V/H/S/85 (2023)
Label: Acorn Media International
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 111 Minutes 31 Seconds
Audio: Uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Directors: David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson
Cast: Jordan Belfi, Kelli Garner, Freddy Rodríguez, Dani Deetté, James Ransone
V/H/S/85 (2023) is the sixth installment of the long-running found-footage series, we get another retro horror anthology that pulls together a small group of talented directors to assemble a scrappy collection of retro-terrors, among them we have David Bruckner (The Ritual), Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone), Gigi Saul Guerrero (El Gigante), Natasha Kermani (Lucky) and Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn).
Director David Bruckner kicks things off with "Total Copy", which is the wrap-around story, this one features a made-for-TV documentary following a group of scientists studying an unusual slime-covered alien-entity they've dubbed Rory who is sequestered in a room watching TV. As far as wraparounds go I think this is one of the strongest in the series, and it gets more intense and interesting we get more of the story, ending with an all-out tentacle-filled finale.
The first story proper is Mike P. Nelson’s "No Wake", wherein seven friends on a weekend camping trip ignore posted signs that indicate they should avoid the water, but five of the group decide to take a boat out on the lake anyway for some water skiing, while two remain on shore. It’s not long before their raucous water skiing adventure turns into a nightmare as shots ring out and they are picked-off one by one by an unseen shooter from the shore. Strangely, despite mortal gunshot wounds the five friends reanimate a short time later, discovering that the water has restorative powers, but unfortunately their two slain friends back at the campsite do not benefit from the unexplained restorative anomaly. This one is sort of left open-ended but I dig the premise, and it sort of concludes in a later segment.
"God of Death" is directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero (Satanic Hispanics), in it a Mexican news report is interrupted by a catastrophic earthquake that brings the TV studio down upon their heads. The lone survivor is cameraman Luis, he is found by a rescue team and they attempt to traverse the rubble to find an exit but find themselves scuttled by devastating aftershocks which curtail their exit. As they set about exploring the rubble looking for an alternate escape route they end up in a subterranean tunnel that leads to an ancient skull filled catacomb where they find a statue of Aztec God of the Dead, Mictlān, whose spirit possesses the survivors and unleashes gory, heart-ripping horrors upon them.
In Natasha Kermani’s TKNOGD, an edgy performance artist makes the case that the modern world has replaced God with the "God of Technology", and has put together a performance art piece meant to conjure this deity using a virtual reality headset with a screen behind that allows the assembled crowd to see what she is seeing in the VR headset. As the performance gets underway she does some sort of incantation and mocks the deity, and she is quite surprised when the digital-demon appears in the VR, and begins to panic when she discovers she is now unable to remove the helmet. The digital-demon begins ripping at her in the VR world, and her bodies shows those horrific wounds in the real world, much to the shock and awe of the crowd. I thought this was an interesting if undercooked entry, the gore is pretty cool.
Mike P. Nelson directs "Ambrosia", wherein a wholesome looking family are hosting a party for their teenage daughter Ruth. It seems like a birthday party of a graduation party, but it's a bit more sinister than that. With family gathered around the family are celebrating their family coming-of-age ritual, Ruth has killed seven people, just like all those who came before her. As they settle into watch her deathly exploits on VHS the police arrive and storm the house, the entire family arms themselves and prepare to go out all-guns-blazing, resulting in a total bloodbath. This one actually connects back to the "No Wake" segment in ways that I won't spoil, but I thought this was terrifically demented and well-done.
The final segment proper is Scott Derrickson’s "Dreamkill" starring Freddy Rodríguez (Planet Terror) investigating a series of a series of brutal murders. Interestingly as they investigate the murder scenes the detective realizes that he's seen these crime before, played out in a series of anonymous video tape that were sent them in the mail week previously, but the question remains how can a videotape of murders made weeks ago depict a crime that has just occurred? This one strays away from the VHS tape aesthetic a bit, the dream sequences are made with what appears to be high contrast and quite grainy super 8mm, the violence depicted is brutal and gory with no shortage of eye-trauma. The story idea is pretty interesting, I could see this being fleshed out into a feature-length Manhunter-ish supernatural crime-thriller.
V/H/S/85 (2023) is the sixth installment of the long-running found-footage series, we get another retro horror anthology that pulls together a small group of talented directors to assemble a scrappy collection of retro-terrors, among them we have David Bruckner (The Ritual), Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone), Gigi Saul Guerrero (El Gigante), Natasha Kermani (Lucky) and Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn).
