Monday, October 15, 2012

Betamax Shoulda Won


Kids and their damn "found footage" movies.  I tell you what, after Cloverfield, I was done with them.  Mostly, this was because Cloverfield is the best found footage movie ever and no one will ever be able to top it.  Some may disagree, but this isn't their blog, now, is it?

This brings us to today's video tidbit, V/H/S.



Do moviegoers even remember V/H/S tapes anymore?  Do kids these days know the joy of putting tape over that silly tab to record over stuff ?  Be kind, rewind, anyone?

DAMN KIDS!  GET OFFA MY LAWN!

Ahem... sorry. 

ANYWAY!   As much as I'm so completely over found footage movies, this one intrigued me.  It seems very much like guerrilla film-making at it's finest but there's a polish to it that makes me kind of love it.

Unlike other found footage flicks like The Blair Witch Project or The Poughkeepsie Tapes, this is an anthology and that probably helped it along.  You didn't have an hour and a half of a single story to pick apart.  You had 5 stories that gave you enough action and decent acting to ignore the flaws.  Yes, some of the segments went on a little too long but who hasn't watched a home movie that meandered a bit?  I can forgive that, here.

The first segment BY FAR is the best.  If you ever get to a bar and the person you're hitting on just keeps staring at you with Bratz doll eyes and saying "I like you" over and over again, it's probably best that you don't take them to a motel with you and your friends for a drug-fueled orgy.   It will only end in tears.

There are all sorts of nifty twists and turns in here that make it fun to watch and a lot of them turn genres on their heads.  We have demons, slashers, haunters, paranoia, what look like aliens... there's something for everybody!  FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!  Only... you know... not.

The wraparound story is what bugged me the most about it.  I mean, people break into a house because they were paid to find a specific tape and you're never quite sure if this is the tape they're looking for because they just keep pulling tapes and watching them.  How the owner of these tapes got them is beyond us.

I say give this one a watch.  You may not love it but it'll definitely creep you out.

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