The prequel to Laserdisc

V/H/S/2

Story:

Two private investigators stumble upon a strange collection of V/H/S tapes while on a case.

Review:

Last year a very low budget horror anthology called V/H/S was released. It featured everything a typical 80's horror film had, except throw in a lot more sex and a lot more violence; there was also very hastily thought out stories as well as some very predictable jump scares. If anything, V/H/S was that one film you use to show people what not to do when making a film.

Right after V/H/S was released, V/H/S/2 was rushed into production with the same idea intended, but for a sequel with a (slightly) higher budget, even going so far as to include several well known directors in the collaboration.

Here's the problem with this. You finally get decent directors helping you out, yet you still have writers whose vocabulary consists of terms only slutty 14-year olds would use. For example:

"You ride your bike more than you ride me."

That was in one of the segments. Other segments feature vocabulary and syntax on the exact same level, and it always has the effect of taking away from what is already a terrible scene.

I wish I could say the writing was the only problem. Each segment is typical of the genre it tributes in the worst way. For example, one of them involves alien abductions, and as such no background is really given for any characters. That same problem is apparent in all but one segment, which I will get to later.

Despite this being a horror film with jump scare sequences, there really aren't any scary moments. One of the requirements of a good scare is a good buildup to the scare, something which none of the segments have. You simply don't get scared at any point in the entire film.

The effects are cheap and gimmicky, the creatures/monsters even more so, and you know that their budget went straight from $1000 to $1050 just because there's barely any difference in effects.

Now to talk about the one segment which was somewhat unlike the others. It's a segment called Safe Haven and it's directed and written by Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans. For those unfamiliar with those names, Timo Tjahjanto directed and wrote a well received short film called Dara, and it's feature length remake called Macabre a few years ago, while Gareth Huw Evans is known for martial arts action flicks like The Raid: Redemption, and Merantau Warrior. Oddly enough, when these two paired together to make a short film for this anthology, they ended up making a rather good sequence. The first person perspective kind of ruins the scares, but as far as Safe Haven's story and execution, it's very well thought out. In fact, Safe Haven is the only good to come out of either V/H/S film.

But overall, V/H/S/2 is a film to make fun of and laugh at. Clearly the only people who put effort into it were Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans.