This is a found footage film inside of a found footage film combined with an anthology film. I have to say... that's pretty damn cool since those are two sub-genres I happen to really like. I'll go ahead and give a short run down of the stories in V/H/S with my own titles I've given them.
Redneck Cat Burglars: The connecting story of V/H/S. A group of petty criminals who pretty much get off filming themselves doing despicable shit look to step their game up into some higher crime and are sent to steal a special VHS tape from some old guy. They break in and find him dead, then weird things start to happen while they look for the tape. Meanwhile one member of the crew is watching tapes with the dead body as they search (that dude has some brass ones). This story is filmed with two cameras so you get to see both halves of the tale.
Slum-bro Party Massacre: Three young douche bags with a hidden camera set out to lure drunk girls to their hotel to gang bang and film. Gotta have some honesty here, I was really hoping these guys died in a super painful and awful way and was not disappointed. Some scenes here that will really make you cringe. Something I liked is that, as a sober viewer in comparison to the characters, you know something is wrong and see the danger a mile away. You get the idea of just how drunk and stupid these guys are. The moral of the story? Don't look to take advantage of women at bars.They might kill you!
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You Could Have Just Asked for a Divorce!: A married couple takes a second honeymoon through the American Southwest. It's boring as all hell most of the time until it turns into a weird snuff film. Though the violence in this story is so literally in your face and brutal, it really has an impact.
Hey, Wanna Go Camping at Murder Lake?: A group of friends heads out on a camping trip with a girl they just met, only to have it revealed to them that all her other friends that came with her died and now she's using these new friends as bait! Wow, that's pretty cold! A cool part of this story is that the killer is obscured by "tracking", so it just looks like an anomaly on the tape chasing them. The kills are pretty cool and there is a lot of great use of VHS effects.
Abducted and Pregnant: A young woman is plagued by odd bruises and phenomena in her apartment while web chatting with her med student boyfriend. This entire story is shot from the perspective of a webcam, which I thought was pretty cool. This story is short and creepy with a pretty good mind fuck ending.
Wrong House, Bro: Halloween night a pack of young men end up at the wrong house in search of a Halloween party and contend with some spooky goings on. When the shit finally hits the fan in this story the effects are nice and the cast does a great job of being scared. A really solid story all told, there's a pretty nice sense of dread through the whole thing.
I really enjoyed the whole experience. All the stories are solid and the grainy look of the VHS effects is wonderful. VHS is obviously the most evil of all recording mediums, just behind ahead of the laser disc. A couple of points to hit, this movie has a LOT of nudity and sexuality. Not in a distasteful way, but if you're a prude you may not much care for it. A bit of a theme in the movie is exhibitionism and voyeurism. But, there's a lot of creativity at work here with such an awesome concept and some really nice looking effects and makeup. There are some really visceral kills and some scenes that made me not want to look at the screen because I was scared of what might happen next. It's a solid horror experience.
Also, one thing this movie taught me. Even if you're being chased by some horrible monster, take your time on the stairs. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. I'm pretty sure stairs lead to the death of more horror movie characters than power tools.
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