V/H/S - Review

V/H/S follows a group of men on a mission to find a VHS tape. They break into the house where the tape should be only to find 5 others that give them more than they bargained for.


I have seen Bloody-Disgusting pushing this movie for months and I ignored it for the most part. I read a plot synopsis and I figured it was yet another low budget horror flick that no one will see until it is out on DVD. However, I recently saw that it was a decent hit at Sundance and that it was going to have a small release in theaters along with Video-On-Demand (VOD) and iTunes rentals. After seeing several positive reviews and a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes I decided to fork out the $10 and rent it on iTunes. I must say... not bad at all.

Overall the premise of it basically being 5 different short stories was really a cool idea and I think it worked well. Some were obviously weaker than others but the fifth short was by far the best. They truly saved the best for last. I wasn't like jumping out of my seat but it was pretty damn awesome.
My main problem with this was the shaky-cam aspect. I know it is the thing now to have a found footage movie with some shaky-cam action going on, like Cloverfield and Quarantine, but V/H/S took it to another level and not in a good way. I got about 30 minutes in and my eyes legitimately hurt and I felt a little sick. As the stories went on the camera style relaxed a little bit and it wasn't so bad but holy shit that first half hour was rough. I read about people getting sick at Sundance and I bet it wasn't because they were horrified or anything like that. They probably got motion sickness. I can't imagine how I would have felt if I would have seen it in a movie theater instead of my computer.

I don't want to give too much away because I feel like this is the kind of movie that is best viewed with little knowledge. Don't spoil it for yourself and don't read too many in depth reviews because it could get ruined. But yeah, I would say this is one of the best put together horror films I have seen in a while. I would just watch it and then go from there. Just beware of the shaky-cam if that sort of thing bothers you. Enjoy!