V/H/S/94 (2021)


V/H/S was an interesting concept, although the PC police had some major issues with it.  So did a lot of horror fans and, when I checked it out for a second time, I understood the reason for the latter.  There were some good segments but a lot of it was annoying, and a good amount just didn't hold up even a few years later.  V/H/S/2 managed to redeem the series by cutting the number of segments down and focusing on quality, but V/H/S: Viral fell rather flat.  Bloody Disgusting, who was behind the series, wisely ended it at that point.  Still, the series had been popular, so seven years later the streaming service Shudder decided to bring it back. 

A SWAT team enters a warehouse full of bodies and television screens, finding that the majority of deaths were self-inflicted, often with the victims pulling their eyes out.  As they separate and explore the carnage they begin to see certain programs playing on the screens.  The first is a news report about a "Rat Man" being seen around Westerville, Ohio.  In an effort to do more research reporter Holly Marciano (Anna Hopkins) and her cameraman Jeff (Christian Potenza) enter a "Storm Drain" and find it inhabited by homeless people who worship the creature.

The second segment finds a woman named Hayley (Kyal Legend) left alone to handle "The Wake" of a suicide victim.  While pretty much no one comes due to a stormy night, Hayley has to deal with a corpse that won't stay put.  In "The Subject" a mad scientist (Budi Ross) is kidnaping people off the street and trying to meld them with machines.  He replaces a woman's (Sekar Dewantaari) head with a video camera, and is disappointed to find out her memories are still intact.  When a special forces team comes to the rescue they intend to kill her as well, but she and a male subject (Daniel Ekaputra) have other ideas.  Finally, a militia group comes up with an ingenious way to sneak an explosive into the Federal Building in Detroit, but run into some issues with the "Terror" they are using to create it. 

The weak point in this segment is the wraparound.  It's badly filmed, looks cheap and is terribly acted.  It has no point, and the movie could have done away with it all together and just shown the short films.  They all take place in 1994, so the theme is there, and doesn't need any additional baggage.  This portion of the movie is bad enough to bring the enjoyment of the movie down every time we are forced to return to the warehouse for some more wandering around and shouting as we're shown things that are supposed to be scary but just look pathetic. 

The actual shorts are a different matter.  "Storm Drain" has a great sense of humor to it, especially the closing scenes.  "The Wake" has some good atmosphere, but is merely okay, while "Terror" has a good idea that it doesn't execute as well as it could.  Unlike the wraparound the acting is not a problem despite everyone pretty much being unknown, from the directors to the actors.  

Timo Tjahjanto is going to be the one name most people recognize as he contributed the best story to V/H/S/2, involving an Indonesian cult that is working to keep a monster under control.  He brings more of that here, starting off by simply showing one of the failed experiments and slowly ramping things up until it is pure mayhem.  The makeup and effects are quite impressive, particularly on the mail cyborg, who is armed with two large swords and practically unstoppable.  

As usual this is a mixed bag, but at least Shudder's attempt to restart the anthology series resulted in something much more consistent than where it had left off.  V/H/S/94 was successful enough to keep things going.  What remains to be seen is if they are all worth watching. 

V/H/S/94 (2021)
Time: 103 minutes
Starring: Anna Hopkins, Kyal Legend, Budi Ross, Sekar Dewantaari, Donny Alamsyah, Christian Lloyd
Directors: Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Steven Kostanski, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto, Ryan Prows

 

 

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