Lurker > Snake5555555555

26. The Purge: Anarchy (339 points)

Why I Chose It: The Purge is easily one of the biggest horror franchises of the 2010s. Obviously, everyone knows Anarchy was the sequel to the original, and normally I wouldn't put a sequel above an original, but The Purge: Anarchy was the bigger success story, shaping The Purge into what it is most recognized as now. Higher-grossing, better-reviewed, and giving us a franchise lead in Frank Grillo's Sergeant, The Purge: Anarchy got the audience out of the house and onto the city streets experiencing the true first-hand horror of the scenario rather than a glorified home invasion, with crazier individuals and an increased focus on political and violence commentary.

red13n: 9
Tom Nook: 11
Inviso: 13
Snake: 14
Plasmabeam: 23
Lightning Strikes: 25
jcgamer107: 26
Johnbobb: 26
rockus: 26
thesmark: 26
FFDragon: 27
BetrayedTangy: 28
Suprak: 28
fortybelowsummer: 29
PrinceKaro: 29

Red13n - Society gets a day to do whatever the hell they want. But apparently all they want is murder because that is really all that happens. When you are introduced to a character out for vengeance and they meet up with a bucnh of hardluck people stuck out in the purge, you can guess exactly where this story is going to go. And it goes exactly that way. There is some deeper conspiracy stuff going on here, and a resistance or whatever hinted at in the background that will pop up to very conveniently save the day. But all of this is going to be dropped when the purge ends because that is plot convenient and they reached their alotted runtime so we don't need to deal with the source of the purge grief at all.

Tom Nook - So the first Purge movie hypes up this huge scale event and gets you excited, and then ends up being a run of the mill home invasion film, and was just such an immense disappointment--it did nothing with the concept. Because of that, I put the series on hold, so this was one of the few movies I hadn't seen prior to this topic. This ended up being what the first movie should have been. This had the sense of scale that we were told about, and we got to roam the city with the characters as everything unfolds. I like what this movie delivered. A bunch of chaos and violence. The movie probably thinks it's a little smarter than what it is, but since it kept delivering the goods, I don't care. I'd even say they tried to play off a lot of this straight and it ended up "bad", but in the kind of way I like at times. Main dude was cool.

Inviso - Given what I know about the first Purge movie, and then having watched this oneI can understand why the first film wasnt on the list. The Purge concept does not work when its just a dumb conceit to create a standard home invasion horror movie. But if you consider this the start of what the franchise would become known for, then yes, Purge: Anarchy does a really good job. Its just a really interesting concept for a film: what would happen if there was just a day where everyone was allowed to kill whoever they wanted, and naturally, rich people stay safe and hunt the poor for sport. Its just a really enjoyable plot, watching this ragtag group of survivors, just trying to last the night together, through a series of obstacles. Plus, the happy ending is much appreciated, given how many of the serious films on this list have bleak endings.

My one problem is that there are all these little plot points that arent really given time to breathe. The government kill trucks show up every so often, but theyre not a consistent enough
antagonist, given their prominence. I mean, you have the masked gang that hunts Liz & Shane for a long time, but then they catch them, and thats it. Their sole purpose was to catch the survivors and sell them to rich people for hunting purposes. Also, the trip to Tanyas apartment lasts for one scene before Tanyas sister goes kill-crazy. Oh, and Carmelo is this revolutionary figure, but he only shows up for one scene as a deus ex machina. Its a lot of complaints, I know, but individually, these all work. I just wish they were woven together better than they were.

