Review of V/H/S/2 (2013) by Chris O — 18 Jun 2016

Another hit and miss collection that will bring a couple scares, but mostly head scratchers.

"V/H/S/2" is another horror anthology, a sequel to "V/H/S". Although mostly unrelated, this sparks a new wave of horror shorts. As the night progresses, they view more tapes, unknowing of the consequences that lie ahead.

Like the my first review of the V/H/S film, I will break down each tape within this movie and give my opinion on each one, concluding with a final score for the film as a whole.

"Tape 49/Frame Narrative": A man named Larry and his girlfriend are asked to investigate into a missing person's case, the person being a college student. One night, they break into Kyle's dorm, only to discover a laptop, a massive collection of VHS tapes, and a whole lot of creepy. Now, this is the primary narrative of the story, being the one that occurs between each tape. This is basically the same thing that the first film does and serves the purpose of being an easy way to go from one tape to the next. There's no real substance to the story, nor do you care about the situation at hand. There are attempts to create some lore around the tapes which is pretty cool and I was interested in the man on the laptop and what he was saying, but it was basically a dead weight tape. Although the ending was neat and creepy in many ways, it doesn't make up for the lack of heart in the story. 2/5 stars.

"Phase I Clinical Trials": After a devastating car crash, the survivor, Herman, receives an ocular implant with a camera to replace his damaged right eye. However, when he returns home, he realizes that not only is this not a saving grace, but will open a door to another world. The concept here was definitely interesting and it had some potential, but it fell to nothing but horror cliches, shaky cam, an annoying (yet realistic) blinking eye cam, and a very convoluted story. 1/5 stars.

"A Ride in the Park": A zombie apocalypse from the POV of a zombie could make for a really interesting and unique way to tell a story, but it felt more cliched and stupid than anything. A biker named Mike, with a Go-Pro attached to his helmet, stumbles across a women crying for help. He is bitten by the women, turning him into a flesh eating zombie. When he infects a couple other victims, they turn and feast toward the general public. Now, other than the new way to tell the story of a zombie apocalypse, nothing else here really stood out. It was interesting to see what the zombie saw, but nothing jaw dropping happened, nor did anything original occur. There was some disturbing imagery, but you spent more time yelling at the people for their stupidity rather than watching in awe. 2/5 stars.

"Safe Haven": This is not only one of the best V/H/S short films I've seen thus far, but is definitely one of the most disturbing out of all of them. A news crew go to an Indonesian cult to film a documentary, but it turns out to be much more gruesome and disturbing than they thought it could ever be. This one was not only the most original stories, but I felt uneasy throughout the entire segment. I was constantly at the edge of my seat knowing that something was off and there was an actual story at hand. They were able to tell a lot in just a short amount of time and I was honestly shocked at the things that happened. There was so much originality and disturbing moments here and I genuinely had an interest for this film. The whole concept is creepy in its own manner and when things go down, it is hectic, chaotic, gruesome, and scary all at the same time. 4.5/5 stars.

"Slumber Party Alien Abduction": A young group of immature boys harass their older sister and her boyfriend through a night of shenanigans. From attaching a Go-Pro to their dog or interrupting their sexual pleasures, the night is filled with endless, head scratching pranks. However, things go south when a massive alien abduction takes place and they're picked off one by one. This might be one of the worst V/H/S shorts yet, filled with awful characters, immature jokes, a senseless story, and some awful camera work. I truly felt like this short hit all the wrong notes and everything they tried to do came out as weak and boring. There was one cool second in the entire short, involving a quick shot in the water, but that was it. I hated the characters at hand which made the film even more useless, and this was the wrong short to end the movie with. .5/5 stars.

Like the first V/H/S/ film, I have given these films multiple viewings in an attempt to recognize the quality of them. However, upon multiple viewings, there's so much wrong with these films. They're ultimately just a collection of random tapes with a senseless narrative, missing more than it hits. I just can't stand the inconsistency of the film and the fact that it's all over the place makes it real convoluted.

In the end, I wanted to like this film, I truly did. But in the end, I feel like this is just wasted potential left in the hands of a couple talented directors, and a few lazy ones.