V/H/S 99
2022 / Flying Lotus, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Johannes Roberts, Joseph Winter, Vanessa Winter / Shudder / Not-rated
Quick Thoughts
"If they discover we're doing a hazing prank we'll all get expelled."
These toy soldier segments are lame.
Undead stories back to back.
Poop chute escape route. Why has no one been able to complete this?
Most of this film is about kids being dicks.
RE2
Dudes are creepy.
V/H/S has been a franchise since 2012, creating outlandish anthology films that allow lesser-known directors to have a platform. Each film encompasses about five horror stories and an over-arching plot tying the films together in the V/H/S-verse. The story of V/H/S begins with a website called Bloody Disgusting, a horror genre site, that discusses all forms of media. After building connections with creatives and directors Brad Miska reached out and organized a project that would result in an anthology film, aka 2012s V/H/S. What an inspiration for someone like myself.
I wish I enjoyed this film more than I had. I had seen watched the original V/H/S, and V/H/S/94, and until now I hadn’t known there were two other films. V/H/S has some very memorable shorts, like “Amateur Night” and “Tuesday the 17th”. V/H/S/94 also depicts the stories “Storm Drain” and “The Subject”.
V/H/S/99 is lacking a story that I would recommend for people to watch. “Ozzy’s Dungeon” is interesting, and then went completely off the rails at the end. “Suicide Bid” is annoying more than anything else… most of the short films in this collection are, especially “The Gawkers”. If you're a fan of the V/H/S films then you’ll probably find value here. If you’re unfamiliar with the V/H/S franchise then I recommend watching either the original or last year's V/H/S/94.
“Amateur Night” from V/H/S is about a group of men who intend to bring two women back to their hotel for sex, which seems to go as planned. One of the women is Lilly, a shy girl who comes onto the men strongly, but doesn’t say more than “I Like You.” As clothes come off, and acts are performed it becomes obvious that Lilly is not as human as she once seemed.
“The Subject” from V/H/S/94 is the story of a mad scientist whose lab is ransacked by police officers. The policemen discover that the scientist has been chopping people up in order to fuse them with technology. We witness this sequence of events from the experiment's point of view which is quite harrowing.
Are you tired of films milking nostalgia?
- No, inject me with fun-dip, while I sing Sugar Ray.
- Yes, let's get creative.