Snake - The Purge is inherently a dumb concept - and I think the films play into and acknowledge that a lot. Theres no way a whole society would ever allow this or play by any of the rules set-up in play - just the logistics of everything playing out all prim and proper is a pipe dream, nevermind a scenario like this ever-existing in the first place. Well, thats kind of the fun of it though - a true what if? scenario, and we get to see that from a second-hand perspective through the eyes of Frank Grillos Sergeant and his rag-tag band of survivors. The Sergeant is a bit of an expy of the Punisher - a cool, armored car, arsenal of weapons, and willing to go after an individual who inadvertently ran down and killed his son. Im a big Grillo fan, and he plays quite the convincing action hero. And theres ACTION galore here. See, I sort of consider The Purge: Anarchy an unsung gem of action-horror. Theres a ton of carnage here, with the chaos of the Purge giving way to some truly weird individuals to go out and exercise their right to purge. Its very battle-royale-esque, but political overtones and personal revenge plots keep the plot somewhat focused and grounded at the same time. The film escalates much like a video game, always giving Leo and his group a new challenge or new upgrade to plow through the next wave of enemies. That might be a bit of a cold, unsettling way of looking at something like this, but its as I said earlier - The Purge isnt really all that serious of a concept. They can act like it is all they want, but its just not. And Im fine with that. I watch this series for great action & a rogues gallery of weirdos and Anarchy delivers on both fronts for me.

Plasmabeam - Cool premise (I didnt watch the first one, so it was completely new to me) but nothing about The Purge 2 wowed me. The ending with Leo choosing to purge himself of his anger through forgiveness rather than violence was predictable but nonetheless cathartic. And I respect that the movie tried to get clever with the hunting scenario toward the end, but ultimately that part ended up feeling shoehorned and somewhat ham-fisted.

Might do the next ranking a little earlier tonight

Mega
Galaga

I mean if people want Alien, I don't see why we shouldn't have it then!

I don't see the film as misogynistic myself, but I definitely understand the viewpoint here. I think a film can have sexually-charged murders without necessarily hating a specific gender. You know, to me it speaks more to Art's character - he very clearly has maternal issues and so he takes out his extreme violence moreso on females cause that's who he feels has wronged him in the past. It just gives the audience more of a reason to hate and fear Art and root for Tara to come out on top.

Iron Man

thesmark posted...

After finishing up this project, I decided to do something I've been wanting to for a while: watch all the Argentos from debut (1970) through the 90s (his 00s work on is both hard to find and infamously bad). Through Deep Red so far, been watching the recent Arrow 4ks for a lot of these (and Synapses' Suspiria 4k for the next one)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/7/AAMnSOAADPOx.jpg

Keep me updated!

Daredevil

I haven't seen The Mimic personally - it was popular enough but I would definitely consider films like The Wailing and I Saw the Devil before it. I don't see The Mimic as having much influence or lasting word-of-mouth currently.

Like Guillermo del Toro Mimic or the South Korean Mimic?

No VHS was a purely original film. There was a remake for REC called Quarantine though.

Yeah they do sound good, I'll give them a go sometime, thanks!

Sylvie
Stan "The Man" Lee

me too, and I'm definitely glad I wasn't the only one who loved it either.

Outlier
Tom Nook: 52
red13n: 41
Plasmabeam: 31
PrinceKaro: 30
Snake: 28
FFDragon: 27
jcgamer107: 23
Suprak: 23
fortybelowsummer: 18
Inviso: 12
Johnbobb: 12
rockus: 11
BetrayedTangy: 9
Lightning_Strikes: 6
thesmark: 4

No clowning around here - outlier sees some of the biggest shake-ups of the list so far.

Next film ranking up tonight.

27. Terrifier (348 points)

Why I Chose It: A stand-alone spin-off of the All Hallows Eve anthology film series, Terrifier represents a conscious effort to create a new iconic slasher for the 2010s - Art the Clown. And it worked. Thanks to a decade obsessed and haunted by clowns, Art the Clown has surely become an influence on underground horror culture and the mainstream as well, from inspiring the music of Ghostemane to providing outfit inspiration on RuPaul's Drag Race, while keeping one foot rooted in a grindhouse, road show style of horror where gore and exploitation are king and important aspects to be explored in the genre. Terrifier's notoriety should only be expected to grow as a sequel releases this year.

Plasmabeam: 7
Snake: 8
FFDragon: 14
red13n: 15
Tom Nook: 16
Johnbobb: 24
Inviso: 26
BetrayedTangy: 29
thesmark: 29
fortybelowsummer: 30
jcgamer107: 30
Lightning Strikes: 30
PrinceKaro: 30
rockus: 30
Suprak: 30

Plasmabeam - Im not a big slasher guy, but Terrifier had me gripped from the moment the clown entered the pizza shop. And what a scene that wasthe suspense leading up to the first kill can only be described as delicious.

