The collection revolves around a group of criminals who invade a residence in search of a particular VHS tape, but discover numerous tapes instead. As they begin watching them, the situation quickly deteriorates. The five individual narratives, along with the framing story that holds them together, are captivating, unsettling, and genuinely frightening. Each segment was created using handheld (or comparable) cameras—…

Collections of short films are usually uneven, and the found footage horror subgenre isn't something I typically enjoy. Therefore, a collection of found footage horror stories didn't fill me with excitement. I did find _V/H/S_ to be acceptable though; it proved to be stronger than much of the found footage material I’ve encountered, even if it emphasizes some of its most irritating aspects—like video quality, which i…

Horror anthologies have a spotty record; some are dragged down by one truly awful segment, while others manage to be elevated by a few standout pieces, but the inconsistencies remain. V/H/S tries to modernize the format using found footage as its framing device. Six independent filmmakers created a movie that garnered attention at Sundance, though it has sparked considerable disagreement among critics and horror e…

V/H/S, rated 9/10, is a gory, fun, and inventive horror film—though flawed—presented in a cinéma vérité style similar to Cloverfield, [REC], and The Blair Witch Project. As with any anthology, some segments are stronger than others, but V/H/S delivers plenty of good material, featuring six "stories" linked by a wraparound segment. The wraparound plot is the weakest part, oddly placed near the end, involving petty …