Segments written and directed by Simon Barrett, Chloe Okuno, Ryan Prows, Jennifer Reeder and Timo Tjahjanto. Starring Kimmy Choi, Anna Hopkins, Kyal Legend, Christian Lloyd, Brendan McMurthey-Howlett, Nicolette Pearse, Christian Potenza and Budi Ross.
Plot: a SWAT team raids a warehouse and finds a bunch of dead bodies and a series of bizarre and disturbing VHS tapes.
Storm Drain
The first of the VHS tapes follows a reporter and her cameraman who are doing a story on the Rat Man, a Bigfoot type figure who has supposedly been seen living in the storm drains. So, that’s where they go. Once inside the storm drain they find some homeless people and a man with black liquid coming out of his mouth. That’s when they are abducted by sewer dwellers and a crazy “minister” who serves the Rat Man and tells them a new order is beginning. This does not go well for them or the world.
Chloe Okuno tells a very original and realistic story. The things some people will do for a story. It was good, it was gross and we really liked it.
The Empty Wake
The second tape revolves around a young woman named Hayley, who is working in a funeral home and hosting a wake for a man who was apparently in a terrible accident. Hayley is left by herself to handle the service and is nervous about it. Her nerves are only heightened by a storm going on outside and the lights constantly flickering in the building. Hayley is further shaken when they lights go out completely and she has to go into another room to flip a switch because when she comes back, she is sure the coffin has moved a bit. When one man finally shows up to visit the deceased, he speaks in a foreign language Hayley doesn’t understood. And when she calls her friend Sharon on her cell to ask about the dead man, she finds out that his death was no accident – it was a suicide.
Simon Barrett wrote and directed our favorite of all the shorts. It was orginal and nasty as hell. It followed rules, had a great story, terrific effects, good direction and an ending that can’t be beat. If there’s only one reason to watch V/H/S/94, this is it. It’s that perfect.
The Subject
This Indonesian story starts with a man who wakes up to find his body gone and replaced by mechanical spider legs. He can’t deal with this, struggles in the restraints keeping him off the ground, falls and then catches fire before dying. The man that comes to put out the fire is Dr. Suhendra, a sick scientist who’s doing experiments on humans to unite them with machines. However, he’s been suspected of kidnapping his patients and soon the building is overrun with police officers. Suhendra has booby trapped the place though and some of his creations are set to kill.
Timo Tjahjanto really divided me and DJ on this story. DJ felt it was original, realistic and loved the story. I hated the story and thought it was really gross. We did agree that the acting, innovation and effects were sensational though.
Terror
The final story by Ryan Prows, follows a group called the First Patriots Movement Militia who believe that they need to take America back from the “evil”. They work for Christ of course because, “Christ is king.” As it turns out, the evil they are going after is vampiric and pretty damn unnerving when you final see it up close. Overall though, we didn’t really understand the ending, but we thought the story was rather realistic and the effects were exceptional.
Holy Hell
The wraparound story was written and directed by Jennifer Reeder. But holy hell (haha), we hated it. The SWAT team ends up losing their shit, a lot of them die and then there’s a big reveal that’s just so stupid and not fun at all. Still, as a whole, V/H/S/94 is worth the watch. DJ just recommends it a bit more than I do.
My score: 52. DJ’s score: 60.
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