Though the plot and characters are simplistic, something about this movie resonates in a way that gives me no choice but to put it in my Top 10. Terrifier reminds me of some of my favorite Richard Laymon novels: sleazy, nasty, andbest of allunsafe.

Snake - Look, deep down, Im aware this movie is pretty dumb. Its got standard slasher tropes, cliches, and idiotic characters. And yet, I love it anyway. A lot of that is definitely due to David Howard Thorntons portrayal of Art the Clown. His mannerisms, black comedy, and pure brutality put him in the upper echelon of horror antagonists for me. One thing Im pretty afraid of are clowns - and Thornton just nails all the aspects of a clown that just make me cringe up and give me goosebumps just by looking at him. Like take the scene in the pizza shop - I would feel so uncomfortable if I was eating there and this fucker dressed like a clown rolled up and sat a table just across from me, Halloween night or not. The Art just sits there - smiling, with his almost bloody looking mouth is the stuff of nightmares. But what also makes it work is the comedy involved - having Dawn interact with Art, taking photos with him, instead of just instantly running away disarms the viewer a little bit - Arts deadpan look as he goes through this cracks me up, as if hes in disbelief himself of whats happening. Its not the type of interaction you really see too much in a slasher film - where a killer is passive and interacting in a normal environment. Some other stuff I love - the disgusting weird apartment warehouse environment, like the rest of the film, its so over-the-top nasty and gives the film a nice sense of location and atmosphere. And of course the kills - Dawns bisection even gives Bone Tomahawk a run for its money, but the non-Art kill by Vicky where she gouges out Monicas eyes is pretty brutal too, and Vickys general make-up as well - wow! Reminds me of No-Face from Twisted Metal: Black. For me, despite some issues, Terrifier is delightfully un-self-conscious, and offers up plenty of scares, whether it's from scary clowns or intense gore, in a way only independent grindhouses can.

FFDragon - I feel like this encapsulates B-Horror nonsense perfectly. It's not a good movie, but I enjoyed watching it.

Red13n - Evil clown thing that can possibly revive itself goes on a murder spree. There really isn't much else to say about this. After standing around ominously for a bit the thing just kind of goes and murders every character you are introduced to. None of them are particularly exciting people, or particularly enduring people, so there isn't much attachment here. You think people might be the main characters but nope they are actually just there to die. This might be the most straight to the point get exactly what you paid for movie on this list. It doesn't make it good, it doesn't even really make it bad, it just is.

Tom Nook - A pure low budget gorefest slasher. There is nothing else this is trying to be. It hits exactly what it aims for. While Art the Clown is yet another silent killer, he really sets himself apart with the way he emotes, which goes a long way at making this better. Plus I really love his visual look. The protagonists are all pretty garbage, which makes Art the one to root for, which is a perfectly fine way to watch a slasher like this. This movie even pulled a Psycho, by disposing of the unlikable 'main' protagonist halfway through and replacing her with her sister. The scene where Art suddenly pulls out and fires a pistol cracked me up, because it was so unexpected and outside of the killer's (and movie's) style prior to that point. I loved that moment! I haven't seen a killer and movie cheat like that since Funny Games! The moment where he actually offed her for good was great too. Just unloading into her fucking face. Take that! Another moment I liked was when Art wore the dead woman's naked body. Art's face already looks a little bit like Marilyn Manson, so in my head I just kept hearing "The Dope Show" play during that scene. I could see a lot of people hating this movie for being too cruel and shallow. That isn't an inaccurate way to describe the movie either. But if you want a mean-spirited gorefest of a slasher, this does the trick.

On a side note, even though there are plenty of low-budget slashers out there, this movie reminded me A LOT of Laid to Rest. In both situations it's a low-budget slasher with a silent villain who looks cool, with tons of gore made from practical effects, set in the modern era yet feels weirdly old timey. Art the Clown is better than Chromeskull though, but Laid to Rest has better protagonists and gore effects.

Johnbobb - I feel like I would've enjoyed this one more if I had seen it when it came out? I don't know, there just wasn't really much here to really make this one stand out to me. Sure, the killer clown is scary and disturbing but everything just sort of seems to happen, and none of it really feels like there's reason behind it. What Terrifier lacks is cohesion. Maybe that randomness is the point? Either way it doesn't quite work for me all that well.

Bird Box was ranked #10 by Tom Nook.

Double
Snatcher

Well I have the truth, and the truth is enough! The truth is beautiful!

Still all better than WW84!

BTW, as a little hint, this next film is the first film to have TWO top ten rankings!

Infinity War > Endgame >>>>>>>>>> Force Awakens > No Way Home > Hunger Games > Jumanji > Catching Fire > Mockingjay > Ghostbusters >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WW84 (omg lol why did this even win)

Outlier
Tom Nook: 41
red13n: 29
PrinceKaro: 27
jcgamer107: 20
Suprak: 20
fortybelowsummer: 15
FFDragon: 14
Inviso: 11
Plasmabeam: 11
Johnbobb: 9
Snake: 9
rockus: 8
BetrayedTangy: 7
Lightning_Strikes: 3
thesmark: 2

A true outlier never goes out of style.

Next film up tomorrow afternoon!

28. Curse of Chucky (355 points)

Why I Chose It: As one of the most iconic characters and franchises in horror movie history, any significant enough film starring the titular living doll is bound to receive a spot on any list. And that's what Curse of Chucky was - a return to form after a near decade of absence and an even longer period since Chucky was ever even considered scary. Helmed by series creator Don Mancini and featuring the return of elements that made the original Child's Play films a success, Curse of Chucky proved essential in returning Chucky to the limelight, spawning a sequel, reboot, and TV series since its release and solidifying Chucky in the big 5 of slashers.

red13n: 13
Plasmabeam: 19
fortybelowsummer: 20
Snake: 20
Suprak: 20
rockus: 22
PrinceKaro: 23
Tom Nook: 24
BetrayedTangy: 25
Inviso: 27
thesmark: 27
jcgamer107: 28
Lightning Strikes: 28
FFDragon: 29
Johnbobb: 30

red13n - When this film is on rails and dealing with people discovering that, yes, the creepy doll is trying to murder them, it is at least fun. But then everything jumps ship at the end as they make reference to prior Chucky movies to close out the ending(Movies I've definitely not seen). Being standalone and followable for so long and then just dropping the ball and relying pretty much entirely on knowledge from other movies without anyhting to fill you in on what is going on kind of blows.

Plasmabeam - This was my first Chucky story, and I enjoyed it quite a bit (much more than the 2019 Childs Play reboot). That said, Curse of Chucky is a pretty standard slasher flick that ends up being fun but forgettable.

fortybelowsummer - Lifes a bitch and then you die, bleeding like a stuck pig. Chucky.
You pretty much know what youre going to get with a Chucky movie and this one delivered pretty well. I havent seen quite all of the movies, but this is probably the scariest the little guy has looked. There were some cool deaths, particularly the car crash decapitation. I also appreciated getting some back story on Charles Lee Ray even if it did make him look like a weird loser. Seeing Tiffany pop back up again was great too.

Snake - Ive never fully been on board with Chucky. Most of his films are terrible, with the exception of the original, CP2, and this one - Curse. The straight-forward approach works so well here. Just make Chucky a killer doll - BAM! You have some tension, fun creative kills, and a disposable cast of idiots for Chucky to work his magic on. The problem with Chucky is buying him as a credible threat - but something about Chuckys trickery and deception here is next level and its where he truly shines and stands out amongst his slasher brethren. For a slasher sequel, its surprisingly smart and impressively bold just to be so upfront with what the filmmakers had on their hands. It dumps what wasnt working anymore (Chuckys seed for one) but keeps some important comedic elements anyway and sets up a new life for a film series most had written off by that point. It has my respect, its honestly my favorite Chucky film, I rewatched it many times over the years, and while it doesnt have anything to elevate it to an upper echelon of my absolute favorites, it doesnt need to either - sometimes you just want to watch a funny-looking doll kill some people.

Yeah next ranking in two hours or so. Watching the Rangers game for now!

Okay that is a good point to be fair.

Suprak the Stud posted...

No Malignant no peace

And yeah Im not sure if it is going to wind up being influential or not (kind of doubt it) but its fun and interesting and weird. Isnt that enough for you?!?

