User reviews

Here's The 4K Lowedown on "V/H/S 94" (R - 2021 - DVD)

Genre: Horror/POV My Score: 6.1

Cast=2 Acting=6 Plot=7 Ending=6 Story=3 Scare=5 Jump=8 F/X=9 Found=8 Creep=7

A police S. W. A. T. team investigates about a mysterious VHS tape and discovers a sinister cult that has pre-recorded material which uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.

"The veggiemasher turns your vegetables into a tasty...mmm mouthwatering paste." I couldn't help but try and fix the tracking when I watched this...ok I'm joking. This movie was a weird mess of different horror types...just like the others in the franchise. It was not my favorite, but it did turn out to be a decent watch for the Found Footage fan.

Some of these shorts in this film series are suprisingly original and well executed for the budget. Every one of the V/H/S/ films has a few gems to give. If you are a fan of the anthology style horror films, then i would recommend this and the other films in this series.

Yeah the third segment might be my favorite as it is nothing like the others.. but in a good way!

This movie is basicly for separate hooror shortfilms foundfootage style with their own story and premise as each segment has its own director!

In short i would say that segment one and three were my favorite as they used horror and gore in an effective way! Segment one was the scariest to me while segment three were the gorriest as it went full on sci fi bodyhorror! It was really over the top and absurdly violent!

Segment two and four were the weakest to me! Both were slow at first and the scary qnd gory stuff didn't last very long!

V/H/S franchise started during the found-footage phenomenon and has been noteworthy for offering new, up-n-coming horror filmmakers an avenue to demonstrate their creative talent. This anthology series has always been a mixed bag as a whole but there's no denying that it has a cult following. Having spawned a few sequels since its inception, V/H/S/94 is the latest entry in the saga.

The film features four short segments connected by a frame narrative that follows a police raid being conducted at an abandoned warehouse which contains remnants of a ritualistic cult mass suicide. It has a grittier, gorier & more unholy feel than its predecessors and also features shorts that are collectively in closer proximity in their tone n mood, which makes it better than its predecessors.

The first short is Storm Drain, written & directed by newcomer Chloe Okuno, and follows a news reporter & her cameraman as they investigate an urban legend. It has a grainy, dirty aesthetic that adds to its uneasy vibe, plus the film just takes its absurd premise and runs with it. The old-school creature effects are done well and it definitely evokes the early 90s feel while offering some splendid scares.

The second short The Empty Wake is written & directed by franchise returnee Simon Barrett and unfolds at a funeral home where a young woman is assigned to host a wake as a severe thunderstorm rages outside. It's a simple & straightforward segment with predictable scares that are routine and has got nothing new or refreshing to offer. But the interest doesn't fizzle out at least and that's the only good thing about it.

The third segment is hands down my favourite and single-handedly makes this sequel worth the price of admission. Written & directed by Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes For Us & May the Devil Take You), The Subject is a crazy blend of body horror, sci-fi & action that splatters the screen with blood, guts & metal and is crafted with glee & passion. Tjahjanto lets his love for excess take over and brings his short to life with brain & brutality.

The final short is Terror, written & directed by Ryan Prows, and concerns a white supremacist group plotting to blow up a government building and take back America. It aptly captures the brainwashed vision of such losers but is also unsettling when demonstrating their devotion to the cause. But once it escalates into a mayhem, it's just fun, hilarious & entertaining to watch and culminates on a bloody good note even if the scares are by the numbers.

Overall, V/H/S/94 makes for a better evolved & more fulfilling entry in the infamous franchise and features a better collection of short segments that keeps the entire ride tense & thrilling for the most part. The acting is all over the place but the 90s video culture vibe & aesthetics are carried out with finesse. It's the frame narrative actually that turns out to be the weakest of all but it doesn't derail the good portions. Worth viewing for madman Tjahjanto's segment alone.

