V/H/S
Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner
- thriller
- horror
The story
When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire one rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they had bargained for.
What it’s like
Grainy, degraded tape and jittery handheld POV set the look here: static VHS frames with tracking noise and timestamp overlays, mixed with shaky webcam feeds, night-vision green, and bedroom-lit glow from cheap screens. The palette is murky and sickly, mostly dim interiors and dark suburban nights, with hard flash and fluorescent glare when things go wrong. Sound is thin and lo-fi: hiss, static bursts, distorted audio, and sudden silence that does more work than any score. Each of the segments has its own texture and pace, so the rhythm lurches between slow, creeping unease and abrupt, panicked chaos. The vibe is sleazy, grimy, and nerve-jangling, a late-night watch for someone alone with the lights off. Intensity is high: frequent jump scares, graphic gore, bloody violence, sexual content, and disturbing imagery land hard and often, with little relief. The people are mostly reckless or unlucky, and their arcs collapse quickly into dread. It suits fans of found footage and anthology horror who want something raw, abrasive, and unsettling rather than gentle.
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