The V/H/S film anthologies seemed like a great idea over a decade ago when the first two movies were released. Directors like Adam Wingard and the group known as Radio Silence were able to get their feet wet and make a name for themselves as Wingard has made Godzilla vs. Kong and Radio Silence did the fifth and sixth Scream movies reviving the franchise,.
So, it’s no telling where some of the filmmakers in V/H/S/85 will be at the end of this decade. Filmmakers David Bruckner and Scott Derrickson, who both add segments to this uneven movie, have already helmed some well received horror/thrillers. Brucker returns to direct the frame story “Total Copy” which involves scientist study a shape-shifting entity they call “Rory.” It’s presented as a Unsolved Mysteries/In Search Of style show which Kelli Garner as Dr. Sarah Greyson, the only surviving member, being interviewed with a matter-of-fact dark humor of how things went bad.
Changing up the format, there are two segments “No Wake” and “Ambrosia” that are connected and both directed by Mike P. Nelson. “No Wake” focuses on some 20-somethings who go for an afternoon at the lake only to find things turn deadly with a strange twist The characters are mostly one-dimensional but all the segment relies on the twist. And “Ambrosia” is about a WASPish style family have a big celebration but we see it’s about teenage Ruth (Evie Bair) participating in a brutal and violent family rite of passage.
“No Wake” works best at setting up a tone that we don’t know who to trust or what’s going to happen next, even though in a missing dead squirrel to add more tension. It’s one of the most gruesome segments and there’s a mention of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary where one character realizes that dead might be better. “Ambrosia” is one of the shortest but it does have a tour-de-force energy to it that you wish it was longer.
“God of Death” written and directed by Gigi Saul Guerro is the one that you can probably skip because it ends up just where you think it would and it’s a big disappointment. It begins in a Mexico City news station during the early morning show on Sept. 19, 1985, which was when a massive earthquake in real life happened. It registered at one point at 8.0 on the Richter scale and led to the deaths of about 5,000 in the Mexico City area. It’s a great set-up but Guerrero pretty much reduces the plot of a rescue crew navigating through the rumble into something we’ve seen before.
And that’s the problem. You get the feeling of where everything is going before it even begins. “Total Copy” ends just the way you’d think it would. And the final segment, “Dreamkill” directed by Derrickson who co-wrote it with C. Robert Cargill, is so sloppy as Freddy Rodriguez plays a Texas police detective investigating a serial killer. This segment involves the police getting videos of the murders they’re investigating.
It’s all over the place with CCTV, video from the forensic videographer Bobby (James Ransome). This might have worked but there is some confusion over the segment. “Dreamkill” is supposed to be connected to Derrickson’s previous movie The Black Phone.
There is a small segment “TKNOGD” in which a performance artist, Ada Lovelace (Chivonne Michelle), does the wrong thing when she puts on a virtual reality body suit and helmet to summon the “God of Technology.” The small segment directed by Natasha Kermani has a dark humor to it as the audience remains unaware if what is happening is part of the show or something to be concerned. If you can get past the cringy part where a person talks about “eye-phones,” it’s not a bad segment.
But the entire movie is not that good. Actually, it hasn’t been that good in years if ever. That’s probably why the series has been resurrected after the dismal V/H/S: Viral to the Shudder streaming service. The novelty of the gimmick has worn off even though I heard another one has dropped. Also, anthologies are hit or miss. That why your teachers never assigned you to read all the stories in the reading textbook. Even though know some of the stories were just added to fulfill a weight requirement or contractual obligation.
Also, most of the segments seem to follow basic tropes of other horrors and thrillers that it’s like hearing someone trying to tell a joke that you already know the punchline to. And it’s not a good joke no matter who tells it.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 