The V/H/S series has always been incredibly hit or miss. The first one, V/H/S, was interesting in that a lot of the shorts challenged (at the time) what the idea of found footage could be and used unconventional cameras (glasses cam, webcam, etc) to provide a different perspective on what a horror film was. While interesting, it didn't always work in practice as those segments had myriad issues (too slow, too much filler, too much obnoxious camera glitching, etc) which kept them from being all that good or entertaining. Thankfully V/H/S 2 significantly improved the formula, and it is still imo the best of the bunch. Things sadly took a nosedive in the highly forgettable V/H/S: Viral, but I'm happy to say that they've rebounded in the 4th offering and V/H/S94 is more or less good all around.

Wraparound story - "Holy Hell" - the idea of this one is really cool, with a SWAT team going into the abandoned compound of a death cult. Unfortunately this is one of the weakest segments due to the extremely poor film quality, cheap effects, and some of the worst acting I've ever seen committed to film which manages to get worse the longer the segment goes on. I would've liked to see a more expanded story as it definitely had potential, but I feel like I never had any idea what they were supposed to be doing.

"Storm Drain" - this one starts off kind of slow and between that and the lame wraparound intro, I was thinking this whole anthology would be a bust. However, this one gets significantly better as it goes along and ends up being pretty good. The sewers provide interesting, dark, and very creepy atmosphere-- vaguely reminiscent of As Above, So Below. This very much feels like what you'd expect from a found footage vhs horror film and I think nails what the series is all about.

"The Empty Wake" - this one also starts off slow as well, most of it is a lady sitting around at a somewhat unsettling wake, but it gets pretty good when it picks up. It's rather short and you get almost nothing in the way of story or development, but there are some cool visuals & gore, and it's suitably creepy.

"The Subject" - holy crap, this one is absolutely INCREDIBLE. This is by far the longest and most detailed of any of the segments, and the film quality is a lot better than everything else. The Subject is on par with "Safe Haven" from v/h/s 2 (the indonesian death cult one) as undoubtedly the best of the entire series...which makes sense as it turns out that the writer/director Timo Tjahjanto also wrote Safe Haven (along with The Raid's Gareth Evans). You get a mad scientist turning people into robots whose secret lab gets raided by the police - lots of really good body horror, violence, and gore. This one gets a little cheesy and video game-y at times, but overall it's incredible - very engaging and well made. Also, by far the least likely to have ever been transferred to a vhs tape lol.

"Terror" - this one had potential, but never fully realized it. You have a group of extremist militia guys who have some kind of secret weapon and are going to attack a federal building. I found this to be entertaining; it was realistic enough while also being suitably tongue-in-cheek. It had a decent build up, but it kind of fizzled out before ever hitting a satisfying crescendo. I think this one needed more time to develop the story and it could have been significantly better; once the "action" starts, it feels like they kind of rushed to end it which leaves you feeling like "oh...that's it?". I will say that this one felt very "vhs-y" and definitely nailed the vibe of what this whole series is about, however it's still the weakest segment other than the wraparound.

Overall, this is an enjoyable anthology. It offers one of, if not the, best segments of the entire film series, and 3 other segments ranging from decent to pretty good. And while the wraparound was quite weak (and generally they always are), it had a couple redeeming qualities. These found footage films aren't for every horror fan, but if that's your thing than it's definitely worth a watch and it's definitely better than VHS: Viral.

Timo Tjajhanto's segment "The Subject" is the vivid standout in this messy found-footage sequel which heads back to its grainy-cassette-tape roots. After the last installment bombed, it needed franchise returnees Timo Tjajhanto and Simon Barett, plus a conceptualizer in David Bruckner to inject some interest back into this anthology series. Similar to the "Safe Haven" segment by Gareth Evans and Timo Tjajhanto in V/H/S 2, Timo pulls off yet another audio-visual showcase here that melds CGI and practical effects in an action-packed (but non-scary) thirty-minute stretch shot entirely in first-person. This segment towers over the rest in terms of its core idea, slick production design, and bucketfuls of gore. It's the only segment worth revisiting in the film altogether.