I can spin it as a sort of weird creative comeback for James Wan after a decade spent delivering blockbuster after blockbuster.

I think the only 2020 films on that list I could see remaining locked the WHOLE decade are The Invisible Man and Candyman. Of course there's a long way to go yet and there may be room for Last Night in Soho or X and I'd love to just put Malignant on the list cause it's awesome. But there's just a lot to consider when listing out 30 of the most influential films of a decade.

Thanks smark! 70s are my favorite decade for horror too, but more likely than not I will do 80s horror next just to keep going chronologically backwards.

2000s was done around 2016, and 1990s was done around 2019. So three year gaps between all projects.

I do have preliminary lists for all decades, they're not finalized by any means, but this is my current 70s list:

1. The Dunwich Horror (1970)
2. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
3. Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
4. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
5. Ben (1972)
6. Blacula (1972)
7. The Last House on the Left (1972)
8. Tales from the Crypt (1972)
9. Don't Look Now (1973)
10. The Exorcist (1973)
11. The Wicker Man (1973)
12. Black Christmas (1974)
13. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
14. Young Frankenstein (1974)
15. Deep Red (1975)
16. Jaws (1975)
17. Carrie (1976)
18. The Omen (1976)
19. Eraserhead (1977)
20. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
21. House (1977)
22. Suspiria (1977)
23. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
24. Halloween (1978)
25. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
26. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
27. The Amityville Horror (1979)
28. The Brood (1979)
29. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
30. Phantasm (1979)

Your list has some solid picks too that I would heavily consider.

I wish you had submitted a list Corrik!

By Myself
Pushing Me Away
With You
A Place for My Head
Runaway
Points of Authority
Forgotten
In the End
One Step Closer
Cure for the Itch
Crawling
Papercut

This album nearly brings me to tears man - so goddamn nostalgic. I would play this album on a loop while playing Runescape, and I still know every word and every beat from the top to the bottom. Sure, Meteora's better, but there's just something so raw and emotional about this one too - they really did the whole rap metal better than anyone, and that's because they infused it with accessible pop sensibilities that gave it such a broad reaching appeal.

Oh yes that bugged the hell out of me too. Especially the Skype one - like how the hell did that end up on a VHS tape?

And oh man, I absolutely LOVE WNUF Halloween Special. Of course I would've liked to put it on the list but I would've had trouble justifying it. We need to do a cult classics list.

One more thing I wanted to note about V/H/S is how it sort of predicted the analog horror trend that's one of the biggest movements in internet horror right now. Stuff like Local58, Mandela Catalogue, and The Backrooms are presented in these faux-VHS and other old-fashioned styles and I have to think V/H/S helped edge that along just a little bit - and this stuff gets 10s of millions of views on Youtube with a big community surrounding it too.

If anyone wants a real good found footage film that wasn't on the list, I 1000% recommend Be My Cat: A Film for Anne.

It's free on Youtube and it's one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen honestly.

I actually have never watched Siren myself!

Outlier:
Tom Nook: 37
PrinceKaro: 22
jcgamer107: 20
red13n: 14
FFDragon: 13
Suprak: 12
Inviso: 10
Johnbobb: 7
fortybelowsummer: 7
BetrayedTangy: 4
Lightning_Strikes: 3
rockus: 2
Plasmabeam: 2
Snake: 1
thesmark: 1

Tom continues to take a commanding length as the rest keep it short.

Next film up later tonight.

Okay, phew, that was a lot! It's all posted now.

Inviso - Right off the bat, this movie does a poor job of making itself look even remotely appealing. I get that its a found footage film, and I get the appeal of found footage horror. Hell, I ranked Cloverfield third when we did 2000s horror. But with this? The whole film just looked ugly. It didnt look like a found footage film produced by competent filmmakers, but rather a janky, jittery mess. Some of the vignettes wound up better-filmed than others, but the opening is terrible, and its based around a group of nameless scumbags who take WAY too long to die, and the logic behind their presence in the movie is flimsy at best.

