the car, he drives off, only to be rammed by the demon and seriously injured. As he crawls out of the car, the demon looks down on Adam before calling him "Papa". The revelation that the demon is, in fact, his child drives Adam hysterically insane and he starts laughing. Shortly thereafter, the camera malfunctions.

Slumber Party Alien Abduction

Directed by Jason Eisener

Young brothers Gary and Randy attach a camera to their Yorkshire Terrier dog, Tank, to create videos at their lakeside house. After their parents leave, Gary and Randy invite over their friends, Shawn and Danny, and the group harasses the older sister, Jen, and her boyfriend, Zack. While the group is swimming at a nearby lake, they fail to notice a grey alien hiding beneath the water.

Later that night, the aliens begin frightening the kids with bright lights and deafening noises. Realizing the aliens are in the house and have cut the power, Zack attempts to scare off the intruders with a shotgun, only to be quickly grabbed by one of the aliens. The aliens attack the rest of the teenagers in the house, dragging them in their sleeping bags, and attempting to drown them in the lake.

Only Gary, Randy, Jen and Tank escape, running into the woods to hide. After Tank inadvertently alerts the aliens to their location by barking, the group run toward what they believe to be police lights and sirens, but it turns out to be a trap set by the aliens who abduct Randy. Jen and Gary flee to a nearby barn, where the aliens drag Jen away as Gary and Tank escape up a ladder. As the aliens close in on Gary, he is suddenly pulled into the air by the alien ship's tractor beam. As Gary is pulled into the air, his grip loosens on Tank's leash, and Tank falls down the ladder to the floor, the impact loosening the camera from his back. Mortally injured by the fall, Tank whimpers as he and the camera both slowly die.

Cast

Tape 49

• Lawrence Michael Levine as Larry
• Kelsy Abbott as Ayesha
• L.C. Holt as Kyle
• Simon Barrett as Steve
• Mindy Robinson as Tabitha

Phase I Clinical Trials

• Adam Wingard as Herman (originally, the part had been written with James Rolfe in mind, but had to decline due to working on The Angry Video Game Nerd Movie).
• Hannah Hughes as Clarissa
• John T. Woods as Dr. Fleischer
• Corrie Lynn Fitzpatrick as Young Girl
• Brian Udovich as Bloody Man
• John Karyus as Uncle
• Casey Adams as Justin

A Ride in the Park

• Jay Saunders as Biker
• Bette Cassatt as Screaming Girl
• Dave Coyne as Good Samaritan Guy
• Wendy Donigian as Good Samaritan Girl
• Devon Brookshire as Biker's Girlfriend

Safe Haven

• Fachry Albar as Adam
• Hannah Al Rashid as Lena
• Oka Antara as Malik
• Andrew Suleiman as Joni
• Epy Kusnandar as Father
• R R Pinurti as Ibu Sri

Slumber Party Alien Abduction

• Rylan Logan as Gary
• Samantha Gracie as Jen
• Cohen King as Randy
• Zach Ford as Shawn
• Josh Ingraham as Danny
• Jeremie Saunders as Zack

Production and release

The film was rushed into production in late 2012, and premiered January 19, 2013 at Park City's Library Center Theatre as part of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, much like its predecessor.

The film was released via VOD on June 6, and theatrically on July 12. Dance punk band The Death Set recorded a song, "6 Different Ways To Die", for the film's credits.

Reception

According to Rotten Tomatoes, 70% of critics have given the film positive reviews, based on 64 reviews. The consensus is: "It's as scattershot as its predecessor, but V/H/S/2 rounds up enough horror filmmaking talent to deliver a satisfyingly nasty – albeit uneven – dose of gore." Metacritic rated it 49/100. Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The scares are as hit-or-miss as the filmmaking". Dennis Harvey of Variety called it "rip-roaring good time for genre fans".

On July 10, 2013, Rex Reed was the subject of controversy due to a scathing review of the film in which he admitted having walked out at the end of the first segment. His review does complain about parts of the film that happened after he left the film, but his references are rather imprecise, e.g. describing segment Slumber Party Alien Abduction as "a sleepover invaded by psycho kidnappers [as opposed to aliens] told from the perspective of a GoPro camera attached to the back of a dog" or summarizing segment A Ride in the Park as the tale of "a mountain biker pursued by flesh-eating zombies [rather than turned into one himself early on]".

Sequel

A third film in the series, titled V/H/S: Viral, was released in the US on November 21, 2014.

See also

• List of films featuring extraterrestrials

External links

• Official website
• V/H/S/2 at IMDb
• V/H/S/2 at AllMovie
• V/H/S/2 at Box Office Mojo
• V/H/S/2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• V/H/S/2 at Metacritic