There is one indie horror film this summer that is getting some serious attention from fans of the genre. That film is V/H/S, which debuted this year at the Sundance Film Festival, becoming an official selection.
According to the official synopsis, the movie follows “a group of misfits hired to burglarize a house to find a rare VHS tape, only to find more found footage than they wanted to see.” The movie is divided into five segments, for each of five different horrifying tapes the protagonists have to watch. Each is directed by one of horror’s up-and-comers, including David Bruckner(The Signal), Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead), Joe Swanberg (Autoerotic, Cabin Fever 2), Adam Wingard (You’re Next, Pop Skull), and the masterful Ti West (House of the Devil, The Innkeepers).
The movie has accrued a score of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a huge hype score of 99% of people wanting to see it. Compare that to a fairly low metacritic score of 6.5 on IMDB. But keep in mind that it hasn’t seen widespread release, having only been screened at a few film festivals. Critics often make poor judges of horror. If the fans say its good, then it definitely tops my must-watch list.
The film will be released in theaters across the country on October 5th.
Synopsis via GeekTyrant:
When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn’t going to be as easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger than the last.
Bringing together some of the top filmmakers in the game today, this wickedly conceived horror anthology sends the viewer through a gauntlet of suspense, terror, shock, and downright brutality—instantly distinguishing itself from a sea of lackluster found-footage horror flicks. The diverse and deviously creative minds behind V/H/Sshatter any preconceived notions about the genre, making it feel inventive and captivating once again.