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It's a super neat concept. One of the few I'd love to see a longer version of granted it kept the SoV quality aesthetic.
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Oct 26, 2022 21:06
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Das Boo posted:...Why did you need magic in this story. That's, like, 90% of VHS stories at this point and it's why I find the series so lackluster. A big supernatural reveal can be fun like in the Southeast Asian cult story, but then you have a bunch of stories that start out okay and become embarrassing. That was the case for basically every story in 99. I get that VHS is just about being as excessive as possible, but there are so many stories that would have been so much better if they had any kind of subtlety. The Alien abduction short was a perfect example of this. Abductions are scary as poo poo because aliens are unknowable entities who just kind of lurk in the dark, so when the aliens start jumping around and doing jazz hands like they're the puddies from Power Rangers it stops being scary or interesting. It was kind of funny when they had those embarrassing wraparounds involving the tapes themselves having supernatural powers. Like, "bro, if you watch this dork in a top hat dance around on a wall with a magic wand you WILL turn into a zombie!"
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Oct 26, 2022 22:08
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I think so much of VHS is “why is this tape worth preserving,”and “why is it psychically dangerous.” The psychic danger was much broader in the first movie. Some of it was about how normal people turn to murder. But the latter movies all focused much more on the idea of committing psychic damage through “real” film that was supernatural. This idea that you see enough real footage of the uncanny and you’ll break. Whereas the first movie was more “here is the already broken footage of the evil and the supernatural happens to them.” Kind of a chicken and egg thing. 99 is by far the most bizarre and outre of the movies. Some are more grounded. Some are wild concepts. And one in particular is an absolutely bizarre and kind of gross execution. Also it seems obvious that this movie originally planned it’s frame story to be the last film then switched it with the next to last in the final edit with a very quick 1 second cut back to the last movie. It totally gives up on the idea of these films affecting anyone negatively. It’s just an anthology of unrelated movies. I think it loses something for that. We need that constant reminder that these films are an insidious virus infecting minds. 99 is fun but it misses that vhs magic.
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Oct 27, 2022 06:01
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Huge fan of the series. I'd rank then 2-1-94-99-Viral after watching 99 last night. I didn't like Bonestorm or Dante the Great, but I liked Parallel Monsters. I was a little cool going into 94 but 94 was high quality across the board. Storm Drain + Empty Wake were fantastic, Terror had a great concept and The Subject was fun. 99 was a little more uneven. A lot of them suffered from pacing problems and/or also should have ended sooner. I think the sorority one could have ended before the supernatural stuff started and have been perfectly scary and disturbing. But then the zombie attacked, and THEN the awful exposition dump reaaallly took me out of the whole thing. But the final one I think had the best concept. But overall I love found footage and I still enjoyed the movie on net. VHS 85 is coming next year, so hopefully there'll be some new and interesting ideas there.
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Oct 29, 2022 17:23
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I like this series but understand why some folk find it subpar. I have low standard for my horrors so that helps. Still yet to see the 90s ones so looking forward to them! I'm actually just grateful these films continue to be made because I love love found footage and the concept of these films. I love that they keep having swings at the premise and maybe one day they'll make a masterpiece of a VHS film. Until then, keep swinging film makers, I'll eat them up! I do remember some bad attitudes towards women in the first one, I can't remember the specifics but that was a shame. I do love the one with the aliens/puppy and the SEA cult, I think that was the first one.
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Oct 31, 2022 12:50
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I had no idea zombie was tapped to direct a segment for viral, but I’m not surprised he bailed.
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Nov 2, 2022 03:39
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Just finished 94, it was alright. I expected actual scary but got more fun splatter horror which is cool too. The credits were dope. Definitely gave the vibe of watching a VHS at your friend's house after his folk's are asleep.
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Nov 7, 2022 11:23
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99 was pretty good. I think dropping the framing device was a good move. It was pointless in 94 and unless you just repeat the same story beats from the first movie, it's just kind of dumb. But my thoughts on each segment are: Shredding - Very basic plot but holy crap some of those effects at the end. Worth watching just for that. Suicide Bid - Really liked this one. A simple concept but executed really well, felt like a Tales from the Crypt story. Ozzy's Dungeon - Loved how weird it was at the beginning at the end. Hated the middle part where it just turned into a cut-rate Saw for a bit. The Gawkers -Really liked this one even though I guessed the ending twist very early. To Hell and Back - Loved it. Weird, over the top, and creative. I still put VHS and VHS 2 at the top of the pile for me, but this might be my 3rd favorite at this point.
