I wasn’t much of a fan of the first two entries in the V/H/S
anthology series. Even though the
franchise is of the Found Footage variety, I still decided to give this one a
whirl. Boy, I’m glad that I did. Not only is this third installment a dramatic
improvement in many ways, it’s one of the best Found Footage horror films ever
made.
The wraparound segment, Vicious Circles (**) is the weakest
link. A guy keeps filming his girlfriend
with his new camera. When he sees the
cops closing in around his block, he decides to film all the excitement. Meanwhile, his girlfriend gets captured by
the lunatic driver of an ice cream truck and he desperately tries to rescue her.
The Found Footage aesthetic is especially annoying in this
segment. The videotape footage is full
of popping, scratching, and static, but it’s really overdone, almost to the
point of parody. Although there are some
grisly moments here, like a guy losing his feet while being dragged by the
speeding truck, the fractured narrative and odd plot detours (like a family
barbecue that turns deadly) don’t really lend themselves to the wraparound
format. Luckily, the stories themselves
are a lot of fun.
The first tale is Dante the Great (***). A failing magician finds a magic cloak that
allows him to do amazing and impossible illusions. He becomes an overnight sensation, but we
soon learn that fame comes with a price:
He has to feed his assistants to the cloak in order to gain more power.
This segment plays fast and loose with the form. It’s not really a Found Footage flick, but
more of a mockumentary. The sequence
where the magician takes out an entire SWAT team with his magic powers is
awesome and his duel to the death with his sexy assistant is one for the books. It’s almost enough to make you wish it was
its own standalone full-length feature.
Parallel Monsters (***) is up next. A scientist works on creating a doorway to a
parallel universe. He opens the door and
is startled to meet his alternate self.
They get along famously and decide to switch places to see how the other
half lives. Very weirdly as it turns
out.
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo, this story has a cool Outer
Limits Meets Playboy Channel vibe. The
Found Footage gimmick works well here because the scientist is filming it all
for his scientific research. The scene
where the two parallel dimension scientists film each other is really cool
too. You never know quite where it’s
headed and the big reveal in the end (which I wouldn’t want to spoil) is guaranteed
to make your jaw drop.
Bonestorm (****) rounds out the pack and it is by far the
best use of the Found Footage gimmick I have seen. A group of teens go down to Tijuana to finish
filming their skating video. The ditch
they’re skating in just so happens to have some weird satanic markings on it. When one of the kids cuts his elbow and
bleeds on the pentagram, it awakens an evil group of zombie cultists.
This segment is fun, especially if you’re like me and made
skate tapes in your younger years. The
filmmakers really capture the feeling of hanging out with your friends on a
lazy afternoon and shredding. When the shit
hits the fan, the feces really flies.
The scenes of the skaters caving in zombie skulls with skateboards,
slicing them up with samurai swords, and blowing them up with firecrackers are
worth the price of admission. This is
some of the best zombie mayhem I have seen in a long time. It also helps that the zombies all have a
great Burial Ground-inspired look to them.
V/H/S: Viral is easily
the best in the series and one of the best anthologies of 21st
century. Folks, this is why you watch
all the sequels in any particular series.
You never know when you’re going to be surprised.
AKA: V/H/S: New Virus.
No comments:
Post a Comment