V/H/S/85 Might Be the Horror Series' Best Entry Yet

The V/H/S series has enough built-in fans by now that it’s barely necessary to review the latest release. But anyone feeling ambivalent about the found-footage horror franchise should make it a point to seek out its sixth entry (eighth, if you count the two spin-off films), because V/H/S/85 is excellent.

There’s never been a shortage of talent associated with V/H/S; the very first entry back in 2012 featured segments by Adam Wingard (You’re Next, Godzilla vs. Kong) and Ti West (The House of the Devil, X, Pearl)—as well as David Bruckner (The Night House), the latter of whom returns for V/H/S/85. Also guiding us on our grainy, tracking-challenged channel flip back to 1985 are Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark episode Culture Shock), Natasha Kermani (Lucky), Mike P. Nelson (2021's Wrong Turn), and the most recognizable name of all: Scott Derrickson, whose horror bona fides include The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and The Black Phone, as well as Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

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On the subject of gruesome: V/H/S/85 is well aware that fans expect plenty of splatter, and it delivers handsomely; there’s no shortage of severed limbs, oozing brains, peeled-back skin, rivers of blood... all that juicy stuff, rendered in grimy, slightly unfocused camcorder-o-vision that somehow makes it all even more wince-inducing.

V/H/S/85's two best segments come courtesy of Nelson (“No Wake/Ambrosia”) and Derrickson (“Dreamkill,” which stars Six Feet Under’s Freddy Rodriguez and The Black Phone’s James Ransone, as well as Derrickson’s son Dashiell). Derrickson’s entry in particular makes excellent use of various sources, including surveillance cameras and other more mysterious devices, to craft its suspenseful tale, helped along by that MVP of found-footage horror that you really shouldn’t think about too much: the unseen hand that’s somehow edited everything together. (“Dreamkill” also wins a prize for Best-Ever Use of Throbbing Gristle’s “Hamburger Lady” in a Horror Movie.) Nelson’s story, meanwhile, takes turns you will not see coming—though really both of these entries are best experienced knowing zero plot details, since they do an outstanding job of keeping you guessing and very much on the edge of your seat until the end.

V/H/S/85 is now streaming on Shudder.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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