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Nov 7, 2022 14:29
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Vhs94 using cky footage of Ryan Dunn made me miss Ryan's antics
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Nov 7, 2022 16:50
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Just wanted to say that 1, 2 and Viral are on Hulu right now, at least in the US.
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Jun 28, 2023 16:22
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So there’s a new one. Unfortunately I think the weakest entry since Viral, but still had some ideas worth appreciating and I will keep watching these for as long as they make them.
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Oct 13, 2023 18:47
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Yeah, gotta say 85 felt fairly weak. Several stories kinda ran into the problem of having a neat hook but not really knowing what to do with it. They're all build-up and reveal, but then don't really do much of anything with that reveal. That said, I did like a couple of them, the birthday one actually felt surprisingly creepy despite its pretty silly setup.
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Oct 13, 2023 22:21
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Like all good horror franchises, the next V/H/S movie is going to space!quote:On the heels of V/H/S/85‘s record-breaking premiere on Shudder last week, the streamer announced at the ongoing New York Comic Con that the franchise will continue with a seventh installment, which will focus on sci-fi horror. Edit: Scott Derrickson confirms his V/H/S 85 segment is set in the same universe as The Black Phone. Haven't seen 85 yet, need to subscribe to Shudder again at some point. SilentChaz fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Oct 13, 2023 |
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Oct 13, 2023 23:11
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I was wondering where the main overarching story was going and how it related to Rory. And it just never happened. Enjoyed it but yeah, definitely a weaker entry unfortunately.
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Oct 14, 2023 20:19
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Agreed that 85 was kind of weak. I'd put it just above Viral, which is last for me. The segments all seemed to end right when they got good. Also, normally this doesn't bother me in found footage films, but the camera work in this seemed worse than normal, perhaps trying to capture that 80's aesthetic with a longer focal length. But the constant zoomed-in shaking actually started to annoy me.
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Oct 14, 2023 20:33
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I called it on 85 with the Mexican one. That was really lame In a way I haven’t seen from this series. I fast forward through the lady on stage and just gave up. I’ll check out Derrickson’s some time though. But woof
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Oct 14, 2023 22:38
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CelticPredator posted:I called it on 85 with the Mexican one. That was really lame In a way I haven’t seen from this series. I fast forward through the lady on stage and just gave up. Yeah, the Mexican one was perhaps the worst. The setup is not too bad, "big natural disaster reawakens an ancient god of death" certainly has some potential, but it just doesn't do anything with it. The death god looked lame as hell and it just ended on the reveal. Contrast that with the Indonesian cult one, which was so effective in part because it spent some time showing the consequences and hinting at the ramifications of the reveal. Also it was pretty  how the woman who'd spent the whole time covered in blood and dust somehow managed to grab a shower in the abandoned cave just in time for her nude scene.
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Oct 15, 2023 13:10
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Yeah 85 was pretty bad. I almost gave up during the virtual reality one when she was wailing into the microphone or whatever for like 5 minutes but then I actually thought the ending was pretty good. The Scott Derekson one held my interest at least but the rest were pretty boring.
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Oct 16, 2023 01:11
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The Mexican quake one was bad, but I enjoyed all of the rest after 99 being so disappointing. Loved how the first, the Raft-like segment stealthily continues into the birthday one, and overall the effects work was great. The one thing I thought was a little weak about Rory's story was that it's just tentacles from off screen, and I do prefer it when it's suggested the tapes are watched as part of the wraparpund story, but still, I think this was maybe the most coherent movie of the series.
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Oct 16, 2023 06:21
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I think this was the most solid entry overall since the first two, even though none of the segments hit the highs of the best of the series. I loved the framing device, especially since the wraparound segments are usually either completely pointless or outright terrible. God of Death was the worst one but I actually enjoyed it a lot before the reveal. I just thought they'd do something more with the news reporters, you set up this weird kind of rivalry or something between the two and then absolutely nothing came of it. Maybe it was to make the earthquake death more shocking but it's like a 15 minute short film, you don't really have room to pad stuff like that. Dreamkill was the most visually interesting one but it felt too much like "The Black Phone Side Story" to me, I wanted something a lot different. Still enjoyed it but I pretty much figured out the whole plot the second the kid started talking about having nightmares.
