V/H/S/99, 2022.
Directed by Flying Lotus, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Johannes Roberts, Joseph Winter, and Vanessa Winter.
Starring Jesse LaTourette, Logan Riley, Isabelle Hahn, Verona Blue, Jackson Kelly, Aminah Nieves, Ally Ioannides.
SYNOPSIS:
The found footage anthology series continues with a series of horror shorts set in the year 1999.
The V/H/S series of anthologies has been something of a mixed bag so far, from the lukewarm reception of the first one to the more enthusiastic response to part two, and then on to the massive drop in quality that was V/H/S: Viral, although 2021s Shudder exclusive V/H/S/94 received a little more praise.
Which is probably what led to the release of V/H/S/99, a follow-up in the same vein as the previous movie, i.e. setting the movie in the year of the title, so this being set in 1999 we get a lot of stop-motion toy soldiers in a childish but quite funny wraparound, and then it is into our first story Shredding, a very convincing late ’90s tale involving a pop-punk band, a haunted venue and some hungry zombies. This is followed by Suicide Bid, a psychological descent into the depths of the Earth as a college student desperately wants to join a sorority and unwittingly has to do a dare.
Ozzy’s Dungeon is the third section and is based on a kid’s TV show where young children have to rush around, run through tubes, climb ladders and generally do dangerous things in order to win. However, something goes wrong and things don’t quite turn out how the producers were expecting.
Next segment is The Gawkers, probably the most authentic recreation of ‘90s culture for teenage boys, and is a stark warning for anybody spying on their attractive neighbour. The final part is To Hell and Back, which sees a couple of guys literally descend into Hell, where they meet witches, demons and monsters without ever switching off their video camera (of course, because nobody ever does).
The most glaring positive about V/H/S/99 over its predecessors is how much of a sense of fun it has throughout all its stories. This could be translated as the horror has been toned down – and to a point it has, especially as the framing story is so light-hearted – but one of the biggest complaints of the original V/H/S was how tonally awkward and all over the place it was, so this at least has some consistency in comparison, and when the horror moments do kick in they elicit the right response – you’ve had some fun and giggles and then boom! You get what you came for but without it feeling like a cheap, unearned jump scare.
Opening segment Shredding is the weakest of the bunch, mainly because the found footage element is a little overdone thanks to the quick edits, cutting and the image flickering far too much – let’s be honest, if you bought a video camera that was that glitchy you’d have taken it back to the shop – and also because you will immediately wish for all the horrible characters in it to die horribly, but punk rock zombies are always cool and the final few minutes are quite satisfactory as Shredding riffs on Return of the Living Dead with its look, albeit it ROTLD on a miniscule budget.
But as it the joy with all anthologies, if one segment isn’t quite so good it isn’t long until another one comes along, and this is very true here as Shredding gives way to Suicide Bid, which is probably the darkest of the bunch but the story of a naïve young college student having to spend the night in a coffin in order to impress the sorority sisters is quite affecting as Lily (Ally Ioannides), for it is she, is put through all manner of psychological torture, leading to a telegraphed but visually pleasing ending.
From then on V/H/S/99 stays at a fairly consistent level as Ozzy’s Dungeon and To Hell and Back are terrific fun, the former going from a loud and annoying kid’s TV show to torture porn with a neat twist, and the latter going a bit weird and abstract but for monster madness with no proper structure it is a blast as the two leads stumble around a demon netherworld, like in the original Doom game but without the weapons and plenty of gut-munching. The Gawkers sits between the two and is a little less rewarding thanks to the American Pie-style story of teenage boys setting up their sexy neighbour so they can film her undressing. All well and good for a comedy plot, and it definitely fits the time period setting, but there is far too much bro culture setup for the slightly ropey visuals in the final scenes to really work. Great idea, shame about the execution.
Overall, however, V/H/S/99 is a surprisingly entertaining fifth entry in this patchy series. It doesn’t do anything inventive or innovative but when it comes to the tired format of found footage, just being fun and watchable is a plus. At 110 minutes it is a little long, and there are sections of each story that feel a little stretched out for no real reason as the scripts don’t really call for any artistic flourishes, but for a shot of nostalgia that recreates those heady days of 1999 very convincingly, with some zombies, demons and, worse of all, spiders thrown in for some silly scares, V/H/S/99 is a lot more enjoyable as a whole movie than any of its predecessors.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
