V/H/S Viral (2014)
Starring Emmy Argo, Amanda Baker, Dan Caudill, Greyson Chadwick
Directed by Marcel Sarmiento, Gregg Bishop, Nacho Vigalondo, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead
The V/H/S franchise started off not with a bang, but a whimper, the four shorts and wraparound segment that binds them all together failing to form a cohesive vision. The sequel proved to be a far more successful outing, thus suggesting for the optimists that the series will only get better with future installments. And in a way it does, but not without some caveats.
The worst thing about V/H/S Viral, the third and likely final installment in the found footage horror anthology series, is the conceit that binds the short films together. While the first two films’ wraparounds segments, however boring or pointless they may have been, managed to actually utilize VHS tapes to introduce the segments, the third abandons it entirely.
Directed by Marcel Sarmiento, the wraparound, known as Vicious Circles, opts for a more modern approach, utilizing cell phones that seemingly transmit a virus to groups of onlookers seeking to film a police chase involving a stolen ice cream van. It is, to be blunt, a nonsensical jumble of static and noise that barely makes a lick of sense until the final moments, and even then it’s hardly satisfying. Save for a cringe-worthy moment involving a pair of feet, asphalt, and a high speed chase, it’s just a chore to sit through.
Thankfully, if viewed as a simple anthology of fun horror tales, the trio of directors and teams – Dance of the Dead’s Gregg Bishop, Timecrimes’ Nacho Vigalondo, and Resolution’s Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead – have managed to succeed admirably.
Dante the Great: Written and directed by Gregg Bishop, this short is less found footage than a mock doc that follows the rise and fall of Dante the Great, a magician whose act revolves a mysterious cloak that grants him “magical” – and violent – powers. Despite mostly abandoning the genuine found footage conceit and, at times, appearing to take a straightforward narrative approach, Bishop’s short manages to be a fun little start to the anthology, showcasing some impressive special effects and reveling in gleeful violence perpetrated by the titular character (played wonderfully by The Signal actor Justin Welborn). It’s the “scariest” segment of the three, if only for its final jump-worthy moment.
Parallel Monsters: Nacho Vigalondo once again returns to his sci-fi roots, substituting time travel in favor of parallel dimensions with his witty, shocking, and fiercely intelligent middle segment. In the short, a man secretly creates a machine that leads to a world identical to his, only reversed, as if looking in a mirror. On the other side he meets his parallel self, and the two decide to switch places and explore for fifteen minutes. A genius in his own right, Vigalondo keeps you on your toes the whole way through, constantly guessing at the end game before taking things in an utterly absurd direction. It may not be the most exciting segment, but it certainly is the smartest.
Bonestorm: Directed by indie darlings Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, whose debut feature Resolution capped many Best Of lists upon its release, Bonestorm is a frenetic ride clearly influenced by Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto’s Safe Haven segment from V/H/S 2. It follows a trio of skater kids and a slightly weird cameraman as they travel to Tijuana to finish shooting a skateboarding video in an old reservoir. Naturally, things don’t go as planned when they come face to face with a Mexican death cult, forcing them to defend themselves and fight them off through any means necessary. It’s fun, it’s funny, and seeing a bunch of kids beat the crap out of skeletons in long robes with skateboards and machetes is just a recipe for a damned good time.
Apparently a fourth segment, written and directed by The Apparition director Todd Lincoln, was dropped from the final product, making the film a bit shorter and thus slightly easier to digest, given the slog that is Sarmiento’s tale. Three is enough.
The shorts that comprise V/H/S Viral are inventive enough to make up for the blunder that is Sarmiento’s wraparound, even if each one breaks the found footage “rules” in egregious ways. But at this juncture, screw the rules. Found footage has become a shadow of what it once was and has becomes nothing more than a catch-all term to designate a hand-held or first-person perspective. The directors this time around got that, and while V/H/S Viral didn’t necessarily finally “get it right,” it certainly realized that it’s okay to simply have fun with the conceit.
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