January 5, 2013

HORRORDROME: VHS (2012)

(Guest writer RaptoR is back with another allegedly-alright horror movie review. As long as it affords me the opportunity to slack off some more, I'm fine with it.)



When it comes to horror movies that try to look like they're homemade I have an erection. Don't know, maybe Blair Witch Project got me in the mood for these kind of movies, but I just love them. From [Rec] to Paranormal Activity i never passed a chance to watch one of these beauties. After so many years i still consider Blair Witch to be the best in this category. I don't know if it's really that good or it shocked me that much into believing it, but it has something special, something unique and disturbing that you can't find in any other movie.

This being said I couldn't resist watching V/H/S, a horror movie that's both brilliant and stupid at the same time. First things first, go on a legal downloading site and start the download while you are reading this, because you'll surely want to watch it. Bonus points for everyone that manages to get to the end of it in the middle of the night, lights out and headphones one. Being alone in the room adds some more bonus points, because, as we all horror lovers know, we can't count on the directors for everything and we must create part of the atmosphere ourselves.



So close the blinds, turn off the lights and prepare to watch a story about a group of men that enter a house to find a rare VHS but in turn find a dead man in front of a TV and a lot more video tapes. They start to watch them and the movie presents us 5 of them, one more creepy than the other. Worth saying that each of the tapes is directed by a different person, and that adds on the diversity of the movie. Now, I said that this movie is both brilliant and stupid, that's mainly because some of the tapes are done excellent and others are poorly directed.

Subjectivity put aside, I can say without doubt that the last one is gold and I'm really sad it was that short. You could really expand that story and make a full movie out of it. Like I said in my earlier post, I'm really not that good at not giving spoilers so I'll try to stay away from explaining anything that happens, but you'll find aliens, ghosts and just fucked up people.



When it comes to pure scare scenes this movie takes the cake both in the VHS scenes and the main storyline. I found myself hugging the wall for a second after a brief apparition so be ready for some hearth pumping action. For the Blair Witch/[REC]/Paranormal Activity fans out there, this is a MUST. Also this is a MUST for the ones that like the shaky camera genre but thought that the movies listed above didn't include that much action. If you have the chance to watch this at a horror festival, don't pass on the chance. For the others, I really hope you guys have a big ass tv and a good sound system because this is one of those movies that try to make you feel that you're there, with the characters.



Starting from now, I'll try to give every movie a mark out of 10 based on some criteria, and give some recommendations. Hope you guys like it. See you on the next post!

Screenplay: 9/10
Directing: 8/10
Sound Effects 9/10
Scare Scenes 9/10
Acting 8/10
Overall 8,6/10

The good:
good scare scenes / very realistic shaky camera effects / variety of stories

The bad:
the main storyline and one tape are poorly done / inexperienced actors / some absurd scenes

How you should watch it:
-alone
-without any snacks because you will throw them down during the scare scenes
-pitch black room
-big ass tv

No comments:

Post a Comment