V/H/S debuted 2 years ago and though it falls into the found-footage genre its garnered a loyal following of fans who love it, hate it or love to hate it. To me the first film was okay I honestly didn't really like the first movie but the second film V/H/S/2 to me was the better of the two films. So you have to wonder how can you top the last film and continue on with this film franchise that's give us a movie a year for the past 3 years? You put a spin on the 3 film in the now trilogy, you make the films angle go viral similar to a Saw style gimmick where the whole world will be affected if they footage for this film had gone viral.
The film opens to a young couple who are in love and yet have their problems cause apparently they live with the male character's grandmother whose pissed about, if you guessed it the female character the guy is in love with. It is also during this story that we are introduced to a ice cream truck that's involved in a police chase and it has caught the attention of all in L.A.. Now this film's opening story shows that today's society is the same where they are using their camera's or phones to catch that next big thing and use it to get hits or likes with social media. But the catch is the stuff they are filming is having a much more scary effect on them as what they assumed was going to be a video to amuse others turns into something far more worse as they participant of the filming process is actually filming their own death.
But in the middle of these death scenes the film is broken into three separate short films that are similar to the last two films. The opening of the film is actually the wrap around story for the entire film while the other short films are there to entertain the viewer till they go back to the original story. Now the first short film in the process is directed by Gregg Bishop (Dance of the Dead) and it follows a young magician whose down on his luck until he comes across a cape that eventually shows its true powers to him and turns him from a small time card trick magician to a big time magician known as Dante the Great! But as time progresses for this story we learn that the cape has a mysterious past and even the greatest of all magicians, Houdini refused to wear the cape after a chance encounter with it. We learn the darkness of the cape has a taste for blood and is only satisfied after the fact its been fed its fill of flesh. But like always theres a twist to this story and a fight over the cape happens when apparently another has been chosen by the cape and the fight over who will possess the cape takes a more violent turn as those who try to prevent it are met with their gruesome and gut wrenching demise. This short film is actually decent and bloody but I found myself disappointed by the outcome of it.
Now after the Dante segment the film does jump back to the original story and shows a few images flashing on phones from the first and second film. And a death scene that's more how the hell did that happen and makes you grab your feet and fear road rash. Its followed into the second short film directed by Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes, Open Windows). Now this is a very interesting short film cause let's face everyone has had that moment in their life that they wanted to build a machine that could either go through time or open another dimension to a parallel universe just to see what is exactly on the other side. We meet Alfonso whose been working on something in the basement of his house for months on end we meet Marta his wife for only a few seconds but after she goes to bed Alfonso successfully opens a portal to a parallel universe where he meets another version of himself whose doing the exact same work as he is. They both agree on a fifteen minute walk around in the others universe and soon discover that what they thought were similar characteristics turn out to be very different things. Our Alfonso seems to have found a parallel universe that's completely darker than ours and becomes frightened when he discovers the truth about it and the other Alfonso whose darker side exposes himself to a sleeping Marta only causes fear and confusion. Though some what funny in some spots this short film is pretty damn good for Nacho whose film Timecrimes is a MUST SEE for anyone looking for a good movie to watch.
Like before the film jumps back to the main story but it diverges slightly off our main character and onto a party that's on-going for a gang member whose world goes from party to death in a flash thanks to the on-going chaos around them. Our friend here kills all at the party only to meet his demise via explosion. It's from here are taken to the third story of the film that's directed by Aaron Moorehead and Justine Benson (Resolution, Spring) their short film follows two friends who are looking to make the next big skate-boarding video to hopefully make it big but their attitude constantly gets them into fights and they are soon kicked out of skate parks for the fights they are told of an abandoned spot in Tijuana. So they con some kid into taking them and when they begin to skate it they are met by a cult-like group that's seemingly out to kill them but as they fight back and spill the blood of the cult it becomes clear that they are in for the fight of their life. Though they seemingly gain the upper hand here and there the creature's still come at them. A bloody showdown complete with head shots, decapitations and yes explosions by fireworks. The true nature of this film is similar to one from the second film with a monster being born onto this world and this short gives us the new meaning of swallowing the camera.
The film jumps back to the main story but instead of finding our main character we are inside a cab that's got a cheap peep show going on until it turns out to be a revenge on another shot as the female character is looking for her revenge after naked photos of her leaked on the internet. But just as the male character gets the upper hand the car is involved in a car accident. We are then taken to our main male character whose being led down an alley that will lead into the river that we saw in the beginning of the film. It is here that he comes face to face with the ice cream truck and the chaos that surrounds it. Once inside of it he is told the only way to see his girlfriend again was to upload the viral video.
Now this film in the series wasn't bad though better than the first one it was still not as good as the second film. But it had its moments and had moments of gore and violence. Some things seemed similar to the second film. There was suppose to be a fourth short film in this film but that film was cut from the movie at the last minute. That film was directed by Todd Lincoln (The Apparition) and entitled Gorgeous Vortex. Its unknown why the short film was cut from the movie. This resulted in the film's run time being shortened by 17 minutes. But all in all this film in the trilogy was slightly better than the first and average to the second. So if your looking to see this film then go ahead and watch it. If your looking for the same stuff that the second film gave us then your gonna meet some disappointment but the short by Nacho Vigalondo makes up for that by giving us a gem in the middle of this film.
reviewed by Bucky
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