2 out of 5

Directors: Various

Well, I suffered from expectations on this one. Conceptually – guys stumble across some old VHS tapes of unexplainable and freaky (and grainy, thanks to the format) phenomena – conceptually it sounded like good footing for horror, I like vignette style films, and the trailer TOTALLY won. Alas, the execution doesn’t really fulfill any of the promise. The film opens with a group of deplorable d-bags doing really deplorable things and capturing it digitally. There’s already a problem here because we’re supposed to hate these guys and hope for them to die, but there’s also something to the editing style that makes some of what their doing seem like it’s supposed to be cool. You can’t have it both ways, filmmakers. Anyhow, some edits tell us they’ve been tasked with stealing a VHS tape from a creepy house. They break into the house and find a ton of tapes. Instead of taking them all, or maybe looking through them, they decide to watch them one by one. Cue our 5 shorts, each on a tape. I haven’t gotten to say anything, really, about the film yet. Each short has its pluses and minuses, but the only one that really fulfills is the last one, by Radio Silence, which also had the best bits in the trailer. Because they USE the grainy format to play up what they can get away with, and they stick to a “get in get out” format that works for a short. The others are interesting, and would be better in a stronger film. VHS is worth watching, preferably without any expectations. You will be interested, but probably disappointed and a little confused with where each story goes. I encourage the energy, and I want more movies like this in the horror world, just better thought out and without the “this is SO cool” undercurrent that gives the film its laziness of execution.