V/H/S

Horror anthologies really need to come back. I really dig stuff like Creepshow, Tales From the Crypt, and Masters of Horror, and I'd really like to see more new stuff in that vein. Anthology horror can be a great way to let filmmakers "do their thing" so to speakm and can allow for really unique work. This is especially true in terms of modern independent horror; directors working together can definitely be a method of getting their stuff out there. So I was pretty excite for V/H/S, and hoped it could convert me from my hatred of found footage. Did it? Let me tell you. When a group of sleazy, low-level criminals are hired by anonymous benefactor, they expect an easy payday. After all, all they have to do is break into some guy's house and steal a VHS tape. It seems easy enough, but they find that the owner of the house is dead and the basement is filled with tapes. They decide to take as many as they can and get the hell out, but something keeps them there. As creepy as the house is, they don't leave, and one of them decides to start playing random tapes. Each one contains something scary and supernatural, and watching them has an effect that nobody could predict. V/H/S didn't make me like found footage. To me, it's still the easy way out, and it's still an excuse to be cheap. So ven though the style works in a few of the shorts, the majority of them would've been much more effective without the camera having a seizure half the time. The films are, for the most part, very well made and entertaining, but the found footage thing just looks bad. As a result, several shorts that could've been very scary aren't very scary at all. V/H/S also suffers from Indie Syndrome: a trope of independent film that commonly results from a filmmaker who wants to fit in just one more tribute to his idols. One specific short is quite good, until the director pushes too far at the last minute. Nevertheless, most of the shorts are very fun to watch; filled with good jump scares, great gore, and hilarious acting. The films by Ti West and Radio Silence are in particular fantastic. Over the corse of the tapes, most horror cliches are covered, and each director does try to do their own thing. We see cool twists on genres like slashers, scary women, home invasions, and exorcisms; but like The Last Exorcism, it's just not that scary. Partially because of the found footage, partially because of IS, but generally because they're not scary. It's hard to pinpoint or explain exactly why this is, in fact it's nearly impossible, but it's the truth. V/H/S just needed better writing and less found footage. In terms of bringing back the horror anthology, I'm not so sure that V/H/S is a step in the right direction. Sorry, but found footage is not the way to go. If some of the segments were found footage, with other genre experimentation filling out the rest of the film, V/H/S would've been much stronger. And again, many of the parts simply are not scary, which is disappointing. Still, it's a fun ride, and when it's good, it's damn good. If nothing else it makes me want to further explore the works of Ti West and Radio Silence. Overall, V/H/S is entertaining, but has a stench of wasted potential.