Spooky Season 2025: V/H/S/Halloween Review

V/H/S/Halloween is the eighth installment in the long running, but surprisingly versatile, horror franchise. Like previous installments, the film is presented as an anthology of five short horror films, built into a frame narrative which acts as its own sixth horror film. Each short is linked together with the concept of found footage as each segment is from various VHS tapes. This time, a collection of Halloween-themed videotapes unleashes a series of twisted, blood-soaked tales, turning trick-or-treat into a struggle for survival. Like always, this entry has assembled yet another talented line up of directors including Bryan M. Ferguson, Casper Kelly, Micheline Pitt-Norman, R.H. Norman, Alex Ross Perry, Paco Plaza, and Anna Zlokovic.

The sickest, nastiest, and meanest entry to date, V/H/S/Halloween undoubtedly offers the most consistent quality of shorts in the entire series, with no weak link amongst them. Each short gets progressively more brutal, bloody, and sinister than the last, every one is a different level of messed up as they hold absolutely nothing back. Certain sequences and images will be engraved in your mind for quite some time due to how graphic, and unsettling they get. While these segments can get both disgusting and quite disturbing at points. especially during their darkest moments, the overall film maintains a good sense of humor throughout, helping to balance it out and prevent it from diving into full fledged “torture porn” territory. Meanwhile, the Halloween setting is used very well in constructing some great atmospheres, while the stories that focus primarily on the holiday happen to be the ones that standout the most. Compared to the other segments, the wraparound story is always the least memorable due to it being spread throughout the film and usually having the shortest length. This is no exception here, however, despite it being the weakest of the bunch, it is still a lot of fun and presents some gnarly practical gore and effects to make up for the lack of plot.

The first full length short, “Coochie Coochie Coo,” gets this off to a promising start and is basically a monster movie set in a haunted house. It’s just as cool as it sounds and is definitely the scariest short solely due to the unpredictable nature of its aforementioned monster. The second short, “Ut Supra Sic Infra,” is the weakest simply for its slow start until it absolutely redeems itself with a blood soaked and brutal payoff. The third short, “Fun Size,” is where the film truly takes off and never looks back. Offering a great balance of horror and comedy, it will have audiences laugh and squirm in equal measure. When what is going on becomes clear, it is both quite disturbing but also kind of hilarious in a twisted and demented sort of way. “Fun Size” is probably the nastiest of the bunch, and just when it seems like the film can’t take it any further, it does. “Kidprint,” the fourth short, feels the most distinct and will probably be the most divisive, but those who can get on its messed up wavelength, they will be left speechless and mortified by the end. Featuring some of the most unsettling imagery in the entire franchise, it is kind of a miracle that it got away with as much as it did. The last short, “Home Haunt,” is also the best of the film, delivering a simple and straightforward story with a great setup and pays off.

Tat being said, the film still suffers from a couple common issues found in just about every anthology film including being a little long, and some segments starting a little slower than others, but these are to a lesser degree than usual. V/H/S/Halloween might just be the best entry in the franchise to date and, if nothing else, definitely has the best collection of shorts. The Halloween setting is used very well and injects a lot of life into the franchise. It’s kind of crazy that this and last year’s V/H/S/Beyond would ended up being the two best films in the franchise. How often does that happen with a 7^th and 8^th installment?

still courtesy of Shudder

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/