Beyond that, the road trip vignette was terribly boring, culminating in a completely forgettable ending. The Skype alien possession was just weird and a bit too long for what it was. The weird glitch slasher film felt too short for its concept. The ending haunted house had some potential, but the characters werent fleshed out enough. And the succubus was probably the most interesting, but again, it wasnt long enough to demonstrate quality. Thats the main problem. None of the vignettes are short enough to be fun little movie clips, but theyre also not long enough to feel fleshed out into solid stories. The whole movie is like that, and there are FIVE of them, on top of the bizarre steal a video tape from this house overarching narrative. Its just too drawn out for its own good.

Plasmabeam - Cool concept, but the execution is shoddy for the most part. The standout story from this collection was the video chat one where we learn that Emily is being manipulated by her boyfriend. I also liked the succubus story, but the rest of this collection was forgettable at best, and the frame tale was garbage.

Snake - Now, if you've been following any of my write-ups in past series, you will know I love anthology films, usually no matter how bad it is. However, I don't love V/H/S. There was a time I did - about 10 years ago, when I was 16 and really digging anything that felt real, gory, and subversive. Mumblegore was just about my favorite sub-genre in horror. However, with those same 10 years now past, I see V/H/S in a different light. Now, its shorts feel more hollow. Every short practically has the same format - a group of annoying college-age douches, who are perverted, loud & obnoxious, and say base-level, cardboard dialogue until they're killed off in unsatisfactory, shaky-cam headache inducing ways. Even the shorts that don't follow this format are subject to the same themes of perversion and promiscuity. These shorts are what teenagers consider shocking - it's no wonder I loved it back then. It's a shame too, because these are some extremely talented people who wrote and directed these shorts. For such an authored experience, these shorts feel surprisingly studio-mandated, full of clich characters and non-endings that are made for group cheering and as less thinking as possible. Shovel in your popcorn and laugh and cheer at the gore and CollegeHumor tier sex jokes, as electronic music blares over a repeated clip of a woman getting her breasts exposed or as this total geekwad tries to perv on one of his female friends. It's some real lowest common denominator stuff and it would be fine if it had anything to say about it but none of the shorts do so the whole things is just a waste of time to me.

Tape 56 - The frame story. It's dark, it's clunky, it's boring, it only serves to bring cohesion to the shorts. All the characters suck, which is the point, and then they exist to die off to a random zombie guy. Person who can't go down stairs without tripping counter: 1

Amateur Night - Two jocks make their token geek friend put on spy glasses to film - something...? There's no point for most of the runtime, until the pretty well-done climax where Lily goes full on bat-vampire-lady and destroys the sort-of-pervy frat boys. The gore and make-up effects are really well done and the characters exhibit a palpable sense of panic. It's decent enough.

Person who can't go down stairs without tripping counter: 2

Second Honeymoon - Two lovers on their honeymoon film boring vacation footage and then the husband dies and his wife runs away with her real lover. The scenes where the intruder films the couple sleeping in bed is chilling - a true nightmare for anyone I would imagine. Meh, I never really got the wife's motivation to do this besides one time when her husband snapped at her a little for maybe stealing money from him. And of course it ends before anything is really explained.

Tuesday the 17th - More annoying characters wander around a forest, die, and then some weird glitchy slasher killer gets trapped or maybe kills Wendy or something. Besides the pretty unique idea of the killer, there's not much here.

The Sick Thing - Probably my favorite short here. It's actually pretty hard to see the ending coming, and James' gaslighting and the reveal he does this to more women is perfectly creepy and makes the typical perversion of V/H/S actually have a point for once. There's some solid jumpscares and it's actually the most well-shot despite its filming method.

10/31/98 - Even MORE annoying characters think they go to a haunted house and find out it's actually for REAL haunted. I actually laughed out loud when the friends joined in on the chanting when the group were trying to exorcise the woman. Other than that, it's bog standard.

Johnbobb - Didn't really have the same wow factor it had when I first saw it a decade ago. The inevitable trouble with short-film collections is that, without some sense of overall cohesion, they can only really be judged by their best and worst parts. Some of the found footage direction here is REALLY rough, at times being a headache to even watch. Most of the segments at least have something good going for them, aside from the overarching "story" which is kinda trash and completely unrelated to any of the short films. Really the whole thing would be better with that all cut, as it would at least save it from dragging as much. There's also not much cohesion here. The first four films all have a vague theme of manipulation behind them, but none of that relates to the beginning story, and the theme is also dropped by the less-than-stellar last segment. Then there's the issues of several of the stories just not making much narrative sense. Amateur Night and Emily are probably the highlights of the film, but even those are pretty flawed.

Less popular opinion: Lily, not a deal-breaker.

fortybelowsummer - I like found footage for the most part. I feel like more people hate it than like it, and nobody actually loves it, but I enjoy what it provides. The problem with an anthology like this is that usually there are some weaker parts that bring down the whole thing. With a short format you definitely dont get much character development and the stories can feel rushed or unimaginative. I really dont want to get into each individual film, but the overall package is not great. Its basically that each segment, a couple of which are definitely good with the rest being not so good, takes too long to build up. Then it crescendos and you start all over again so its just an uneven, chaotic experience. Thats not to mention when the jittery camera work is almost unwatchable at times. I know this lends toward making you feel uncomfortable but its not much fun. The framework story that holds it all together is bad too. I will mention one specific thing: that freaking succubus girl in Amateur Night is terrifying. Just the way she looks and acts, I seriously cant even watch her. I like you. Goddammit, moving on.

PrinceKaro -
An anthology of found footage horror shorts that is a very mixed bag. Basically these burglars have to steal some special VHS tape from this weird house, and they play all the segments trying to find it or whatever.

Of great note is the constant video and audio glitches that plague every single short, yeah VHS tapes never had the greatest quality, but this is so ridiculous and hammy that I wonder if any of these directors have ever used a real VCR in their life.

First up, and easily the worst of all the segments, which is just these three awful dudes pick up a girl who turns out to be a harpy or something and everyone gets mindlessly eviscerated. It is utter rubbish.

Second is the vacation video of a couple who do boring things on a road trip but the wife is a secretly a killer lesbian or something.

Third segment is these kids go camping in the woods and get murdered by Missingno. It is rote and uninspired.

Fourth is where this guy is on zoom calls with his girlfriend, who is seemingly being haunted by ghost children.

The final segment basically runs with the concept 'what if the people in the haunted house were too stupid to realize they were in a haunted house', which is an interesting idea but one executed very poorly here.

The quality varies wildly between these segments but none really shine or stand out. All are hampered immensely by the found footage thing, bad 'acting' and bad 'camerawork' are pretty much the norm, and far too much of the film is spent watching lame home videos while waiting desperately for something spooky to happen.

red13n - A bunch of shorts that never seem to aim for anything beyond a bit of random garbage and people dying. Nothing here that really felt like it wanted to stick with me, just boring. Even when they seem like they might be conceptually interesting, they are too short to ever really have any depth and it just makes it difficult to care. There is some overhanging plot to this with some VHS tapes or whatever, but it doesn't really have much cohesion with the rest of the movie to really matter nor is it all that interesting on its own.

Lightning Strikes -
I like you!

There is only one way to fully evaluate this film, and thats to break it down short by short then the whole:

Tape 56: The wrap-around framing device, while it is competently directed (by Adam Wingard no less) it greatly weakens the whole film. The protagonists are so unbearably hateful it somewhat sours you on the whole thing. This really should have been minitiuarised or cut. The disappearing corpse was fun but thats about it really.

Amateur Night: The monster here is really creepy and effective, and the gore effects are great. This does establish a memorable creature and is the most consistently scary of the shorts, its easy to see why this got a spinoff. Unfortunately it is again hampered by have protagonists that are the most horrendous people imaginable, though at least you get to see their penises get ripped off. On the whole it was a success, but a flawed one.

Second Honeymoon: Now this is more like it. Super unsettling throughout with a great twist ending. The first time the stalker takes the camera is really, really chilling, and the hints of this persons presence throughout help add to the feeling of something not being quite right. Overall a very good short though I did wonder why they were filming it.

Tuesday the 17th: Incredibly disappointing unfortunately, the concept of somebody using their friends as bait in a horror setting is very strong, and the glitch killers are a cool visual. Unfortunately thats let down by weak acting and a clunky script. Also the fact that the lead fails to get her revenge makes her plan to use her friends to lure them out seem like a terrible plan, either have her win or leave that out. Such s shame.

