In what felt like a Halloween treat, Shudder added V/H/S/85 to its October line up. I scheduled a movie night on my discord, grabbed some retro snacks, and settled in for a good time. I was not disappointed.
Content Warnings:
V/H/S/85 is a horror anthology. Scenes include graphic violence including mass shooting, gore, natural disasters, ritual sacrifice, and more. From what I recall, no pets were harmed in the movie unlike some past V/H/S anthologies (something I was asked about after watching).
V/H/S/85 is a 2023 American found footage horror anthology film, and the sixth installment in the V/H/S franchise. A heart-pounding journey into the grim underbelly of the forgotten 80s through five tales of terror on a taped-over made-for-TV documentary. The film features segments from David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani and Mike P. Nelson.
A new found footage favorite, V/H/S/85 is a nostalgic fever dream with subgenre touchstones in zombie films, aliens, kitchy tech, and real world disasters with a supernatural connections.
To prepare to watch the new installment in the franchise, I set out to watch the past V/H/S anthologies and was reminded why I don’t come back to this series very often. While I enjoyed the first V/H/S a good bit (I didn’t find all of the short films enjoyable but I liked the concept and most of the footage enough to return to it a couple of times) the sequel and Viral turned me off of the movies for the most part.
I decided to go for 85 simply on my love of 80s retro vibes alone. I’m glad I took the risk.
My favorite of the short films was No Wake/Ambrosia (Mike P. Nelson). This is a book end story where we get part 1 in the beginning and the 2nd half later near the end. This break up of the story was jarring but not necessarily in a bad way. If anything, it had me watching the rest of the movie with a constant question in the back of my mind – What happened? With each new segment, I wondered if I would get my answer and when I finally did, it was nothing like I expected. A fantastic twist on the zombie trope.
One short film that seems to get a lot of bad reviews from what I’ve seen is TKNOGD (Natasha Kermani). I think the bad reviews are unjustified because this segment hit the 80s techno boom in the gut. All the vibes of The Terminator, Lawnmower Man, and TRON. We get a synth-wave, slam poetry performance and a response to human hubris with glorious gore. I thought it was tight, well done, and enjoyable.
God of Death (Gigi Saul Guerrero) was dark and refreshing. Be warned if you don’t like real world disasters in your horror. This segment is based on the tragic 1985 earthquake that killed over 5000 people in Mexico City. Interestingly enough, I recognized it not because I’m particularly knowledgeable about Mexico City’s history of natural disasters but because of references in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Silver Nitrate. What I found so refreshing about this segment is the break from Christian mythology in supernatural horror. It gave me Argento vibes with flashbacks to his Mothers trilogy. I can only hope that this triggers a release of more Mexican, South American, and other supernatural horror to come. (It certainly beats the bajillion exorcism and xtian demon movies that keep pouring out without anything new to say).
My least favorite but still enjoyable segment was Total Copy (David Bruckner). This alien story gave SCP Foundation and E.T. vibes told through a lens that harkened back to Unsolved Mysteries. This overarching story that played in parts through out all of V/H/S/85 was a tropey story of scientist hubris and obsession that backfires. It was easy to see where it was going but the ending with its comeuppance followed by some horror comedy was enjoyable all the same.
Lastly, I greatly enjoyed Dreamkill (Scott Derickson). Set in The Black Phone universe, Derickson gives us detective noir retro nostalgia with supernatural horror wonderfully. This story was heartbreaking as well as horrific. In only a short time we understood the world we were in, had emotional ties to the characters, and were on the edge of our seats seeing what was going to happen. Even when we sort of knew how things were about to go down, we were still a little surprised and in awe at the end. That said, Dreamkill left me wanting more and I really hope Derickson returns to The Black Phone universe again in the future now that he’s proven you can do a follow up on a masked serial killer story without the masked trope itself.
If you enjoy found footage, 80s retro aesthetic, twists and turns that leave you slack jawed, and a gorey good time, you need to watch V/H/S/85. It is not only the best installment in the V/H/S franchise but now also one of my favorite movies.
