The V/H/S series has morphed into a yearly ritual for horror fans that love the anthology format. This year, that format continues with five stories (and a sixth frame narrative) that are all written and directed by up-and-coming horror filmmakers. If you don’t know what goes into a V/H/S movie, it’s basically an anthology horror movie that makes you feel like you’re watching a VHS tape that you found somewhere. These are stories that all follow the theme of the year, and this year is all about Halloween.

The six stories are: “Diet Phantasma” from writer/director Bryan M. Ferguson, ‘Coochie Coochie Coo’ from writer/director Anna Zllokovic, ‘Ut Supra Sic Infra’ from director Paco Plaza and written by Plaza and Alberto Marini, ‘Fun Size’ by writer/director Casper Kelly, ‘Kidprint’ by writer/director Alex Ross Perry, and ‘Home Haunt’ by writers/directors Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman.

Like most anthology horror movies, the segments range in quality, but all six are at the very least interesting and connected to the theme of Halloween in some way. So without further ado, let’s dive into V/H/S/Halloween.

The Not So Great Segments Of V/H/S/Halloween

The two segments that didn’t work as well for me were “Ut Supra Sic Infra” and “Coochie Coochie Coo”. They just felt like they were about as generic as they come and didn’t really connect with the Halloween-theming. They could have been any time of year, any place, and in particular “Ut Supra Sic Infra” just didn’t capture my attention. ‘Coochie Coochie Coo” has an interesting ending, but the time getting to that ending is kind of a slog. It starts the film off with a bit of a wet blanket. They’re both overly long and feel like they go on longer than they should. If you sit through both of these entries though, you get to what really makes V/H/S/Halloween special.

The Good Segment Of V/H/S/Halloween

“Fun Size” ends up as a good segment with an interesting premise. It’s simple: what happens when you disobey the order of “one per person” on a candy bowl? Besides the fact that people who do that are lame, this bowl has a special guardian. This one is funnier than anything else on the movie, with some grossly good-looking candy, and the ways these teenagers are dispatched for their mistakes are great. This captures the Halloween spirit and would have been the best of the bunch if not for the masterclasses of the final two segments on V/H/S/Halloween.

The All-Time Segments Of V/H/S/Halloween

The final two segments of V/H/S/Halloween are both tonally different. One is ‘Kidprint’ and the other is ‘Home Haunt’. They both capture those old school Halloween vibes that so many of us chase from the 80s and 90s of our youths. However, one is about stranger danger and the other is about a home haunt that goes very wrong.

‘Kidprint’ is mean-spirited, nasty, and excessively violent. It’s about the thing that all parents worry about around Halloween time, your kid getting mixed up with strangers who don’t have good intentions. It’s what we all warn kids about, and it goes all the way to the extreme. A videostore offers “kidprint” videos that are meant to ID children, in case they go missing, but the business behind these videos has the worst intentions possible. There’s torture, violence, and it’s just all around a sadistic story that might be the darkest in the series history.

“Home Haunt” is just all classic, nostalgic Halloween vibes. It’s what we wish we all could do around the holiday by building a Halloween haunt in our backyard when we’re kids. Except this time, it’s an obsessed father making his teenage son go through with the haunt into his teenage years. The entire neighborhood shows up, but a cursed object brings the monsters of the haunt to life. The lollipop ghosts and zombies of the haunt come out to terrify and kill whoever goes through the haunt.

A Wraparound And The Verdict

V/H/S/Halloween does have more good/great segments than it does stinkers. So if you can get through the first two, and they’re by no means unwatchable, but they’re just generic, you get to some of the best the series has to offer. If you’re into the holiday, or you want something that’ll get your right in the mood for a great Halloween, V/H/S/Halloween is a fine start.

V/H/S/Halloween releases on Shudder on October 3rd.

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