Directors: Nacho Vigalondo, Justin Benson, Gregg Bishop, Todd Lincoln, Aaron Moorhead, Marcel Sarmiento
Cast: Justin Welborn, Emmy Argo, Gustavo Salmeron
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 81 minutes
Back in 2012 the first V/H/S film surfaced. The premise was simple, the run time showcased a series of short found footage movies with one overarching story that connected them. Now in 2015 we are close to the release of the third instalment (which was actually first screened at Frightfest in 2014). The success of the first V/H/S had groups of filmmakers everywhere decide to create their own horror anthology. Anthologies that have come afterwards include two chapters of The ABC’s of Death, and most recently A Christmas Horror Story and Tales of Halloween. Next year will also see yet another anthology, Holidays hit theatres.
Any anthology is only as strong as its segments and whilst the first film was 90% hits, and the second maybe 70% hits, this one only has one really good segment and one average section. The rest are just a bit blah.
Our first story Dante the Great is our ‘average’ story, telling the story of a famous magician whose cloak seems to have a mind, and hunger, all of it’s own. Told in a documentary style it’s potentially the furthest shift from the found footage format that the franchise is based on, but still doesn’t quite have the impact it needs.
Next comes the star portion of the piece – Parallel Monsters, a perfect blend of Clive Barker and David Cronenberg. Scientist Alfonso is testing his device to create a portal to another dimension, his hard work pays off and he meets the him from another world and, in what is obviously a silly move, agrees to swap worlds with his counterpart to explore in the name of science. The world he steps into, without wanting to give anything away, is like the inner workings of Clive Barker‘s imagination with a sprinkling of H.R.Giger on top. It’s such a dark and twisted tale that it gets its own star.
We then end with Bonestorm, a story about a group of stoner skateboarders determined to become internet sensations, who find themselves in Mexico fighting hoards of the undead. The execution of the filming gives this story the feel of a first person video game as the group try to defeat the seemingly never-ending swarms of enemies.
The biggest disconnect though is in the cover story. The series has been criticised in the past for the through plot, accused of not putting much thought into it. The first had criminals, who filmed all their crimes, break into a house to steal a certain videotape. Upon finding the house filled with tapes they had no choice but to start shifting through the contents to find the right one. The second had a private investigator break into a missing college student’s dorm room in the hopes of finding a clue to his whereabouts. Once inside he found a pile of videotapes and a laptop recording explaining them. Believing they might hide vital information, the decision is made to start watching them. Whilst neither were particularly sophisticated they did exactly what they needed to. V/H/S Viral has a cameraman obsessed with becoming viral, document his and his girlfriend Iris’ life. After Iris gets kidnapped he chases the perpetrator across LA and our segments are inter-spliced with the chase. The result is a confusing mess.
This third V/H/S outing is trying to step away slightly from the kitsch charm of the video tape that the first two movies relied on and is instead attempting to move into the digital ‘viral’ world, hence the title. Sadly though it misses the mark and is a little disappointing. It’s a trend that started in the second film, the producers not quite able to capture the spark of the first film, and unfortunately it has continued here.
V/H/S Viral is released on DVD on October 19th.
