Brendan Jesus
Well, found footage isn’t dead! Let’s back up, the early ’10s brought us some fantastic found footage films like Grave Encounters (2011), V/H/S (2012), The Houses October Built (2014), and Willow Creek (2013) to name a few. Unfortunately due to their incredible successes, the subgenre has become incredibly oversaturated with a plethora of cheaply made over a weekend bore fests, leading to a recent decline in the subgenre. CUT TO: our current year…and found footage is back baby! The trailer for V/H/S/94 just dropped and solidified the fact that the people who helped spearhead the early ’10’s wave are ready to take the subgenre back!
V/H/S/94‘s synopsis is as follows:
After the discovery of a mysterious VHS tape, a brutish police swat team launch a high-intensity raid on a remote warehouse, only to discover a sinister cult compound whose collection of pre-recorded material uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.
V/H/S/94 brings together Executive Producers/Producers David Bruckner (The Ritual, V/H/S), James Fler (Dead Shack), Brad Miska (V/H/S, Southbound), Tom Owen (V./H/S), Zak Zeman (A Horrible Way to Die, V/H/S), and Radio Silence (Ready or Not, V/H/S), plus many others! Directing wise we will be getting segments from Timo Tjahjanto (Killers, V/H/S/2), Jennifer Reeder (Knives and Sin), Ryan Prows (Lowlife), Chloe Okuno, and the always amazing Simon Barrett (The Guest, You’re Next, V/H/S).
The trailer bombards us with enough horror to be satiated from the minute and thirty seconds alone. We are thrown into a police raid on a cult’s compound and shown clips of scary surgeons, freaky funeral homes, and rowdy religious imagery. From the trailer alone V/H/S/94 looks not only to be as visceral and frightening as V/H/S, but it seems to expand upon it and push the bar for found footage beyond where it has gone. Plus, there’s a Doom-like sequence towards the end of the trailer which just looks gnarly and very original. V/H/S: Viral kind of missed the mark and departed from what made the franchise as special as it was, but 94 looks to be a bloody promising return to form.
The cult trope referred to in the wraparound story could be a possible nudge to the cult segment “Safe Haven,” from V/H/S/2. Cults are used as an outlet of antagonism frequently in the genre, but when handled correctly can be a very effective means to create horror. The cult in 94 are dead by the time we meet them in the trailer, so hopefully, we can get a look into the lives and learnings of the cult to see what brought them to this level.
V/H/S/94 will be premiering on Shudder on October 6, 2021, but if you’re lucky you can catch the world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 26, or at Beyond Fest on October 4, with an introduction from Simon Barrett! There is no doubt V/H/S is a staple of found footage, and from these early clips, it is fair to say V/H/S/94 will be welcome entry back into the subgenre.
