 | Genre: Horror |
While the main characters are shown immediately to be scumbags who usually film their sexual assaults on women for comedy and are criminals, and the characters in each short film are either unpleasant or due stupid things (a common sin; characters who waltz into obvious danger or groups that split up), the last short film has no obvious wrong doing. Cue me shouting "No! What? Why?". This really added to my enjoyment, being completely unexpected.
The shorts are made by different directors and all have new scares and new overall feelings to them, but still come together as a terrifying collection. The footage reveals we live in a world with succubi, monsters, aliens, ghosts and zombies, after all. They're all well made, adhere to mythology and don't rely on cheap scares. There is, however, some gore. This includes one moment that will either be hilarious or horrifying depending on your viewpoint; you may want to pause to recover after the emasculation.
The quality of all the stories is visible in the subtle foreshadowing and attention to background detail. The succubus can be seen looking at the camera before anyone actually interacts with her and I am still convinced I saw a small movement in the dead body that became a zombie. What is really masterful is the slow build of human behaviour, as we watch bad things happen to bad people or the bad actions of bad people... while the idea that there are all kinds of terrible monsters out there in the film, the scariest thing in V/H/S is that there are all kinds of horrible people out there for real.
And then we get to the ending. The consequences can be seen coming a mile off but are still shocking in how it happens, with a very quick series of events and sudden finish. What left me screaming, however, was just as I said; the characters had done nothing that I, the viewer, could consider wrong. Compared to other characters, they are practically saints. Their actions were believable in a real world setting; was not being genre savvy their 'sin'? Or is the point that bad things happen to good people? Just like the real life horror that terrible people exist, the ending is the real life horror that being a good and sensible person doesn't protect you.
The shorts are made by different directors and all have new scares and new overall feelings to them, but still come together as a terrifying collection. The footage reveals we live in a world with succubi, monsters, aliens, ghosts and zombies, after all. They're all well made, adhere to mythology and don't rely on cheap scares. There is, however, some gore. This includes one moment that will either be hilarious or horrifying depending on your viewpoint; you may want to pause to recover after the emasculation.
The quality of all the stories is visible in the subtle foreshadowing and attention to background detail. The succubus can be seen looking at the camera before anyone actually interacts with her and I am still convinced I saw a small movement in the dead body that became a zombie. What is really masterful is the slow build of human behaviour, as we watch bad things happen to bad people or the bad actions of bad people... while the idea that there are all kinds of terrible monsters out there in the film, the scariest thing in V/H/S is that there are all kinds of horrible people out there for real.
And then we get to the ending. The consequences can be seen coming a mile off but are still shocking in how it happens, with a very quick series of events and sudden finish. What left me screaming, however, was just as I said; the characters had done nothing that I, the viewer, could consider wrong. Compared to other characters, they are practically saints. Their actions were believable in a real world setting; was not being genre savvy their 'sin'? Or is the point that bad things happen to good people? Just like the real life horror that terrible people exist, the ending is the real life horror that being a good and sensible person doesn't protect you.
