"V/H/S/ 85" (2023)

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s the latest in the found-footage VHS franchise - V/H/S/85

Synopsis

An ominous mixtape blends never before seen snuff footage with nightmarish newscasts and disturbing home video to create a surreal, analog mashup of the forgotten 80s.

The Good

Joseph: David Bruckner’s wraparound segment “Total Copy” has some intriguing scenes and ideas. Mike Nelson's “No Wake” irked me for a while (see my “The Bad” comments below) but once the twist kicked in, it reeled me in and — spoiler avoidance here — provides a nice payoff later on. Gigi Saul Guerrero's “God of Death” is interesting, if a little long before getting to the meat of the matter, providing a uniquely Mexican take on Aztec mythology that fits right in with the cosmic horror theme that threads throughout much of this anthology. Mike P. Nelson’s “Ambrosia” also had me on the fence (again, see below) but boy howdy, that ending rocks! Scott Derrickson's “Dreamkill” is chock full of surprises and is a strong entry.

Mike: I really liked the first couple of entries in this franchise, but felt it started to become a bit stale and lackluster. I wasn’t quite sold on the previous entry and was sure that might have been it, but I was surprised and pleased with V/H/S/85 which gives me hope that things have turned around.

The framing segments of an anthology can sometimes save a sloppy mix of stories, but there’s just as much an equal chance that they could derail the film and overshadow the individual pieces with an aura of stink. This leans more towards the former with an interesting bit of sci-fi horror with some clever moments, including one shot towards the end that had me laughing.

The two segments directed by Mike P. Nelson, “No Wake” and “Ambrosia”, landed most effectively for me and provide, I believe, an interesting first for the franchise. I won’t spoil what it is, but would love to see more along the same lines in future entries.

The most impressive part of V/H/S/85 is the overall presentation. I was quite impressed with the editing done to present a very believable recreation of a second or third generation VHS tape that had been recorded over and over in a few spots. I myself had a couple of tapes of the same quality from the same time period containing episodes of Night Flight and movies from HBO. So on a personal level this aspect scored well with me.

The Bad

Joseph: My personal opinion is that once guns are introduced, the story is no longer “horror” to me (obviously, this applies to fictitious stories and not real-life ones). With that in mind, I was ready to check out of “No Wake,” and it didn’t help matters for me that guns are a huge part of three other segments, as well. We all have our favorite types of horror — for me, it’s monsters, the supernatural, and the occasional slasher — and using guns in horror just seems lazy and unimaginative to me. Unfortunately, another element that didn’t work for me is Natasha Kermani's “TKNOGD.” Although the representation of an eighties performance artist is spot-on — I can attest to this as a Creative Writing major who attended plenty of independent “experimental” theater fare in that decade for my playwriting classes — the style is nevertheless grating (on a positive note, kudos to Chivonne Michelle for absolutely nailing her character) and the outcome is rather obvious. I know that gorehounds will be fine with the initial murders in “Dreamkill,” but I found them to be on the gratuitous side. Finally, Mike mentions above that he liked the use of videotape glitches, but a little of that effect goes a long way, and as someone who was an avid VHS tape user and re-user back in the day who never experienced as much interference as we get in this film, I think it is a bit overdone here.

Mike: Since anthology films are such a mixed bag of content it’s hard to point at any one segment as being a strike against the entire film because, as it’s often pointed out, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That said, it shouldn’t be any surprise that I was not fond of all of the segments and felt a couple of them stumbled in their delivery, but not enough to warrant any real negative comments. I did feel that “God of Death” by Gigi Saul Guerrero ran a little longer than it needed to, and “TKNOGD” by Natasha Kermani wasn’t my cup of tea (but does that mean it was “bad”? No, of course not). To avoid looking like some “he-man woman-hater club” member by picking on the two segments directed by women, I’ll add that I felt “Dreamkill” would have maybe been served better by an ambiguous explanation and ending, but again that could be chalked up to personal taste.

The Verdict

Joseph: V/H/S/85 provides enough entertainment, surprises, and good performances to rate a recommendation from me, especially for fans of the talented directors whose work is featured, of the franchise, and of solid horror anthologies.

Mike: V/H/S/85 is a well-balanced mix of segments doctored up with superb artifacting, pops, hisses, and other old cassette glitchy stuff, resulting in an entertaining package that, in my eyes, has turned the franchise ship back around to the right direction. The sub-genres run from slasher-esque to sci-fi horror and contain plenty of gore and bloodshed, along with a mix of themes and situations that were relevant back in the mid-80s, giving this far more of an authentic feel than most other “throwback” movies have.

Fans of the directors involved and of the VHS franchise in general should be more than satisfied with V/H/S/85.

V/H/S/85, from Bloody Disgusting, Cinepocalypse Productions, and Shudder Films, is available to watch on Shudder

V/H/S/85