In this age of streaming and 4K quality video, there’s something undeniably nostalgic about the grainy, imperfect world of VHS tapes. The V/H/S franchise taps into that nostalgia, delivering a found-footage experience that feels both retro and terrifyingly modern. With latest film V/H/S Beyond now streaming we thought it was time to dive in and look back at each film.
Join me as we revisit each instalment, ranking them from weakest to strongest, and celebrate the enduring appeal of analog horror and which should be your must watch and what you can leave gathering dust with the other VHS tapes in your attic.
6th Place – V/H/S: Viral
Starting with what I believe was the worst entry in the VHS franchise. V/H/S/:Viral was the third installment in the anthology series and arguably its weakest entry. This is what originally killed the franchise prior to SHUDDER picking it back up 6 years later. While the shorts had good concepts, they were just not smartly used. One segment in particular was a man who finds a way to open a door to a parallel world and meets his alternate self. They agree to trade worlds for 15 minutes before he discovers this alternate world is demonic in nature and everyone’s genitals are demons. Not very creative and really just felt like a snuff film. The other stories focus on a magician who gains real magic after sacrifice (which was its most creative) and a group of skateboarders fighting off living skeletons.
It just felt like missed opportunities more than victories and nothing really stood out for me, especially in comparison to the other VHS films.
5th Place – V/H/S/85
This is where things begin to get somewhat difficult to simply grade the anthology movies as complete works rather than segments.
V/H/S/85 has at least two really great segments but I found it bogged down with some subpar ones. With a weak overarching plot on top, subsequent rewatches have made me skip to the segments I really wanted to see.
This does have one thing that other VHS films have yet to do though, which is linking two seemingly unrelated segments together. This was great and something I would love to see them do again in the future if suitable to the plot.
4th Place – V/H/S/94
This is when Shudder got involved, dusted off the tapes and brought the V/H/S franchise back from its day in horror film purgatory.
But for me, it was kinda messy, it had more money which was obvious, and some interesting ideas, but it just did not land heavily for me personally.
Some good ideas, just not great execution. It had its horror elements but at times felt it was too afraid to really show us in ‘money shot’ moments. Its overarching plot was also lacking. But that being said, Shudder had brought back this franchise and gave us hope of a yearly anthology franchise.
3rd Place – V/H/S/2
When a film comes along that is an absolute banger, the sequel usually falls into a difficult challenge to overcome due to high expectations the first feel creates. V/H/S/2 mostly wins and builds up to the vibe the first movie presents, but still leaves plenty of room for growth.
Showing us some interesting concepts such as artificial limbs linking us to the paranormal world and even a zombie outbreak via a go pro camera. V/H/S/2 delivers on the ‘go bigger’ rules a sequel should usually follow. Even a fan favourite with ‘Safe Haven’ which is certainly near the top of everyone’s favourite segment list.
Why only 3rd place? Well this is the difficulty in ranking the V/H/S films, by no means is 2 bad, it’s just the franchise has delivered better for me.
2nd Place – V/H/S
This is where it all started. The fresh idea, no expectations and nothing prior to base it on. Even the main narrative plot had entertaining moments everytime we came back to it.
With only one real dud ‘Second Honeymoon’ being less horror and more ‘huh?’. The very first V/H/S film gave us some absolutely mad stories involving aliens, succubus’ and demon summonings. It was strong throughout and started what went on to be a largely successful franchise still going strong today. It really felt original and used the found footage concept in some interesting ways. By today’s standards it’s not perfect but for 2012 this was awesome and I have yet to avoid a V/H/S film since I first encountered it.
1st Place – V/H/S/99
This for me has got to be my favourite V/H/S film. With only one weak link being ‘Ozzy’s Dungeon’, I loved every single segment we got. This was also the first and only film to not include any main narrative, instead replacing it with some weird stop motion shorts which then lead into the 4th segment.
All the segments left me guessing and being legitimately shocked with their plot twists. My personal favourite being the end of ‘To Hell and Back’ where two men are accidently dragged to hell and must escape in a short space of time. They manage to beat the demon who was due to be summoned and they both make it back to earth, with the twist being one of them had possessed the body of the woman who was going to be the vessel for the demon.
It was a fantastic watch for me and my friends and really set them on the trail to watch the previous movies and even create our own anthologies from short Youtube horrors every halloween.
Verdict
The V/H/S films have had their high highs and low lows but each film has delivered at least one segment with an awesome idea brought to life. Asking other V/H/S fans, you would most likely receive this list in a drastically different order. It’s the beauty of anthology films, there are so many chances to affect the audience differently.
Creating a short horror film is an art in itself, many full length horror films fall into the same traps of dragging a plot or revealing how little plot the story had. The Short Horror Film style can feel almost like a rollercoaster, it’s short but scary and all kinds of fun. Rarely outstaying their welcome and sometimes leave you wanting more.
I hope Shudder does keep the V/H/S franchise alive and explores potentially bringing in more directors and writers lesser known to test their skills to a wider audience.
One thing is for sure though, whenever a new V/H/S film drops, I will be ready to watch on day one! (or night one for the vibes)
V/H/S, V/H/S 2 and V/H/S: Viral are available to purchased now on digital platforms. Stream V/H/S 94, V/H/S 99, V/H/S 85 and V/H/S Beyond now via Shudder.
