I attempted watching Your Name (2018) yesterday, but it was to no avail. It made me too emotional to continue watching it, let alone write about it, so I’m taking it appropriately easy following delving into the quest that was Sátántangó. I’ve always been fond of the V/H/S franchise and I reckon it’s pretty unlikely a lot of you reading this are aware that another installment has been released.

The news correspondent in this segment of the film really did remind me of Gale Weathers in Wes Craven’s Scream movies and this film did a good job with the limited time it had to add a level of empathy to such a character.

These films have been a breath of fresh air as far as the horror genre is concerned over the past decade, they’re never overly serious, nor are they too much of a parody. Sure, certain skits in the previous ones varied from mediocre to incredible – but that’s my exact point, they always try something new, and twenty minutes into watching this one, I’m impressed.

There are still some brilliantly comedic parodies of the mainstream media too, there’s a lot of subliminal shots in this movie towards other creators and institutions and that’s what art is all about sometimes…

In terms of the narrative structure, these films only get better – displaying video cassette presentations within found footage presentations, like a Babushka doll of horror. The content itself always has its ups and downs, but it only adds to why these films are so impressive in my eyes – they always deliver something unexpected and are rarely focused purely upon the gore, but rather, the cinematography and absurdity of all that goes on during their runtime. Take these opening paragraphs as my regards for the previous movies, I suppose.

Directed by: Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto & Ryan Prows.

Going forward, it’s great to have leading characters that aren’t inherently vulnerable – or straw men/women, so to speak. You have a SWAT team infiltrating an abandoned facility…which is the main arc in the story; even making use of the malevolence inherently presented by shopping channels during intermissions; few and frequent in between.

Produced by: Josh Goldbloom, Brad Miska & Kurtis David Harder. Written by: David Bruckner & Brad Miska.

Not to say that V/H/S/94 is without gore though, there’s a lot of it, but the creators of these movies sure know what they’re doing. In a scene I thought was going to let me down and be exploitative, all convention was flipped completely on its head and made for some unbelievably philosophical points – alongside reminding me of the monsters included in the DOOM games. It’s a common occurrence, especially in this movie… Just when you come to jaded predictions imbued in you through other horror movies, it really gets inventive.

I feel like this segment of the movie really takes inspiration from the only good thing about the Doom (2005) film adaptation; that being the FPS-oriented cinematography at the end of it.

The final act was amazing. I had come to some level of assumption that this sequence was taking shots at the August Underground trilogy and other movies of the like, but I’m amazed at how accurate my deductions really were there. V/H/S/94 is likely to be the best horror movie of 2021, in my honest opinion – and maybe not only this year, either. I can see why critics gave it a higher score than audiences; this is a film dedicated to true acolytes of the genre and it didn’t let me down.

The subtle occultism and use of static televisions throughout really intrigued me, it’s a rare thing for me to enjoy a modern horror movie and I’m trying not to give away too many spoilers, even in the screenshots I present here; just because of its sheer entertainment value.

To those of you familiar with the franchise already or to other veterans of horror, I recommend it to you. It’s still a very brutal film, on all levels, but it is done remarkably tastefully if you can make such an assertion about presentations falling under such a category. It also doesn’t rely on jump-scares whatsoever, which always speaks for the credibility of the arrangement and the integrity of its creators.

The final segment of the film essentially mocks/depicts a private militia. It begins with hyper-realism then becomes something much, much different. I can’t believe I have so much to say about this film, in all honesty.

I’ve tried to avoid spoilers on this one and following my last post, I wanted to take it easy on the analysis. Have a good day all and thanks for reading…

Sedlo