Movie Review: V/H/S/99

There are very few anthology films that go on to spawn 4 sequels, but the surprise hit found-footage collection V/H/S can now join that very small list. Following in the footsteps of last year’s surprisingly decent V/H/S/94, the 5th installment purports to focus on one particular year, in this case 1999, when the VHS format itself was losing ground to DVDs. This isn’t really important though, as aside from some passing references to Y2K and a quick glimpse of some “2000” shaped glasses, the year doesn’t really make much of a difference to any of these stories. The somewhat uninspired wrap-around storyline concept is completely absent for the first time in the series, instead presenting the 5 stories as different recordings mixed together on a single video cassette, with flashes of stop-motion animation from story 4 popping up in between each segment to an overall better effect.

In the 5 stories here we encounter punk rockers that anger the spirits of a deceased band while trying to prank one of their own members, a sorority hazing that goes terribly wrong, a demented children’s game show, some teenage boys who get more than they bargained for while trying to spy on an attractive neighbor, and finally a literal journey through Hell. With each segment written and directed by different filmmakers the quality is more than a little uneven, but that’s to be expected of the anthology format. While earlier entries in the series managed to produce some genuine standouts though, this can’t quite do so.

Opening segment “Shredding” is perhaps one of the franchise’s weakest entries, generating almost no scares or laughs despite attempting to do both. Punk rock fans may get a little bit of a kick out of it, but the rest of the audience will likely find it at least a little corny. The fourth story, “The Gawkers”, where the aforementioned stop-motion clips come from, is another low point. The characters are unlikable and underdeveloped and the whole thing feels like it ends too abruptly. “Ozzy’s Dungeon”, the third entry is markedly better. Directed by techno musician Flying Lotus, who also made the grotesquely entertaining and absurd 2017 film Kuso is clearly having a blast sending up old Nickelodeon game shows like Legends of the Hidden Temple, but it relies more on weirdness than plot and suffers a little for it.

Story 2, titled “Suicide Bid” is a bit better. When the members of the Beta Sigma Eta convince freshman pledge Lily (Alexia “Ally” Ioannides) to spend the night in a coffin in order to join the sorority they first inform her of the urban legend of Giltine, who died performing the same stunt 20 years earlier. Being stuck in a coffin is inherently creepy, and director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down) makes great use of the tight space and some excellent sound design to generate genuine suspense. The best story of the bunch though is saved for last. Vanessa & Joseph Winter’s “To Hell and Back” follows a pair of videographers played by Joseph Winter and Archelaus Crisanto who are hired to record a coven of witches as they attempt to bring forth a powerful demon known as Ukabon (Dustin Watts). During the ceremony however, another demon appears and grabs the pair, dragging them into Hell, where they must try to locate Ukabon in the hopes of tagging along back to Earth with him, with the help of damned soul Mabel (Melanie Stone, relishing the part) whose trustworthiness is questionable at best. While the appearance of Hell is clearly limited by the budget, it still mostly works. The husband and wife writing and directing duo once again demonstrate an aptitude for blending horror and comedy like they did in Deadstream. There are some similarities to that movie, but “To Hell and Back” still stands on its own, and while not perfect, is still the most memorable and enjoyable segment in the movie.

Nothing here rises to the greatness of Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Evans’ “Safe Haven” in V/H/S/2, nor is it as consistently good as that movie, the first installment, or 94. That being said, at least for me, everything after the first segment was at least passably entertaining and there were a few highlights. I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point for anyone new to the series, but fans should be at least satisfied enough to hope for a Part 6. ★★