Director David Bruckner kicks things off with "Total Copy", which is the wrap-around story, this one features a made-for-TV documentary following a group of scientists studying an unusual slime-covered alien-entity they've dubbed Rory who is sequestered in a room watching TV. As far as wraparounds go I think this is one of the strongest in the series, and it gets more intense and interesting we get more of the story, ending with an all-out tentacle-filled finale.
The first story proper is Mike P. Nelson’s "No Wake", wherein seven friends on a weekend camping trip ignore posted signs that indicate they should avoid the water, but five of the group decide to take a boat out on the lake anyway for some water skiing, while two remain on shore. It’s not long before their raucous water skiing adventure turns into a nightmare as shots ring out and they are picked-off one by one by an unseen shooter from the shore. Strangely, despite mortal gunshot wounds the five friends reanimate a short time later, discovering that the water has restorative powers, but unfortunately their two slain friends back at the campsite do not benefit from the unexplained restorative anomaly. This one is sort of left open-ended but I dig the premise, and it sort of concludes in a later segment.
"God of Death" is directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero (Satanic Hispanics), in it a Mexican news report is interrupted by a catastrophic earthquake that brings the TV studio down upon their heads. The lone survivor is cameraman Luis, he is found by a rescue team and they attempt to traverse the rubble to find an exit but find themselves scuttled by devastating aftershocks which curtail their exit. As they set about exploring the rubble looking for an alternate escape route they end up in a subterranean tunnel that leads to an ancient skull filled catacomb where they find a statue of Aztec God of the Dead, Mictlān, whose spirit possesses the survivors and unleashes gory, heart-ripping horrors upon them.
In Natasha Kermani’s TKNOGD, an edgy performance artist makes the case that the modern world has replaced God with the "God of Technology", and has put together a performance art piece meant to conjure this deity using a virtual reality headset with a screen behind that allows the assembled crowd to see what she is seeing in the VR headset. As the performance gets underway she does some sort of incantation and mocks the deity, and she is quite surprised when the digital-demon appears in the VR, and begins to panic when she discovers she is now unable to remove the helmet. The digital-demon begins ripping at her in the VR world, and her bodies shows those horrific wounds in the real world, much to the shock and awe of the crowd. I thought this was an interesting if undercooked entry, the gore is pretty cool.
Mike P. Nelson directs "Ambrosia", wherein a wholesome looking family are hosting a party for their teenage daughter Ruth. It seems like a birthday party of a graduation party, but it's a bit more sinister than that. With family gathered around the family are celebrating their family coming-of-age ritual, Ruth has killed seven people, just like all those who came before her. As they settle into watch her deathly exploits on VHS the police arrive and storm the house, the entire family arms themselves and prepare to go out all-guns-blazing, resulting in a total bloodbath. This one actually connects back to the "No Wake" segment in ways that I won't spoil, but I thought this was terrifically demented and well-done.
The final segment proper is Scott Derrickson’s "Dreamkill" starring Freddy Rodríguez (Planet Terror) investigating a series of a series of brutal murders. Interestingly as they investigate the murder scenes the detective realizes that he's seen these crime before, played out in a series of anonymous video tape that were sent them in the mail week previously, but the question remains how can a videotape of murders made weeks ago depict a crime that has just occurred? This one strays away from the VHS tape aesthetic a bit, the dream sequences are made with what appears to be high contrast and quite grainy super 8mm, the violence depicted is brutal and gory with no shortage of eye-trauma. The story idea is pretty interesting, I could see this being fleshed out into a feature-length Manhunter-ish supernatural crime-thriller.
The films ends with the culmination of the "Total-Copy" wraparound segment, which as I said before, I think it's one of the best and more entertaining of the wraparound stories, with a fun punchline involving those notorious early morning 80's aerobics TV shows that brought a smile to my face right there at the end.
I think this was quite a step-up from the previous V/H/S/99 entry, the segments are better realized on the whole, the ideas are more interesting, and in some cases I think I would have gone for a full-length expansion of those ideas, which I would not say about a lot of the V/H/S entries. It certainly delivers in terms of dark subject matter and gore. A solid found-footage horror anthology, not perfect by any means but perfectly entertaining low-budget bite-sized terror tales for sure.
Special Features:
- Uncut Super 8 Dreamkill Footage(15:46)
- Uninterrupted Cut-Total Cut Copy (16:48)
- Uninterrupted Cut-No Wake/Ambrosia (20:18)
- Film Commentary
Screenshots from the Acorn Media International Blu-ray:
