V/H/S 2: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student’s disappearance.
Ever since watching the first V/H/S I wondered how they could top something so unique and innovative. Usually with horror sequels, directors find themselves treading the same water and seemingly recycle stories for a sense familiarity. The great thing about V/H/S 2 is that it doesn’t seem like it would ever get stale due to the fantastic group of directors (Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sánchez, Timo Tjahjanto, Adam Wingard) that create the segments that bring this anthology together. I really feel like this could EASILY be a fantastic horror anthology franchise and that’s something that has been missing in recent years. All the segments were great but my two favorite ones have to be “A Ride In The Park” and “Slumber Party Alien Abduction”. A Ride In The Park (or as I like to call it “Go Pro Zombie Attack”) is a neat take on a zombies. Nowadays every active person has a Go Pro camera with the mounting system so why not use that in a way that has never been done before. Basically it gave us a first person POV look at how a zombie attacks and reacts to others. It was so much fun to see and experience, almost like you’re on a roller coaster. Slumber Party Alien Abduction was just downright creepy. It’s kind of your typical alien abduction story but the camera tricks and angles that were used made the whole thing ten times scarier. You really couldn’t see the way the aliens looked too much but that was kind of the whole point. All we saw were slight glimpses and silhouettes of them which added to the mystery of it all. I can’t forget about the wrap around story that pulls all these others together. Tape 49 works so perfectly for the simple fact that being in a house….in the dark….with the only light source is that from a flashlight and TV screen is probably the ultimate scary scenario. The moments where you see something in the background behind someone make you literally want to yell at the screen and tell them to turn around. I can confidently say that this sequel is just as scary, fun and thrilling as the first installment. You really can’t go wrong by picking this up. This gets the Cinema Deviant Seal Of Approval!
Special Features:
Tape 49 Rewind – A quick look at the making of the wrap around segment.
Dissecting Phase 1 Clinical Trials – Adam Wingard explains a bit on how the story came about and the basis of his character.
Inside Safe Haven – A behind the scenes look at the cult inspired segment.
Slumber Party Alien Abduction: Behind The Lights – A look at some test footage and behind the scenes stuff for the alien segment. Mainly on how they were mounting cameras and using lights.
A Ride In The Park: I Dare You – The result of a dare that was put in place to knock over a tree while scouting locations.
AXS TV: A Look At V/H/S 2 – A brief rundown of what to expect from this horror anthology.
