"VHS" is a somewhat roughly made low budget horror anthology movie including contributions from Bloody Disgusting.com type of people and others. Each short film in it has the notion of being shot with a character's handheld video camera.
The roughness of this production I would assume is supposed to be part of the horror fun, and for me it was. So too with the inconsistencies regarding who's holding the cameras and how does the filming seem to go on in the midst of all kinds of chaos. If you're not going to suspend some disbelief when watching such movies, then you probably shouldn't bother with them. On the other hand such movies should not make such a great big deal out of the video angle that it becomes a distraction in itself, so that disbelief suspension is near impossible. "VHS" strikes the balance well enough between these factors in my view.
The stories here include a group of drunken guys out on the town looking for girls on a summer night of partying. They take some chicks to a motel room, including a rather strange big-eyed girl who talks oddly. Then there's one about a couple driving to Vegas who appear to be being eerily stalked in the towns they stop in. Then there's another bunch of party guys who end up in a big spooky house on Halloween. A girl being haunted in her home who talks via video link with her boyfriend. And a group of dopey friends going swimming at a lake but finding horror in the woods.
The wraparound story has to do with yet more wastrels who have been paid to break into a house and steal a VHS tape. The videos they watch make up the movies we see.
The gore is fairly good here and is present in each episode. There are standout moments with a throat-cutting, a monstrous person butchering folks on-camera, a person digging skin-crawlingly into their own strangely wounded arm, a character having horrific things removed from their gut, and on and on.
Some complain that this movie "should have been shorter," but I think the way it takes its time is fine and builds tension in a slow, creeping manner.
This is viewable on Hulu and possibly on You Tube and is recommended for those low budget horror fans like me who will enjoy it most.
The roughness of this production I would assume is supposed to be part of the horror fun, and for me it was. So too with the inconsistencies regarding who's holding the cameras and how does the filming seem to go on in the midst of all kinds of chaos. If you're not going to suspend some disbelief when watching such movies, then you probably shouldn't bother with them. On the other hand such movies should not make such a great big deal out of the video angle that it becomes a distraction in itself, so that disbelief suspension is near impossible. "VHS" strikes the balance well enough between these factors in my view.
The stories here include a group of drunken guys out on the town looking for girls on a summer night of partying. They take some chicks to a motel room, including a rather strange big-eyed girl who talks oddly. Then there's one about a couple driving to Vegas who appear to be being eerily stalked in the towns they stop in. Then there's another bunch of party guys who end up in a big spooky house on Halloween. A girl being haunted in her home who talks via video link with her boyfriend. And a group of dopey friends going swimming at a lake but finding horror in the woods.
The wraparound story has to do with yet more wastrels who have been paid to break into a house and steal a VHS tape. The videos they watch make up the movies we see.
The gore is fairly good here and is present in each episode. There are standout moments with a throat-cutting, a monstrous person butchering folks on-camera, a person digging skin-crawlingly into their own strangely wounded arm, a character having horrific things removed from their gut, and on and on.
Some complain that this movie "should have been shorter," but I think the way it takes its time is fine and builds tension in a slow, creeping manner.
This is viewable on Hulu and possibly on You Tube and is recommended for those low budget horror fans like me who will enjoy it most.