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Oct 16, 2023 16:06
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I liked these maybe more than other people did (I think 94 is the worst in the series). I wish there were a little more thematic coherence though, only because 85 kind of attempts it but gets somewhat half-hearted with it. I thought the Virtual Reality segment was going to tie into the Rory story somehow in that Rory would be the digital God she summoned but ultimately the wraparound was a lot of build up to something out of STRANGER THINGS - though admittedly it does end on a great joke. To that end, why go with the 80s at all when it clearly doesn't matter? I thought Dreamkill was garbage. The kill scenes are effective - the first is at least - but feel like a slight retread of watching the tapes in SINISTER.
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Oct 29, 2023 21:30
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I dug 85 for the most part. I definitely wanted more out of the short that's broken up into two across the tape. I'd love if future vhs flicks aimed for the vhs aesthetic. Doubt it since the next one is in sppppaaaacccccceeeeeeeeeeee but hell I dig alien poo poo so lfg
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Oct 30, 2023 22:55
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I couldn’t rank these movies without referencing the wikipedia summaries for them because they all blend together
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Oct 31, 2023 14:03
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VHS ‘85 owns, but I think it’s important to draw a distinction between the various films. This isn’t a singular, consistent series. VHS 1’s and VHS 2’s frame stories establish the ghoulish tape-obsessed characters as the diegetic editors/directors of the film you’re watching, and VHS Viral doesn’t have this. The information broadcast by the evil truck (and displayed on peoples’ phones and such) is seemingly random, and the overall purpose is no longer the creation of a movie. With 1&2, there’s a clear aesthetic similarity between the two films, but the younger initiate ghoul has his distinct voice. The individual “found” tapes have been more heavily edited into narratives, and so-on. As an intended prequel, VHS ‘94 is closer to those first two, but the frame story just… isn’t great. We’re back to there being diegetic directors, but their movie doesn’t have an interesting narrative and drops way too much exposition. After that, there’s a sort of limbo where they didn’t even bother with any pretense. VHS ‘99 is just a compilation of short films that happen to be loosely themed around teen friendships and peer pressure, which is ‘aight but a little ho-hum. What makes VHS ‘85 effective is that it stealth-reboots the concept as ‘video mixtape from an alternate universe’. Like, TKNOGD starts with the punchline that there’s a title card, meaning this awkward-yet-compelling performance art piece was actually published and distributed by the artist. Then our anonymous mixtape-maker copied it onto video alongside monster truck footage, pizza marketing materials, and other ‘cool/weird poo poo’ that they’d collected over the year. And I think that’s a great format. SuperMechagodzilla fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Nov 1, 2023 |
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Oct 31, 2023 19:52
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:What makes VHS ‘85 effective is that it stealth-reboots the concept as ‘video mixtape from an alternate universe’. Like, TKNOGD starts with the punchline that there’s a title card, meaning this awkward-yet-compelling performance art piece was actually published and distributed by the artist. Then our anonymous mixtape-maker copied it onto video alongside monster truck footage, pizza marketing materials, and other ‘cool/weird poo poo’ that they’d collected over the year. And I think that’s a great format. Agreed
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Oct 31, 2023 20:13
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Presumably V/H/S 94 is gonna be their take on Cooking With Huck Botko.
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Nov 2, 2023 15:34
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In retrospect, based on the artistic success of VHS ‘85, the ‘frame story’ of ‘99 should have been an episode of Ozzy’s Dungeon that had been taped over with all the other segments. That particular story really would have worked much better broken up into chunks, while The Gawkers is definitely not meaty enough to be essentially stretched out to feature-length.
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Nov 2, 2023 18:32
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That's a really fun idea
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Nov 2, 2023 22:54
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:In retrospect, based on the artistic success of VHS ‘85, the ‘frame story’ of ‘99 should have been an episode of Ozzy’s Dungeon that had been taped over with all the other segments. Goddamn it, you're right
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Nov 8, 2023 04:54
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