Spooky Season 2023: V/H/S/85 Review

V/H/S/85 is the newest installment (and 6^th overall) in the long running horror anthology franchise that is once again brought to life by several well known and talented horror filmmakers, this time including directors such as Scott Derrickson, David Bruckner, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, and Mike P. Nelson. The film follows a similar approach and structure as past films with 5 shorts and a main storyline that brings them all together. Unveiled through a made-for-TV documentary, five tales of found footage horror emerge to take viewers on a terrifying journey into the grim underbelly of the 1980’s.

Ever since it’s revival in 2021, the yearly tradition of releasing a new V/H/S film on Shudder has been a treat for genre fans and a welcome October tradition. This year it looked to be a real treat going back to the 1980’s and collecting what might be the most talented lineup of directors thus far. V/H/S/85 may not necessarily be one of the best entries in the franchise, but is yet another solid albeit uneven addition. Before discussing the film as a whole, lets address and rank each segment below.

6. God of Death is, without a doubt, the weakest short and the only one that’s kind of boring to watch. There just isn’t anything about it that is that appealing, exciting or interesting compared to the other shorts and it could’ve gone further with its premise, especially its ending which cuts to black right as it gets somewhat intriguing. To its credit, it does somewhat pick up near the end, but it is not nearly enough to make up for what came before. Each V/H/S film usually has one dud in their lineup, and this is sadly the dud here.

5. Total Copy is the film’s main story and cuts back to multiple times throughout. One of the main issues most of the films in this franchise fall victim to is a weak main storyline that does a poor job at bringing the film together. While it doesn’t completely fix this issue, it’s undeniably the strongest frame narrative of the entire franchise and gets better over time. Though it isn’t exactly scary, it is fun and pretty gnarly. How it was made to look like a 1980’s television program with commercials and all the other bells and whistles makes it standout even more. Like the film itself and most of the shorts within it, it is solid.

4. No Wake marks a fun if flawed start to this film’s series of shorts. While it starts off a little slow, its setting of the woods works and offers a nice change of pace from what this franchise typically offers. Its boat sequence is well done and intense to watch, with a lot of nasty gore effects. Getting better with each passing minute, it ends with a cool twist that should’ve been presented earlier. Its biggest problem is how the film cuts it off too soon. Done when it seemingly was just getting going, there presumably was at least a few additional minutes of footage. Even though it ends without a climax, it’s still one of the better and memorable shorts in the film.

3. Ambrosia also suffers from its short length but thankfully not nearly to the same effect as TKNOGD. Without going into spoiler territory, this segment does something that this franchise hasn’t done before and it actually enhanced and added to one of the earlier segments. The acting is solid, starting off strong and getting better from there. It might not have as much meat on the bone compared to the other shorts, but this was a fun and crazy watch even if it only serves one purpose by the end.

2. TKNOGD offers an enjoyable central premise even if it is way too short and could have done more with some of its ideas. This is arguably the shortest segment of the bunch, and suffers because of it. Building up to something cool and suitably gnarly, however, as soon as things start to get crazy, it abruptly ends and goes to the next short. Featuring impressive visuals are impressive in spite of a lower budget it’s probably operating on, it’s just a shame it had not been given more time to flesh some things out.

1. Dreamkill is helmed by director Scott Derrickson and co-written alongside his longtime partner C. Robert Cargill therefore it should not come as much of a surprise that it is only the best segment of this film but also one of the best in the entire franchise and a story deserving of the feature film treatment. Its premise alone is enough to sustain a full-length feature as the segment does so many cool and creative things within its short length, putting most of the other shorts to shame. The violence present here might be the most stomach churning out of them all while the acting is a huge upgrade compared to the other segments, featuring the likes of Rodriguez and Ransone. Overall, it’s genuinely creepy and unnerving. Starting off with a neat POV shot, it only gets better from there as it introduces its interesting and ambitious plot. Ending the segments on a strong note, it’s easy to look back on the rest of the film more positively.

At the end of the day, V/H/S/85 isn’t the strongest entry in this franchise, but that being said, it proves it still has a ton of ideas left and shows no signs of running out of gas. As goes with the franchise, some shorts are better than others while others are hurt by their short length and lack of budget. Nevertheless, this instalment gives fans of this franchise everything they could possibly want around Halloween, this time with a nice 1980’s setting.

still courtesy of Shudder

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/