I also enjoyed Chloe Okuno's Storm Drain in bits & pieces, especially for its typical found-footage claustrophobia, wacky effects, and an unexpected tinge of dark humor. Simon Barett's "The Empty Wake" initially gets its mood and atmosphere right before squandering all of it for something unintentionally laughable. The exciting bits in Ryan Prows' "Terror" are far too less to really mean anything other than its authentic '90s touches. Jennifer Reeder's wraparound segment "Holy Hell" suffers from poor performances and frequent breaks - the tension is wholly lacking. What's uniformly remarkable all through is the film's aesthetics. The news reports actually resemble the ones from the 90s; there's also retro CGI and even a fake infomercial that looks too darn legit. Add some grunge music, CRT televisions, and shades of the early internet into the mix, and we get a pretty decent throwback of sorts.

I don't get the hate for this movie. If people don't like this V/H/S then they should hate every V/H/S and at that point why are you watching them? This movie was tons of fun and the mixed cyborg people one was so great! Also the sewer one was super cool too watch. Honestly there wasn't a bad short in this entire movie but some were surely more memorable than others. The only V/H/S I haven't enjoyed is Viral but this movie makes up for it and shows why they continue the series. I can't wait for the next V/H/S if this is the quality they are putting out. If you like V/H/S you will enjoy watching this one late at night on a big TV! Have fun!

Each of the first few segments had an element or two I enjoyed, but some felt too short, others too long, and the final part to me was unwatchable.

The shorts here are great. Tjahjanto, Prowse, and Okuno bring very unique tales that are genuinely scary. Barrett's segment is adequate and on par with segments in previous the previous films. However, the wraparound by Jennifer Reeder is awful and taints the pros of the individual segments. The last 3 minutes of the film close the wrap segment and is the worst part of the film by far. Though not as bad as the wraparound in VHS Viral, this film didn't do much better for its framing device. Overall the film sits around the quality of the first two.

6/10.

I'm somewhat familiar with the whole V/H/S series, I think I saw the first two when they came out like ten years ago or something.

This installment's good/bad stuff ratio is around 1:10.

I want to say upfront that this anthology will be quite shocking to average viewers, but it is unlikely to make a proper impression on fans of the genre. Mostly because it is set up as a gore galore (just your average grindhouse), not exactly trying to build up horror or anything.

I'll be brief.

1. The story that ties almost all of the segments together is filmed, acted, and written abysmally.

2. Most of the shorts have already been done in full feature in a better way (the obvious inspiration Grindhouse (2007), Rec/Quarantine, Frankenstein's Army (2013), Kill List (2011), The Tunnel (2011) to name a few).

3. Only two segments, The Subject and Terror were enjoyable. The Subject was ok because it was an interesting integration of the Doom Eternal videogame quick-kills, and the actor who played the Creator was fun to watch (although the limited budget almost killed it). Terror was a decent gory satire that went off the rails in a good way, yet heavily undermined by the way it was somewhat politically integrated into the main story.

4. The VHS effect gimmick is getting really old in these, so the fact that The Subject wasn't overloaded with it felt like a breather.

5. The film drags a lot without actually spending time on establishing anything. The time spent on running away (or sitting in a funeral house talking on a phone) could've been used to provide some attachment to the situation or the characters.

6. V/H/S/94 was repulsive, unpleasant, disgusting, but never actually scary. Again, this is very personal and obviously, it will have a stronger effect on the more sensitive viewers.

Overall, I don't think I can recommend it to horror fans. You might find something for you if you occasionally enjoy a gory mess like Grindhouse, but there's just so little of good in this. I don't think you should sit through everything else that ranges from so-so to just plain bad.

And yeah, the ending is too dumb to even try to pull it into an already non-existent story.

Well I've waited for this for a very long time. I love the first one, second one was decent ("Safe Haven" the best of them all), Viral was not good, and by the trailer I expected more.

The first segment was ok, didn't really scare me, even though it was a bit creepy, so I'll give it a pass. The one with the doctor and robots was the best one of the whole movie!! So cool and futuristic! He's done it again.

