V/H/S Starring Calvin Reeder, Lane Hughes and Adam Wingard
Written and directed by Glenn McQuaid, Ti West, Adam Wingard, et. al. Bloody Disgusting/The Collective
This five-tale anthology of
faux-snuff found footage from some of horror’s biggest up-and- comers not surprisingly has its moments – it’s just too bad they’re hindered by a gimmicky approach and some questionable attitudes towards the subject matter. Adam Wingard (Pop Skull, A Horrible Way to Die) appropri- ately sets the lo-fi tone in his wraparound set-up: a collection of thoroughly un- likable video pranksters break into a house and dis- cover a stack of unmarked VHS tapes, each holding the supposed final moments of their respective am- ateur videographers. On the first tape, bar-hopping frat boys take
some girls back to their hotel, but their planned gang bang turns into a tale of succubus survival. Supposedly shot from special glasses rigged with a miniature camera, director David Bruckner (The Signal) goes for broke here, pulling out every pos-
sible camera trick to bring some life to an entry that recalls Tales from the Darkside. But like most horror anthologies, V/H/S falters in
the middle. “Second Honeymoon,” from Ti West (House of the Devil, The Innkeepers), has a vaca- tioning couple surreptitiously filmed asleep in their hotel by an unseen figure, until a regret- table final twist. And then Glenn Mc- Quaid (I Sell the Dead) delivers the limp slasher “Tuesday the 17th,” which has only one trick up its sleeve: to obscure its woodland killer with glitchy VHS ar- tifacts. Joe Swanberg (Silver Bullets) wisely
ditches the rolling lines of static in his segment, “The Strange Thing That Hap- pened to Emily When She Was Younger,” for an internet video chat that turns into a creepy ghost story. Why
anyone would record a chat from their computer and then put it on a VHS tape is baffling, but the novelty and left-field twists, especially compared to the previous entries, make it stand out alongside “10/31/98,” by collective Radio Silence, which in- dulges in some old-fashioned Halloween haunted house fun. Using the characters’ POV, the filmmak- ers turn this segment into a chaotic first-person spookshow walkthrough, complete with flying china, ghostly reflections and effectively creepy CGI surprises.
Beyond the VHS tape aesthetic, several of the
stories also share a streak of misogyny – whether the intention is to critique the voyeuristic quality of other found-footage films or simply deliver some extra thrills, the emphasis on women being inva- sively videotaped without consent, or sometimes even knowledge, leaves a decidedly sour taste. But in the end, it’s a lack of invention and variety with its titular technology that hurts V/H/S, accidentally revealing the strict limitations of the found-footage format.
PAUL CORUPE SUFFER THE CHILDREN
THE TALL MAN Starring Jessica Biel, Stephen McHattie
and William B. Davis Written and directed by Pascal Laugier Image
Count me among those who were blown away
by Pascal Laugier’s last feature, Martyrs (RM#87). Some wrote it off as thinking man’s torture porn, but even its detractors will likely be curious about The Tall Man. After all, Martyrs may have been di- visive but its potent execution made it tough to dis- miss. In the French writer/director’s English-language
debut, a raven-haired Jessica Biel plays Julia, a widowed nurse whose husband was the beloved