I am a horror fan, and a fan of the found footage genre. I have never been a fan of anthology films though. So, when a film comes along that tries to mix all three of these elements together into one satisfying experience, well, I just had to hit it up. Does VHS succeed in it's efforts? Let's delve right in and find out.
VHS follows a group of delinquents as they break into a house in an attempt to find a lost VHS tape that could potentially make them a decent amount of money. We join them as they wade thru various VHS's in search of the lost tape. I'm going to go through the various stories we get to watch in this neat little film. Let's start with the story that the whole film revolves around, aptly named Tape 56.
Tape 56 is the main plot of the film, the search for a lost VHS tape. While the group watches the VHS's, we can clearly see something is not right in the house, and slowly, tension builds. This film has a lot of potential, but actually ends up falling to the wayside to other stories we get to watch. I do dig it A LOT but Tape 56 never lives up to its full potential. This is sad, when it serves as the basis for all of VHS. Yes, Tape 56 is indeed interesting and even scary at some points, but it kind of just ends and nothing is really resolved. I'd give Tape 56 2.5 Stars
The first VHS that the group slips in is called Amateur Night, in which two horndogs hook one of their friends up with spy glasses that record everything the wearer sees. Their plan is to get him laid, so they can record the sex. They all go to various bars, and eventually pick up one cute chick that appears to have some scary problems. I immediately was hooked by this film, it's got an interesting way of filming things via the spy glasses (really loved this style of filming, I've never seen a found footage film attempt to do this before and it worked surprisingly well here). That said, the film quickly turns silly when the big reveal occurs. I didn't find it all that scary, but it was still a fun watch. 2 Stars
The 2nd VHS the group views is a story called Second Honeymoon. In Second Honeymoon, a young couple goes on a road trip, recording the ensuing events. I don't want to say exactly what happens, suffice it to say that this film is one of my favorites. It's got a good story, some nice suspense, and an awesome twist that left me pretty stunned. 4 Stars
The next story we get to view is one called Tuesday the 17th. In this story, two dudes and two chicks drive up to a lake for a short vacation. Both guys have dreams of sex on their minds, but something terrible is about to interrupt the possibility of coitus. What they don't know, is that some grizzly murders occurred here several years ago, and that the killer was never found. That's all I'll say for the plot. Naturally, I was drawn right in to this one's story, only to have my expectations ripped apart. This film is very silly and stupid. It really feels like nothing but filler, not to mention the main character ends up being a real bitch. I can easily sum up this one with three words: stupid, stupid, stupid. 1 Star
The 4th VHS that we get to view is one called The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger. This story is told via Skype convos, one of the most interesting formats for a found footage film I have seen in quite a while. The story follows Emily, as she moves into a new apartment. It doesn't take long before she is convinced that it is haunted, and she has her assumed boyfriend, via Skype, help her out with the problem. This one is, to me at least, the most scary out of all the films in VHS. I screamed several times, and was freaking out massively during this one....to the point where I really didn't want to keep watching it. Once again, there is a cool twist in here, and some pretty sick shit goes down. It also helps that the character of Emily is absolutely smokin hot. I can see this one working as it's own stand-alone film. 4 Stars
The 5th and final video we watch is called 10/31/98. In this story, a group of friends go searching for a house party, winding up at the wrong home. They venture inside and soon find themselves in a pretty nasty situation. This story is another strong one. The friend's drunken reactions to the spooky going-ons are pretty entertaining, and when they finally do realize something is wrong and the film kicks into high gear, the proceedings get real fun. It surprised me that I actually ended up caring for the protagonists by the end of this one. Yes, I did yell at the screen a few times (tellin characters what to do). When a film has me that invested, it's a good sign. The only issue I have with this film is that it relies a little bit on CGI, and since most of the other shorts in VHS don't, it makes the CGI that much more obvious. That said, the story at hand here is pretty great, and once again, I do really like the characters here. 4 Stars
VHS is one of the most ambitious and creative found footage films I have seen in a very long time (it's also filmed realistically, the footage is pretty grainy and there is plenty of shaky cam). These filmmakers throw all they got at the screen here. You can really tell that they cared about what they were making. While some of the shorts are weak, there are enough really good and really fun ones to make VHS a good, entertaining watch. It's easily become my 2nd favorite found footage film.
VHS Overall Rating: 4 Stars
Yes, I am aware that if you do the proper math, the mean of all the shorts together would be 3 Stars, I give the film overall 4 Stars though, because I really enjoyed it and I've got to give them some extra points for being ambitious and creative. These folks tried hard, and you can tell.
Oh yes, and there is a good amount of bare breasts in here as well....so there's that
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