V/H/S/94 Review

V/H/S/94 Review.

V/H/S/94 came out seven years after the last installment of the series, V/H/S: Viral. The time off worked wonders. Getting the series back on its mostly up with a couple downs track, V/H/S/94 delivers more of what makes the series good.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

V/H/S/94

Directed by Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahhanto and Ryan Prows

Written by Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahhanto and Ryan Prows

Starring Anna Hopkins, Kyal Legend, Christian Lloyd and Shania Sree Maharani

V/H/S/94 Review

V/H/S/94 is a return to form for the series…for better and for worse. After the step down in quality of the last entry, it is refreshing to see a more focused effort on horror in this one. Aside from the framing story, the quality of the shorts is much stronger overall. They do decline in quality as the movie goes on which can begin to turn its 100 plus minute run time into a bit of a slog.

The framing story is, again, a disappointment. It can’t be as hard to make an engaging framing story as the V/H/S series makes it out to be. This time we follow a SWAT team into a warehouse where they find dead bodies and, of course, inevitably end up dead themselves. The segments are playing on screens inside of the warehouse. There isn’t much more to it than that.

Now let’s get into the actual segments, as always ranked from worst to best.

4. Terror (segment 4)

Terror should work. It’s a satire of patriotic zealot militias. The problem is that it doesn’t really have anything interesting to say about them. Yes, they’re dumb. What new ground they’ve broken there. They’re also incredibly annoying which should make watching them get their comeuppance fun at least. The problem is that the whole ordeal is just…boring. It does have an interesting idea about using Vampire blood as a weapon in there at least. And it fits the 1994 premise of V/H/S/94 better than some.

3. The Subject (segment 3)

From here on out the V/H/S/94 segments are pretty much down to a matter of taste. The top three are all good segments. The Subject is a mad scientist story that goes completely off the rails. Timo Tjahjanto, co-director of the series best segment Safe Haven, returns for more over the top fun. What drops it to third place is that it’s such a radical turn from the first two segments it feels jarring. Jarring certainly works for this segment, but for the overall feel of the movie it feels out of place. Still, taken on its own merits, The Subject is a top half of the series segment.

2. The Empty Wake (segment 2)

Hailey is tasked with filming and watching over a wake during a stormy night. When no one attends the wake and creepy things begin to happen, Hailey begins to suspect the man in the coffin is alive. The Empty Wake doesn’t attempt to break new ground. It’s a single location haunted house story. What it lacks in imagination, however, it more than makes up for in suspense. This scary little story works. It makes great use of the found footage conceit and is genuinely scary in ways these segments often fail to be. That it doesn’t take the top spot is a testament to how far V/H/S/94 rebounded from Viral.

1. Storm Drain (segment 1)

While Storm Drain may not be V/H/S/94’s scariest segment, it adds a level of fun to earn it top prize. A tv news reporter heads into the sewers to investigate the legend of a rat-man. There is some suspense, some comedy, some gore, and a great climax. It has everything that makes the V/H/S series work. It is easily the most 1994 feeling of the film to boot. What really pushes Storm Drain over the top though is its series best final moments when we’ve left the sewer for the comfort of the news studio.

Hail Raatma!

Scare Value

This V/H/S/94 review is going to sound very familiar if you read our reviews of V/H/S and V/H/S/2. A take it or leave it framing story and one down short keep V/H/S/94 from surpassing the overall quality of those two films. Three worthwhile shorts set it right aside them in ranking. As we’ve learned through our journey through the V/H/S series…3 out of 5 ain’t bad. … It’s also the score of V/H/S/94

3/5