Previously posted on blog and written by B. Demeter
V/H/S 2 is better than V/H/S. There, I spoiled my own review.
V/H/S was a freaky horror anthology with five different stories of varying quality. Some were good, the rest were forgettable. For the hype that the film received, I thought it was under whelming.
V/H/S 2 on the other hand has four stories all of equal quality. On that point alone I feel I have to give it to ‘2’. Here are my initial reactions to the individual stories; and after that I’ll get into them a bit deeper:
Phase I Clinical Trials: “Rock solid. No complaints.”
A Ride in the Park: “I’m so fucking bored with zombies, but this wasn’t that bad.”
Safe Haven: “You had me until the very end when that thing speaks. Fucking stupid”
Slumber Party Alien Abduction: “If I’d have known I would see the dog die on screen I probably wouldn’t have watched this movie at all.”
Okay, ‘Phase I’ involves a guy who is a test subject for a bionic eye field study. Low and behold, the eye can see more than just the physical world. He starts seeing ghosts. The effects are basic but effective and spot on. For the most part, the guy is just jump scaring us every time he turns around and sees a specter. While I normally despise jump scares, I didn’t mind it here. This will probably be the segment that I’ll remember the most from this film. Also, there are boobs.
Next is ‘A Ride in the Park’ which is the zombie story of the bunch. Guy is out on a bicycle ride with a GoPro on his helmet. He’s attacked and a generic zombie experience follows. Luckily, it’s short and to the point. Like I said before, I’m over zombies but I didn’t hate this segment.
And then there is ‘Safe Haven’ which is about a documentary crew going into a cult’s compound. It is slow but creepy and fairly disturbing. If only the last scene didn’t exist. It is just so fucking stupid. Maybe it was supposed to be funny? But if that is the case, it wasn’t even that. The ending of ‘Safe Haven’ is the worst part of the whole movie until the scene where they kill the dog in ‘Slumber Party Alien Abduction’.
Finally we have ‘Slumber Party Alien Abduction’. Bunch of kids, left alone in a house, with no supervision. Weird shit starts happening and then BAM! the aliens show up and start picking the kids off. It’s hard to tell if they’re just abducting them for abduction sake or eating them. I’m fairly certain one of the kids is bitten as they’re dragged away but I guess it doesn’t really matter. All of the action is from the perspective of a little dog that is wearing a GoPro; and yes, it is explained in the segment why the dog is wearing a GoPro camera. The segment is descent. The alien costumes are ridiculously stupid but it doesn’t ruin the segment. What ruins the segment is that the dog dies in the end. And I say this because I’m one of those pussies that can’t stand to see an animal get hurt, real or fake. It’s bizarre; a whole lot of kids just got snatched and eaten by extra terrestrials and I could care less… but one little dog dies and I start tearing up… ah, fuck it! I don’t even want to think about again so I’m just going to stop here.
The over arching story is pretty okay. It adequately linked all the stories together and was equally freaky. If anyone can explain to me what the lady was doing walking around like she was at the end, please do because I have no earthly idea.
All in all I enjoyed V/H/S 2. It is better than the first film in the series. I’d watch this movie again before I watched “ABC’s of Death” for the second time. They’re all interesting stories and the acting isn’t the worst. I would suggest watching V/H/S first, but not because you need to watch it to understand the second film, but just to see how much better the second one is over the first.
And seriously, if you can tell me why the lady at the end is moving around like she is, please let me know. That shit was fucked up.
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