The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger: The best of them all. This is a great horror story, with a really fun twist - or rather three twists. Even just the idea of ghosts turning out to be aliens was enough to make me like this, but its really effective in general. Also is this the first example of a film presented as somebodys computer screen? I loved this.

10/31/1998: This was nearly as good. Just a fun tour through a haunted house by people who think theyre just at a halloween party. All of the visuals and imagery is great, and the realisation that they doomed themselves by trying to do good is asad one. These are really the only likeable protagonists in the collection, and you do root for them. To that point I actually prefer the alternate ending for this one, I feel that it does fit the tone better by having them survive and laugh it off, which makes for a good contrast to the anthology as a whole and all its grim endings. Really enjoyable horror short.

Overall, V/H/S has some great stuff, but should have had its length cut down. You can lose the framing device and the third short and you would have a much stronger picture. I liked it but it could have been better than it was.

3/5

Biggest scare: I mentioned it already but the perspective shift in the second short was the stuff of nightmares.

29. V/H/S (364 points)

Why I Chose It:The anthology is a horror tradition that dates back to 19th century penny dreadfuls and dime novels, and, in film, 1919's Eerie Tales or 1945's Dead of Night which truly helped popularize the format as a horror film staple. Basically, it's a challenge of how short an author can go while still scaring their audience; it's also a great springboard for launching the popularity and notoriety of some creators who go on to become household names within the horror industry. V/H/S succeeds on both fronts - Adam Wingard (Blair Witch, Godzilla vs. Kong), David Bruckner (The Ritual, The Night House), Ti West (The Innkeepers, X), Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream) - 4 names you can't escape from if you're any sort of even casual horror fan, whose subversive and quick-witted talents continue to bring critical acclaim and box-office draw to the horror genre. V/H/S has also become a huge franchise in its own right - spawning three sequels, a spin-off film, and a shorts series on Snapchat - continuing to highlight some of the most original voices and talents in horror.

Tom Nook: 12
FFDragon: 16
jcgamer107: 19
Suprak: 21
Johnbobb: 23
fortybelowsummer: 24
PrinceKaro: 25
red13n: 26
Lightning Strikes: 27
Inviso: 28
Plasmabeam: 28
Snake: 28
thesmark: 28
rockus: 29
BetrayedTangy: 30

Tom Nook - Anthology movies can be fun, regardless of the quality of the segments, just because they come at you quickly and you don't know what to expect each time. None of these were great, but I also didn't think many of them were that bad. The one with the honeymoon where the lover kills the guy was pretty pointless, and was definitely the weakest of all of them. The one with the guys going to a party was sort of forgettable but was fine enough. The one with the glitch in the woods was cheesy, but there is something about a glitch killing people that was entertaining to me; maybe it took me back to my days of Pokemon since MissingNo is my favorite Pokemon. The two best segments were the ones that featured a cute girl. The one with Emily who was being used as some kind of alien incubator was good as a short. And then of course the segment with the succubus girl Lily, who just has this great look for the part. I'm sure that was everyone's favorite segment.

FFDragon - Carried hard by Amateur Night.

jcgamer107 - An interesting concept that was probably better in theory than in execution. The found footage style has gotten stale for me and feels too gimmicky at this point, so Im not really the target audience for this anymore. There are bright spots - Ti Wests segment and the haunted house segment at the end were well done, the latter containing some good effects. Parts 3 & 4 are OK - not too much to them but theyre at least inoffensive. The whole thing starts out rough though, as the first short has some of the most obnoxious characters ever put to film (that laugh). I did like the shot of the guy getting pulled up into the sky though - Ive had vivid dreams where something like that happens. Its a decent grindhouse-type experience, with supernatural elements sprinkled in.

Johnbobb posted...

For anyone interested, the topic for the mini-spinoff ABCs of Death ranking is posted!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80021887

This will just be a side project for fun while the results here are being posted, only 2 films, but both anthology films composed of shorts.

Thanks for this! I wholly encourage everyone here to participate in that!

Anyway, #29 coming up very soon!