V/H/S/99 (2022)

The V/H/S series has been around for 14 years now.  Despite the fact that a number of now-renowned directors have provided shorts for the series it is almost tempting to say that of the 9 movies in the series there have been 9 good segments.  That's exaggerating a bit, but despite the fact that this has carried on from its humble beginnings none of the films up to and including V/H/S/99 have surpassed V/H/S/2 in quality.  

We begin the film with a kid making a movie with his army men and see various other flashes of things on the same VHS tape.  After a bit we are introduced to a group of teenagers who film their vandalism and trespassing, in this case going to an old music venue in which a band tragically after being trampled to death by their fans when a fire broke out.  As can be expected the band's ghosts can't wait to play an encore.  Next, we have a woman named Lily (Ally Ioannides) pledging for a sorority in which part of the hazing ritual is to be buried alive and survive a night without drawing the attention of a former pledge who died during the ritual. 

Next, we see scenes from a demented children's show in which they go through humiliation and risk serious injury to be granted a wish.  A young girl (Amelia Ann) is injured and, after the show is cancelled, her family takes the host (Steven Ogg) hostage and makes him run a homemade version of the obstacle course at gunpoint.  In the end they learn the secret behind the show.  As the wraparound story resolves we meet a group of kids who become obsessed with seeing a beautiful new neighbor naked and pay the price while, finally, a ritual to summon a demon at midnight January 1, 2000 results in a camera crew accidentally being banished to Hell. 

The first segment, "Shredding", is annoying.  It's screechy, disoriented and, worst of all, predictable.  "Suicide Bid", the second, is a little better, but it's ruined by a lackluster ending.  Same could be said for "Ozzy's Dungeon".  Good concept, good lead-up, but fails on the execution.

That leads us to the last two segments.  "Gawkers" has annoying kids in it again but at least it's for a reason and I appreciate the twist.  It is obvious there is going to be one, but at least they get creative.  The last one is "To Hell and Back", directed by Joseph and Vanessa Winter, who were responsible for a creative low-budget horror film called Deadstream that was released the same year.  It has what most of the other segments lack: creativity, humor and a point.  

This is not the worst of the series - I still think, at this point, that belongs to V/H/S: Viral - but it continues a trend of, for such a concept that had potential in the beginning, just being a general disappointment with one segment demonstrating how much better everything else could have been. 

V/H/S/99 (2022)

Time: 109 minutes

Starring: Jesse LaTourette, Keanush Tafreshi, Dashiell Derrickson, Jackson Kelly, Ally Ioannides, Steven Ogg, Jerry Boyd, Sonya Eddy, Amelia Ann, Emily Sweet, Luke Mullen, Ethan Pogue, Archelaus Crisanto, Joseph Winter, Melanie Stone

Directors: Maggie Levin, Johannes Roberts, Flying Lotus, Tyler MacIntyre, Joseph Winter, Vanessa Winter