For those unfamiliar with the V/H/S series , here’s the eerie elevator pitch: an anthology of period terror tales is presented in the found footage format, more specifically via VHS tapes.
I can safely say that V/H/S 94 sticks to that formula (which doubtless comes a shock to some of you lascivious lot).
Moving on, V/H/S 94 begins with a woman in a strange compound huffing fumes from some sort of demonic jizz or another, before she begins a countdown with her eyes gouged out.
Meanwhile, a SWAT team raids said compound finding all manner of ghoulish goings-on before a news broadcast begins…
Written and directed by Jennifer Reeder, this is a nice, tension filled way to kick out the jams and get this fright flick rocking n’ rolling (as are the segments of the tale that appear between each story proper)!
The above leads into Chloe Okuno’s Storm Drain, which tales the tale of Channel 6 news reporter Holly Marciano (Anna Hopkins) and her cameraman Jeff (Christian Potenza) who enter the storm drains in search of the local cryptid, the “Ratman”.
Well they find it’s ass alright, and the evil cult that worships it as a god… a black, acidic vomit spewing god, too… and hell follows!
Now this shit is golden! We get a fantastically designed creature, shocking gore, and an evil cult; this is pure creature feature gross-out fun, and my arcane ass loved it! The story is tight and suspenseful, the grizzly bits are served up with glee, and I won’t be forgetting the deformed visage of Ratman for a good long time!
After returning tot he SWAT teams investigation for a tick, we get our next yarn; Simon Barrett’s The Empty Wake…
At Jensen Funeral Home, Hailey (Kyal Legend) is tasked to host and film a wake for Andrew Edwards, all by her lonesome… though no one shows up to the solemn occasion. As the night and raging thunderstorm progress, our lonesome young heroine begins to believe Andrew is anything but dead, but is all of the mounting terror just in her imagination?
Holy shit, we are two for two on this thing being awesome-as-all-fuck, because Barrett really delivers with this terror tale that plays out like an E.C. horror comic set during the apocalypse! As our heroine’s tension mounts, the excellent use of storm effects and ambient sounds (including a screeching tornado siren) really stands the ol’ hairs on end, and with the rainy environs and darkened rooms we get a simple “old dark house” story done oh-so-right… but the real showstopper here are the stomach-turning visual effects that are as technically brilliant as they are nauseating. Fucking bravo lads!
As we return to the SWAT team, things are beginning to look a tad bit Satanic (which just so happens to be the name of my autobiography, now (not) available at fine bookstores nowhere!) as we segue into Timo Tjahjanto’s The Subject…
Your average everyday mad scientist crossed with Dr. Wily; The Creator (Budi Ross) is roaming the streets, kidnapping people in the hopes of creating cyborg killing machines, as one does. Turns out the ol’ bastard is really good at that shit too!
All of those missing people catches the attention of police hard-ass Capt. Hassan (Donny Alamsyah), who decides to take the matter in his own hands and storm that diabolical doctor’s facility… which rains absolutely unbelievable levels of violence down upon fucking everyone.
I simply want to say, straight up, I haven’t seen a piece of cinema that has made me so absolutely, positively in love in quite some time. My lord, The Subject is a lunatic masterpiece the likes of which I have seldom, if ever, seen… and definitely haven’t seen brought to life via found footage. Timo Tjahjanto, you are amazing!
Besides the fact it’s bat-shit crazy, The Subject is also incredibly well acted, with Ross nailing the tightrope walk between insanity and sympathy, and Alamsyah embracing absolute brutality with his role of Hassan… but the real star here are the copious, and I mean copious special effects present that feature gallons of gore and rambunctious robots with so much breath-taking aplomb that your jaw will be banging on the mother fuckin’ floor before the final frenzied frame!
A quick pop-over with our paramilitary friends, and then we begin Ryan Prows’ Terror…
Outside of Detroit Michigan, extreme militant outfit, The First Patriots Movement Militia, are planning on blowing up a government building… and your asses will never believe how they are planning on going about that… I will tell you that it involves the strange prisoner they keep deep within their compound… a prisoner they shoot over and over, yet still he lives.
The combination of the group’s incompetence, along with a preternatural force they are woefully ill-equipped to handle leads to a shit-show of epic proportions!
Man, this is a fun segment as well! Prow delivers a segment that brings some laughs among the lacerations, which sets it apart from the proceeding terror tales… except for the framing story which it directly relates to…
There is once again great creature work, plenty of gore, and some truly dark moments, especially in regards to those slack-jawed fools treatment of their prisoner so don’t worry, this one fits right in with the rest of the beastly bunch!
Wrapping things up, the framing story wraps up in a delightfully fun and campy way… there are literally no shitty segments in this entire film, and with an anthology you are always rollin’ the dice, so that’s fuckin’ that!
Except it isn’t as RLJ Entertainment have crammed some extras on this Blu-ray release (of a Shudder Original no less… ) including: an audio commentary with the directors and producers moderated by members of the BOO podcast (as well as a separate commentary by Barrett), a panel from SDCC discussing the film with the various directors responsible, a “making of” featurette, a collection of deleted scenes, glimpses at the creation of some of the film’s impressive effects work, and an image gallery.
To put a beastly bow on it, V/H/S 94 is a a feast for the eerie eyeballs guaranteed to tickle the freaky fancy of any monster lovin’ mother fucker in the room!
