Badmovies.org Forum

Another in the "I can't believe there's not already a thread on this..." entry.

So, VHS (well, technically V/H/S, but that's just silly and confusing for search engines so I'm not gonna write it that way) and it's sequel VHS 2 and two horror anthologies based (if not actually recorded on) video tape found footage.  (And yes, I know there's a third one out there as well, but I haven't seen it yet, so I can't write about it.)

The first film follows a group of hooligans as they trash a building and terrorize a young couple to capture something exciting for film prosperity (it's hinted that they sell their tapes for funny.)  They're hired by someone to steal a valuable video tape from a house far out in the country.  (This is all conveniently explained in conversation between the guys as they film each other talking.)  They arrive at the house to find a dead man sitting in a chair, and a huge stack of cryptic videos.  Me, personally, if I were then, I would have just whipped out a garbage bag or two, stuffed every VHS I could find into it, and then get out ASAP, but these guys instead split up to search the house leaving one fellow to start watching a stack of tapes left alongside an static churning TV.  (BTW, this is in the same where the dead guy is lying a chair, facing the TV.)

The man inserts a tape and our first story begins.  In the first story, three men go out to a local bar and pick up two young ladies there, not realizing that one girl isn't quite what she seems to be... The story is recorded from on the character's glasses, which have a tiny inside them. 

As we go through the stories, we cut briefly back to the gang as they continue to explore the house.

In the second story, a young couple goes a second honeymoon when the man tells the wife about an odd encounter he just had with some woman outside the hotel they're staying at.  That night, while the couple sleep, a masked intruder enters their room and, using their camera, briefly films them sleeping.

The third is my second personal favorite. A group of friends go out into the woods in the middle of the week.  We find out it that some time ago, a maniac killed several people in this location, and one of the girls seems to know a bit more about the incident than she's letting on.  What was really creepy about this story (without giving too much away) is the appearance of the killer (whom the credits only refer to as The Glitch.) 

Next tape is a series of Skype recordings between a young girl and her boyfriend.  The girl has just moved into a new apartment complex and she's convinced her new place is haunted, but the truth may be far worse....

Neatly enough, the "wraparound" story wraps up at this point, but we still have one last tape to go...

Our final story has four college friends going to a house for a Halloween party but they end up at the wrong place walking right into something very sinister.  The first time I watched this ep, I was a bit disappointed as there's a part where two of the guys go off camera for a bit and come back and describe something really crazy happening and I was, "Oh, that's really nice, DESCRIBE something cool but not show it!"  Well, just wait, you get to see what they were talking about (and a lot more).