Review of V/H/S/2 (2013) by Vop2288 — 06 Nov 2013

I'm going to break this down segment by segment.

1. Phase 1 Clinical Trials, not a great opener. The biggest flaw of Clinical Trials is that it's premise and execution just doesn't fit into the short film mold too well. It moves way too fast and doesn't leave any time for suspense building which is a pretty big deal for ghost/haunting stories. Also, the Clarissa character is just god-awful as she serves absolutely no other purpose then a personified exposition dump, a pair of bare boobs, and an additional victim.

2. A Ride in the Park, this one works very well within the time constraints. It's simple, to the point, and focused. While the gimmick of seeing things through the zombie's eyes and the ending where he becomes self aware help the film I just couldn't shake the feeling of "*sigh*...great....MORE zombies". Let's be honest for a second, zombies are played out.

3. Safe Haven, another one that just doesn't work as a short. There's actually some great bits in Safe Haven, the Father character is done brilliantly as the actor perfectly sells the whole insane/creepy/fanatical vibe and there is some actual tension building but the whole thing just moves too fast and would've probably been 10x better at feature length. The inclusion of the interviewer's girlfriend getting knocked up by another man felt unnecessary and forced and the climax was just too much packed into too little time (zombies again, really?). However the WORST part of Safe Haven is the atrociously fake looking demon.

4. Slumber Party Alien Abduction, probably my favorite of the whole movie. It works as a short, the actors feel sincere and real (though I'm not sure if 11 year olds drop that many f-bombs), and there are some legitimate scares and creepy bits. The alien underwater reaching for the kid moments before his sister's boyfriend jumps in the water sent chills down my spine. The biggest issue with the film though is that the alien costumes are incredibly fake looking and even though this could've been masked with only glimpses or blurred images of them the director chose to show them explicitly nearly constantly during the climax. Also, the ending is pretty sad...

5. Tape 49, this is the framing narrative. Although the one from the first film was nothing special this one is somehow worse, most likely due to the fact that it just doesn't make sense. I just can't explain why a private investigator and his girlfriend/assistant would forcibly break into someone's house (even after one of them thinks someone is inside) and then proceed to watch creepy VHS tapes instead of actually trying to find the guy they're looking for. It's got some creepy moments but it's just altogether lazy.