The other segments were.. well.. boring and not good. The entire general plot was not good. Too bad, the vibe did remind me of the first one but the first VHS has so many good and scary stories, you just can't compare. Please - if you do another one, do BETTER stories, not just strange monsters.

As a huge fan of the V/H/S franchise, I had high hope going into V/H/S 94 on Shudder, what a huge letdown, most of the time nothing happens & you are waiting around for something to happen & by the time something actually happens it's the end of the segment, I had better expectations from the guy who directed Safe Haven in V/H/S 2, however the effects are so bad in his segment you can clearly tell they are that: just CGI. IF they're going to make another V/H/S movie they really need to go back to the original approach of V/H/S from the first 2 movies.

One of the worst films I have seen in a long time....

I enjoyed most segments especially the first 3 and there were a few moments I was actually creeped out like feeling dread and it still holds the spirit of what I love from this franchise.

The only things I'd say I didn't like was the ending which was the segment where the swat team actually look at the V/H/S tapes. It fell really flat for me like really just a typical cliché and dumb reveal and thought they could have done much better with it. I was expecting something quite scary like it built up through out the movie but it doesn't matter cos they're all different stories and also there's a lot of cult segments now and it feels a bit overdone.

This sequel has one of the most disturbing segments so far too like nightmare fuel. I think I liked the 2nd segment best at the funeral it was really neat!

Overall I had fun watching it and would give it around a 7/10 and I really hope they make a V/H/S 5 they're so entertaining.

Loved the first two. Third one was enjoyable but this was was awful. Poor ideas poorly strung together.

But still couldn't save this awful film.

I will start by saying that I'm not a massive fan of the series, some segments are good, like safe haven for example, others not so much.

This latest entry is the worst of the lot, quite possibly the worst film I've seen this year.

My expectations tanked within the first 5 minutes, when we have the worst police tactical unit exploring a building with the same awareness as a bunch of drunks looking for the last bar at 4am and it only goes downhill. Surely the swat extras from fbi or law and order are not to busy to come and help out?

The 2nd or 3rd segment, the experiment, done by Timo at least had some quality about it, decent acting, solid idea with good execution (recently done better in an episode of invincible though).

Some cool gore throughout but overall, this felt like a local, not very good drama club production, throwing some rough concept ideas together for an investor.

BUT YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING !!!!!

Why bother creating a movie. We lived through the 'VHS' years and they were never as bad as this. Why bother filming something if you have it either, jumpy, dark or add effects to make you NOT SEE ANYTHING.

So frustrating.

It's not bad. A good selection. My favourite was the mad scientist. Plenty of gore in most of the offerings. Horror films are, sadly, becoming very much the same with not many new stories out there nowadays. This was refreshing.

After the disaster that was VHS Viral, I didn't have much hope for this series, after all it seemed that it would die with the 3rd installment, however, years go by and here we have the reboot of the series, this time with a more concise format and a central mythology that follows a loose narrative through different VHS tapes connected in some way. The 4th installment of the series revives the franchise with a select group of horror-shorts that manage to entertain for their set length, though of course, always maintaining the same flaws of past productions and being a bit goofy at times.

One thing that stands out is probably the increased budget. While in the previous films you could feel the lack of money in certain segments, in this case we have some short films with excellent set designs, fantastic practical effects and great costumes. Probably the best practical effects since VHS 2 Safe Haven. That gives it a rather theatrical visceral entertainment factor, and of course, as a result, we have one of the goriest installments of the saga.

VHS 94 is decent. While the practical effects and designs are interesting, the execution and direction of the shorts leaves something to be desired. They are interesting concepts but are not exploited to their potential.

Entertaining, with good effects, it may mark a new hope for the series.

Don't know what to say, I enjoyed the first 2 then after that it went silly so it lost me completely. Still have 32 minutes remaining and that's where it can stay unwatched. Sorry but it was genuinely not my thing.