Review of V/H/S/2 (2013) by Brandon W — 02 Apr 2015

Phase I Clinical Trials: Adam Wingard gives it another try to make a segment for the sequel, and man, is this better than his other segment in the first movie. The acting is not bad, and the way it's filmed is cool, even if it always go back to the VHS question. It has some dark humor in it which are effective and there's some scares in it which gives me a jolt out of it. I do like that it answered some questions, and then gives us some questions that are left for interpretation. Not a perfect segment, but this was a heck of a first segment that really gets it moving for me to get interested in what the second segment going to be about.

A Ride in the Park: Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale's segment is a decent one that is nothing really new. The gore effects looked great, and make-up looks good, a bit cheesy though. Acting is nothing special, and the ending makes no sense at all. The highlight of it, is the attack scene where it has its thrills and all. Fans of that kind of genre would enjoy it like I do, but it seemed a bit pointless honestly.

Safe Haven: With this segment, almost everybody thinks that this is the best segment out of all of them, which makes sense why though. Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto did a great job of making this the most disturbing segment with a creepy plot. The acting is great, and the writing is really good and creepy. The characters are really good and that you really want to survive. The effects look amazing, and the design looks really creepy. It made sense why this needed to be found footage, unlike A Ride to the Park, and it does get a few scares in it that are effective. I was actually glad that this is the longest as it needed a lot of detail that I would care more about, making it the best segment in this movie.

Slumber Party Alien Abduction: Jason Eisener's segment is an all right segment that's not as crazy or messed up as the other segments or his Hobo with a Chainsaw. Some scares were effective, some scares weren't. The acting is good, and I'm glad to see kids act the same way that kids these days talk, and they're also not annoying which is a plus. The effects on the alien looked like every other alien, and the characters were not really that likable enough for me to root for them to survive. There's some stupid moments that made me wonder like, how come the girl doesn't know what to do if a kid is not breathing after being in the water for so long? The ending is a bit unsettling, a bit hard to sit through too. This is actually the worst segment of this movie, but at least it's better than some of the segments in V/H/S.

Tape 49: This introduction to the segments is a little better than V/H/S's introduction, but it still felt like a bit of a poor excuse to show them. The characters are as unlikable as the first movie, but seem a bit more bland. The acting is fine, and there's a bit of character development. There's some stuff that make no sense, and there's a lot of questions that are all up for interpretation. It does have some creepy imagery and some scary moments that make this better than some of the segments here, but it's not as good as Clinical Trials and definitely not Safe Haven either.

V/H/S/2 is an improvement over the first movie that is not as uneven. It's got more scares and more creepy moments. Consider that they kept improving, it makes me want to look forward to the third movie.