Monday, March 7, 2016

V/H/S/2 (2013)



Number Rolled: 91
Movie Name/Year: V/H/S/2 (2013)
Tagline: Who’s tracking you?
Genre: Horror
Length: 95 minutes
Rating: R
Production Companies: The Collective Studios, Bloody Disgusting, 8383 Productions, Snoot Entertainment, Haxan Films, Yer Dead Productions
Producer: Various
Director: Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez, Timo Tjahjanto, Adam Wingard
Writer: Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evans, Jason Eisener, John Davies, Brad Miska
Actors: Various

Blurb from Netflix: Two private eyes investigating the disappearance of a student discover horrific content on a collection of evil VHS tapes in his home.

Selina’s Point of View:
So, we revisited the world of V/H/S (2012) tonight. It’s a world of found footage, first person perspective, and some serious horror.

I’ve made myself pretty clear about how I feel about shaky cam. I do not have a “love-hate” relationship with it, I have a “hate-hate” relationship with it. I hate that it exists and I hate when I have to sit through it. It makes me queasy and gives me a migraine. That being said, I’ll still sit through it for the blog.

The V/H/S series does make me think less about the shaky cam aspect and more about the story, which is a huge feat. I didn’t just sit through V/H/S/2, I actively enjoyed it. I still have a migraine, but it was worth it… for the most part.

I was amused to see that several of the people involved in this film also worked on one of the ABCs of Death (2012, 2014) movies. Mainly, I was amused because I believe that V/H/S and V/H/S/2 are what the ABCs of Death should have been. They’re creative, terrifying, and they push boundaries without crossing over to the “disgusting for disgusting sake” category.

Cat’s Point of View:
I’ve heard good things about this sequel. I had high hopes for V/H/S/2; though, after the last movie’s disappointment, I have to admit that I wasn’t holding my breath.

I’m glad I didn’t. I needed it to help me hold down dinner.

That might’ve sounded ominous, but I actually liked the movie a lot.

My issue was with the shaky cam and the swift swiveling camera motions at some points. I’m generally not squeamish, so the gore itself didn’t weird me out… but some of the scenarios where the gore came into play just made me squirm on principle.

There are just some things where having a first-person perspective ala GoPro gives intensity a new meaning.

The first V/H/S (2012) was a bit more blatant as an anthology. The connecting narrative wasn’t on its A-game. This sequel stepped it up a notch.  I found the reason behind the found footage was more well-crafted.

If not for one segment in particular, I actually could draw some lines to compose my own fan theory that the pieces were all part of a bigger puzzle. I found that fun to contemplate as I was watching; also in my lingering uncomfortable feeling that has followed since finishing the movie last night.

Though, at the end of a rather exhausting day, I probably shouldn’t have followed it up by falling asleep while watching Poltergeist (2015) on cable. My dreams were not exactly pleasant, to say the least.

Job well done, V/H/S/2.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 70%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 51%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 3/5
Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score4/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 2/5
Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score3.5/5

P.S. Some scenes during the credits, nothing big.

Movie Trailer:

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