Review of V/H/S: Viral (2014) by Jamie R — 01 Nov 2014

V/H/S Viral is hit and miss just like its two predecessors, but the third in the series seems to be a bit more hit than miss. The best way to review this movie would be by the segments themselves:

VICIOUS CIRCLES:

The frame narrative to V/H/S Viral makes as much sense as the frames of the previous two movies. That is, none at all. It tries to capitalize of all of the social media popularity these days (the movie has VIRAL in the title) but ends up just being lame. It goes into random subplots multiple times, and every time it makes no sense and is immediately forgotten after it happens. I don't even know why they were included. Overall, it paces the film well by cutting back to it after every tape, but it's nonsensical and anticlimactic. Vicious Circles gets 2/5 stars.

DANTE THE GREAT:

The first tape (not counting the frame story) is probably the best. There's genuinely good acting most of the time and it's not overly reliable on horror cliches. It's documentary format is refreshing to the series and the plot is pretty unique unto itself. Although it sometimes really reaches for the found-footage shots to read and it's ending is a bit predictable, Dante the Great is a fun and entertaining ride with some impressive special effects. It gets 3.5/5 stars.

PARALLEL MONSTERS:

The second tape starts of interestingly enough, its premise is intriguing but you know things are going to get weird because of the atmosphere, and boy does it get weird. As the tape goes on you become more and more curious to what exactly is going on until it just gets weird. Way too weird. It gets ridiculous, I can't even really describe it. Like most of the tapes in this series nothing is explained and it just kind of leaves you stunned, and i'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. You're going to have to see for yourself. I give it 3/5 stars just for being so... weird.

BONESTORM:

The third tape begins really irritatingly, with a bunch of annoying skater kids just being douchy. But then, the weird skeleton people attack and it gets pretty entertaining. It makes good use of GoPros and practical blood effects, and it's really a lot of bloody fun to watch despite falling apart a bit at the end, a common thing to happen in this series. I give Bonestorm 3/5 for being a good bit of gory fun.