So, let me start this off by talking about how I’m not a huge fan of the V/H/S films. I like them. Well, I really like the second one, I didn’t like the first one with the exception of two of the sketches and part three is slightly better than part one, but not quite is good as part two. Was that a confusing enough explantation for you? Sorry, but they are a confusing premise to begin with.
Taken homages to Creepshow and Trick ‘R Treat, to a certain extant, the V/H/S films are doing something that hasn’t been doing in a very long time; the Anthology Film. Take a bunch of directors, with a bunch of different stories, and center a whole movie around them. I LOVE the idea, I LOVE when it’s executed properly; it’s just that these aren’t as good as the films of old. For what they lack in originality and quality, they make up for in spawning other films like The ABC’s of Death and Chillerama. For that, I applaud them.
One of my biggest problems with these films is that they aren’t even shot on V/H/S. I grew up with Shot on Video horror and I love and respect it to this day. The works of Chris Seaver, Todd Cook, JR Bookwalter, the Polonia Brothers and many others didn’t take themselves seriously. They picked up a camera, whipped up a ton of blood, and shot a movie. Now, I didn’t expect that with the budget of the V/H/S films and the talent behind them; but it would be nice that if your’e going to market them as VHS movies, that they wouldn’t be shot on GoPros and HD cameras.
That quibble aside, let’s get to the review of V/H/S Viral. Its stated to the the third in the trilogy, and the last one of the series. They had four sketches in this film: Vicious Circles (Marcel Sarmiento, TJ Cimfel, David White), Dante the Great (Gregg Bishop), Parallel Monsters (Nacho Vigalondo), and Bonestorm (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead). I’ll break these down accordingly.
Vicious Circle
This serves as the overall film that ushers in the other movies. It’s a story of a girl and a guy, and a girl whose video goes inside of a cell phone, that then sends a viral message out to the world and causes chaos. It’s kind of like when you watched The Ring; but far less entertaining. I was confused by most of what happened in the sketch and just wanted to get to the next one by being forced to watch this kid search for his girlfriend who was for some reason in a cell phone.
Dante the Great
This sketch was directed by Gregg Bishop. He’s the writer/director of Dance of the Dead and The Other Side. Both films of which I love. I was thoroughly impressed with Dante the Great. The story of a man in a trailer park who gets a cloak that turns his parlor tricks into a full-blown magicians show that rivals Houdini. The special effects were pretty well done, but the acting was amazing. It could just be that I’m a sucker for magic tricks, but this sketch was a mix of ‘Now You See Me’ and something that Criss Angel would do. It was fantastic and I enjoyed myself the whole time.
Parallel Monsters
Director, Nacho Vigalondo, made quite a name for himself in his film Timecrimes. It was a bare bones budget film that showed you the consequences of time travel. Parallel Monsters takes that same message and adds a penis monster. Our main character creates a device that takes him to a parallel universe where he meets another Him. The two decide to switch spots for fifteen minutes and they find out that their lives are WILDLY different. In a mix between his previous film and Edgar Wrights ‘At Worlds End’, Vigalondo managed to terrify and entertain me in 20 minutes and I had a blast doing so. It was disgusting and just plain cool all at once.
Bonestorm
This entry was only really entertaining to me because I love skateboarding. You have two skate punks pressure another kid into taking them to Tijuana for a ‘killer’ skate spot. They get there and it’s filled with satanic symbols and soon is joined by cult members. There’s a lot of mindless killing of the cult members as they attack the skaters, but things then get super crazy as the cultists turn into skeletons. Why, how, what? That’s what I was more or less asking myself, but I also didn’t really care too much. The skeletons were pretty cool and that’s why it got a rating as high as I gave it.
Overall, I do hope this is the last V/H/S film. I love that it inspires more low budget filmmakers to come out and create, I just wish that the product was as good as the ambition behind it.
