V/H/S Viral

In 2012 I brought you a look at a new direction of Horror with V/H/S which was an amazing utilization of Found Footage and recent technology with a look at both the supernatural and the darkest sides of Human Nature.

Featuring works from some of the upcoming directors in the genre V/H/S gave us a glimpse of Amateur porn gone demonic, an ill-fated reconciliation on Vacation, a Halloween night of terror as well as aliens on Webcam.

An instant hit on the festival circuit V/H/S was met with critical acclaim as well as massive fanfare and a year later V/H/S/2 arrived on the scene.

This time the film showcased the works of many established directors telling the stories of a GoPro filmed Zombie outbreak, a camera implant that allows the patient to see the dead, a Asian cult, and an alien abduction.

Now I have admitted here on The Video Creep that I was not too much of a fan on V/H/S/2 as with many sequels I had high intentions but being that V/H/S is a tough act to follow and there were many that were fans of the film and I say that to each their own.  I am pleasantly surprised to say that it was not the final entry in the series.

That being said V/H/S Viral was announced this past Summer with a premiere at the 2014 Fantastic Fest. Now I have to admit that I am late in bringing you this review as I made the decision to wait for the BluRay Release of the film as it featured a short film and special Features that were exclusive to the release.

Like it’s predecessors Viral features a wraparound story following characters that are shown the videos and the chaos that ensues. Viral however takes a different direction with Vicious Circles helmed by Dead Girl director Marcel Sarmiento.

As the title suggests the videos featured in this film are in fact viral. Now for those of you that aren’t aware what is viral video?

“A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email.”

Primarily following a young Videographer Kevin and his girlfriend Iris that he spends most of his time filming until one night a police chase of an Ice Cream Truck goes through his neighborhood and looking at the chance for 1,000,000 Hits video on the net at first decides to pursue the chase. 

However after the truck passes him Iris soon goes into a trance clearly hypnotized by a video on her phone and begins to follow the truck with Kevin in hot persuit.

This story is told in between the segments however occasionally the narrative shifts to different characters that Kevin encounters in his persuit of the truck and these characters are followed leading into the next film.

As for the Films, They take a different direction than their predecessors as the films while maintaining the Found Footage format are more documentary films or feature GoPros among other cameras allowing for more edits and cutaways.

Dante the Great the first film directed by Gregg Bishop is one of my favorites. Following a Magician who acquires a magic cloak that allows him to perform real magic however the catch is that the cloak has to be fed humans and it is not too particular or who it is fed to keep the magic going.

The film follows the authorities trying to stop the Magician who has become too powerful to stop and his assistant is the only one that can stop him.

Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo contributes Parallel Monsters. Another interesting tale treated to us internationally in which an inventor invents a machine that opens a doorway to another dimension where he meets another version of himself however he finds that this is not what he thinks it is. Trust me this one is Fd Up!  Fans of ABCs of Death will like this one.

The directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead bring Bonestorm to the Table. Following a group of teens in Highland Park who head to Mexico to film a Skateboarding video where they encounter a group of the walking undead where they must fight off to return to the border. The effects of this piece is amazing with the use of practical effects along with the occational CGI and the use of the GoPro cameras make you at times think that you are playing a first person shooter video game.

Finally after the film and you stay after the credits you are treated to Gorgeous Vortex. Tulsa native Todd Lincoln gives us a strange film about a unknown organization of faceless masked strangers that are stalking a female serial killer for unknown purposes.

While visually amazing I had trouble following the film’s plot and narrative which I think was the point but it was still a great film.

I really liked V/H/S Viral and I hope that it isn’t the last in the series but it would be a great way to end the series in a trilogy.

35 Dead Bodies

4 Breasts

14 Beasts

Arms Breaking

Compound Fractures

Exploding Skeletons

Skateboard Bashing

Penis with teeth

Stomach Vaginas with teeth

Skeleton Fu

Skateboard Fu

Camera Fu

Taxi Fu

As I said Earlier fans of ABCs of Death will like this

3 Stars

Check it out