V/H/S/94
Directed by Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto and Ryan Prows
★★
Description: - V/H/S/94 - Photo Credit: Shudder
Type: Photos
Photo Credit: Shudder
V/H/S/94 is the latest installment in the V/H/S series and the fourth addition and continues the series’ found-footage short film horror anthology format that has been going since 2012, with light overarching plot that serves as a loose guide for the themes and stories of the shorts included.
I’ve been watching these since the original in 2012 and have always been a fan, but not in love with the series. I do enjoy the found footage horror genre occasionally, but V/H/S has always been on the cheaper and lower quality side. Most of the stories are decent enough that I’m still able to enjoy them and say I feel generally positive about each one. I was hoping now that the series has gained a bit of a following that the shorts would get a bump in budget and an increase in production quality. There’s been a slow increase in that as the series has progressed, but it seems to have stagnated a bit in 94.
I have a few problems with V/H/S/94, but the most apparent is the production quality and the cheap nature. This is not something that would usually frustrate me, but the dedication to CG effects instead of practical really diminishes the work in this. The stories start off with having very nice practical effects and some great monster designs. The found footage style really helps in masking a lot of flaws in this type of effect and they end up looking very nice. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, CG effects become much more prevalent. By the time we get to the end the main story is littered with bad CG and is completely immersion breaking. That’s a serious problem for the found footage genre since the biggest and most effective scares and mood pieces work off immersion.
There’s still some good work in this and some enjoyable stories for horror fans. There are five total stories in this film, one of which is a through line interspersed between each story and serves as the overarching plot which bookends the film. The stories are Holy Hell (which serves as a prologue and narrative structure), Storm Drain, The Empty Wake, The Subject, and Terror. Out of the five, I found Storm Drain and The Empty Wake to be the most enjoyable.
Overall, I would say I’m not a fan of this latest entry into the V/H/S series. The overarching plot is generally weak, and the individual stories don’t stand very well on their own. On a scale of Nope to Dope, V/H/S/94 is a Nope for me. Out of the individual stories, I’d say Storm Drain and The Empty wake are Dope.