Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5)
Fantastic Fest 2023 had a different energy this year. With the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, red carpets were quieter, and most premieres unfolded without the usual spotlight. But this festival has never relied on star power to keep things interesting. The show goes on, and sometimes the strangest tapes make the biggest impact. V/H/S/85 was one of the most memorable films of the entire lineup.
The sixth entry in the long-running horror anthology franchise plays like a cursed mixtape dug out of a forgotten cabinet at your local video store. It’s warped, unsettling, and full of creative energy. Each short is stitched together through the static of a decaying television signal, and what emerges is something far more cohesive than expected.
A Tape You Were Never Meant to Watch
This time around, the wraparound story takes the shape of a made-for-TV documentary. Scientists observe a silent boy who stares endlessly into a broken television set. Between the fuzzy tracking and the robotic narration, it feels like one of those grainy school videos they used to roll in on a cart when the teacher needed a break. It’s oddly nostalgic and deeply unsettling.
The aesthetic is not just a gimmick. It feels lived in. The glitches are authentic, the camera work is intentionally imperfect, and the whole thing captures the off-kilter vibe of something recorded in a rush and never meant to be seen again.
Shorts That Cut Deep
What makes V/H/S/85 stand out is how well the segments connect. They aren’t just random horror shorts. Some intertwine and call back to each other, which gives the whole film a strange narrative rhythm.
One story follows a group of teens filming a lake skiing trip. It starts off like a home video time capsule, but quickly spirals into something cosmic and terrifying. At first, it ends abruptly, but the payoff comes later when another short reveals the full picture from a different angle. It’s clever and rewarding without being showy.
In God of Death, a local news team gets caught in an earthquake and ends up trapped underground. The segment begins with grounded, claustrophobic tension, then slowly morphs into a surreal nightmare. It’s eerie in the way only lo-fi horror can be.
Another segment centers around a performance artist using primitive virtual reality to explore the god of technology. What starts as avant-garde commentary unravels into chaos once the headset reveals something the audience wasn’t supposed to see.
The Dreamkill Standout
The strongest segment is Dreamkill, directed and co-written by the team behind Sinister and The Black Phone. A man sends tapes of murders to the police before the crimes happen. He insists he is not the killer. It plays like a nightmare caught between a true crime documentary and a supernatural conspiracy.
This short bends the found footage format just enough to feel cinematic without losing the gritty charm of the franchise. For fans of their earlier work, there are several satisfying visual and thematic callbacks.
Old Technology, New Life
What’s impressive about V/H/S/85 is how committed it is to the analog aesthetic. The directors used real glitches, practical effects, and old gear whenever possible. It never feels like a digital film with a retro filter. It feels like it was pulled out of a dusty tape case, still labeled in Sharpie.
Despite the variety in tone and approach, there is a consistent mood across the shorts. Even the more abstract entries feel like they belong. This is a rare anthology where none of the segments feel like filler.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
In a year where the festival spotlight dimmed, V/H/S/85 stood out as one of the most inventive and complete horror experiences that I’ve seen at Fantastic Fest 2023. It delivers the weird, the raw, and the unexpected. Every segment is distinct, yet each one contributes to a larger sense of dread that hums beneath the static.
This is horror that feels handmade. Messy, yes. But also thoughtful, deliberate, and strangely personal. For longtime fans of the series, it is a return to form. For new viewers, it is a perfect point of entry into the strange world of found footage done right.