By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I was not among the fans who adored the first V/H/S. I thought it was okay, but I wasn’t on the bandwagon of believing it was redefining horror.
To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing this one. Though, I heard good things, I went in with no expectations. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised.
The first and second tales are horrible. They don’t have structure. It’s just a simple situation examined. In the first we have the protagonist have an eye transplant and then he sees dead people; the end.
The second is even worse. The main character is on a bike trail. He is attacked by zombies. He turns into a zombie and goes to a birthday party with other zombies and chaos ensues; the end.
Had I not been reviewing the film or watching it with other people, I would have taken it off by now, but I continued.
The third tale is really where the movie begins. A reporter asks a cult leader to enter his commune. Reluctantly, he agrees. The reporter brings his fiancé and partner. Things begin to go strange as we find out the fiancé is pregnant with a child that isn’t her soon-to-be husband’s. The cult’s prophecy begins to occur and the followers turn into zombies. Now the difference between this tale and the second tale is that it had a story. It wasn’t just a scene. The first two tales felt like one scene out of a full length film. This tale had a solid beginning and ending. We know why the people turn to zombies. The prophecy is true. Whether one wants to interpret it to mean that the cult worshiped the devil or in this universe the creator is an evil deity, it doesn’t matter. In the short time that the tale was on, it gave us an entire story. We knew the characters.
The fourth tale was solid as well. A bunch of young bullies and punks who terrorize the neighbors and their siblings get attacked by aliens. The aliens looked cool. The only protagonist I can find in the film is the small dog that had the camera attached to his head. Everyone else was a complete jerk who deserved to die.
Lastly, the rap-around didn’t make sense and really was awful. The last survivor on television attempts to commit suicide but instead just blows the lower have of his face off. Then he is suddenly out of the TV and in the house with the person watching these tapes.
Overall, it wasn’t great. It’s not on the level of Body Bags or After Midnight, but the two tales that saved the film did make it worth watching. For those renting it, I would suggest just skipping the first two tales as they are dumb enough to make you want to shut the whole production off.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5.5/10
