VHS VIRAL 2DI should have been sent this on a dubious looking unmarked VHS cassette for review but sadly received a simple link to digitally stream the movie. Essentially though that is entirely what this series of films has been all about, mixing the old technology with the new. V/H/S (2012) took the age old premise of an anthology horror film directed and written by various luminaries such as Ti West and Adam Wingard, with the old wrap around part to gel it all together. The central premise was to involve the current trend of found footage material filmed via a variety of medium but the twist here was that it was all stored on outmoded VHS tape. I found the 2012 feature fairly watchable and after a case of (ahem) try before you buy went and snapped it up on DVD and then finally upgraded to Blu-Ray which was probably taking things too far considering the source material of much of it. I did find the film creepy and to a certain extent quite chilling as it took as a central premise a group of degenerates looking for a VHS tape in a spooky house complete with dead body but being confronted by a huge amount of cassettes and inadvertently watching a few of the strange tales on them. I didn’t find the stories all to be that good, a vampire bat girl tale bit fairly well but a road trip through America was way too drawn out and inevitably did not deliver. The jewel in the crown though was 10/31/98 made by a collective called Radio Silence and dealing with a Satanic cult on Halloween. This did more than just send a chill down the spine it was genuinely quite terrifying and set things up nicely for the sequel.

V/H/S 2 (2013) quickly followed on and something that is hardly ever said but in my opinion the sequel was far superior to the original. The wraparound segment again set the scene but was nothing special or more than an excuse to draw us into the material on video again. The first episode cleverly utilises an implanted robotic eye to record what is going on, the side effect being that it allows the recipient to see dead people. A really amusing zombie outbreak recorded by a quickly reanimated cyclist’s helmet camera is enthusiastically dished up with panache and plenty of gut munching. The stand out episode here was Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans ‘Safe Haven’ documenting an end of the world cult in Indonesia with devastating events. The gore and extremity of this part is quite unexpected and is damn impressive. I even enjoyed the alien home invasion section here too although can see that with much of the scare effects being achieved via loud sounds and dizzying camera angles many would consider it a bit more of a cheat than an effective shocker but there are some genuinely shit the bed moments in the second part. This takes us on to the brand new 3rd part V/H/S/ Viral and I had high expectations before sitting down to watch it.

Apparently the last in the series it almost seems like they gave up with the wraparound part here and it does not continue on from the set up in the last two films acting more as a story in its own right. It also means that the overall film is cut down to just three other main segments. It would have been good to get a conclusion to the origin of the mystery cassettes but perhaps the makers just couldn’t think of a way to explain it all. The action goes from a creepy old house to the streets of L.A. in ‘Vicious Circles’ which sees a thrill seeking home camera enthusiast following a high speed chase on a push bike (yeah seriously) and hoping to get his 15 minutes of fame creating a viral video of events. Unfortunately as he is drawn into it things have a much more personal effect on him than he anticipated. There’s some good fast action scenes here and the sections are broken up fairly well around the other three segments, the fade out tracking causing disruption of the viewing old school VHS style is over used though and a bit headache inducing. Some clever underlying social commentary about idiots over reliant on technology is cleverly utilised amidst the action and the piece is good proof that ice cream vans will always be creepy. Director Marcel Sarmiento made one of the stand out segments in other franchise episodic hit The ABC’s Of Death with D is for Dogfight but here he really fails to hit the mark and kind of illustrates that with the third film the makers may well have run out of ideas. A sudden trip out into a Latino gangs back yard amidst all the action is however a flash of brilliance worth watching out for.

Thankfully the three main stories are a lot better. ‘Dance Of The Dead’ director Gregg Bishop conjures up a tale of malevolent magician ‘Dante The Great’ he is the wizard of gore, the lord of illusions and right Harry Rotter and armed with his magical cloak has been a very naughty trickster dispatching various assistants and filming his exploits. However he may well have bitten off more than he can chew when his new sidekick Scarlet arrives hungry for fame herself. It’s a good enough piece although I felt it somewhat at odds with everything else the franchise had given us beforehand. Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo who cut his teeth with the excellent Timecrimes serves up a much more engrossing piece with Parallel Monsters. This starts like an old Ray Bradbury short story with an inventor unleashing the power of a strange portal which puts him in touch with his double from a parallel universe with some startling revelations that although the same in many ways their universes are actually worlds apart. The portal looked like it was lifted directly out of The Fly and I thought we were going to be into a sci-fi actioner but no there is plenty of horror in this part and lots of twists and turns. It had me laughing and on the edge of my seat and is the stand out segment of the film. Maybe not quite as clever by any means but highly enjoyable is last part ‘Bonestorm’ directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead. This dispatches with any particular intelligence but dishes out old school splatter in spades as the action takes some skateboarders into Mexico where they inadvertently unleash a devilish cult of Satanic nasties who literally need to be killed and killed again. It’s daft, enthusiastic and great fun and had me revelling in the gore and lolling at the daftness of it all. Effects are not too bad at all and with some nods to old school horror zombie films and even The Blind Dead this was a commendable high point for the series to go out on, one that convinced me that after a shaky start I will be adding this to my collection.

Apparently there is an extra section called ‘Gorgeous Vortex’ which was not included on my preview but is set to play after the main credits. From what I can gather it was filmed more recently due to dissatisfaction with the wraparound section of the film (obviously I am not alone thinking it was pretty naff) and I am looking forward to catching it as those that have seen it have said it is one of the best parts of the entire franchise.

I guess the mystery of the VHS cassette will always engross those who did not grow up with it and will be a memory that is looked back on fondly by those of us who did. This series has kind of helped revive the format’s mystique and like audio cassettes who knows we may see limited editions of the big lumps of plastic back on the high street again in the future; the hipsters will no doubt love it and companies like Troma are all in favour too. Funnily enough I stumbled across a low budget (£500) Brit horror film called The House On Cuckoo Lane which I watched as a double bill with V/H/S/ Viral and it worked perfectly with it thematically being all about a strange tape that is being sought after by collectors and dealers in the trading underground. Set yourself a challenge when you pick Viral off the shelves at your local entertainment centre or watch on VOD and try and track down David Hinds commendable feature too, you probably won’t be sleeping with the lights off!

(Pete Woods)