V/H/S/2 REVIEW

Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find a collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student’s disappearance.

Starring: Lawrence Michael Levine, and Kelsy Abbott

Directed by: Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez, Timo Tjahjanto, and Adam Wingard

Written by: Timo Tjahjanto, Brad Miska, Simon Barrett, John Davies, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Jamie Nash, and Eduardo Sanchez

  To start off, it’s surprising that V/H/S/2 was made because V/H/S wasn’t that great. It has its moments here and there, but nothing stands out about it. The worse thing about it is the story that sets up the viewing of the cassettes. It didn’t seem to make sense, nor be a good reason for the cassettes to be shown.

  With that being said, obviously the first thing that needs improvement on in the sequel is the set up story. While there is nothing amazing about it, this set up at least makes sense. It’s simply some investigators on a case when they find the cassettes, and start watching them. There isn’t a great dynamic between the pair of investigators, but that isn’t important part of the movie.

  The important part is the stories found on the cassettes. The first story called “Phase 1 Clinical Trials” is about a guy who receives an eye transplant. The audience sees this story through his new robotic eye. By far, this is the scariest of the stories because his new eye allows him to see ghosts. It’s not a bad story, but it kind of feels like it has been told before.

  The story that absolutely blew me out of the water is called “A Ride in the Park.” This story is about a guy who takes a bike ride through a park, and runs into trouble when he stops to help a woman out. What kind of trouble? Well he gets bit by the woman now zombie, and becomes one himself. The audience gets to see what he does once he turns through a camera that is mounted on top of his bike helmet. It’s an awesome up close look from a zombie’s point of view, not to mention a great short story.

  The next cassette is a short story called “Safe Haven.” This is certainly a story that has people talking whether they liked it or not. It’s the bloodiest story, and makes it hard to believe they would actually show this in theaters. Yes, it’s that crazy! Without giving too much away, basically a film crew is given permission to film a mysterious cult out in the middle of nowhere. Of course things get out of hand, and starts to go way down hill quickly.

  While the previous two stories are easy to like, the next one isn’t. It’s called “Slumber Party Alien Abduction.” In this story, some young kids strap a camera on their small dog, and film themselves having some fun around the house. Their sister and her boyfriend are in charge, and in the typical brother/sister battle they play jokes on each other. It’s all fun and games until aliens come to abduct them. Sounds like a good story, but when the aliens attack the camera turns on and off constantly, each time with the dog ending up in a different place. It seems like they wanted to create the chaos of the moment, but it just becomes too messy. The aliens are pretty cool looking though.

  It’s not often that audiences find sequels that are better than the original, but that is definitely the case in the V/H/S series. It’s a pleasant surprise to see the improvement from V/H/S to V/H/S/2. It starts with a set up story that actually makes sense, and then moves on to some solid short stories. There is definitely some imagination in the unique way each story is shot. The movie also gives audiences something a little different in each story, as it as something for fans of ghosts, zombies, bloodshed, or aliens. With that, I give this V/H/S/2 a solid 3 pools of blood. 

  HorrO