Horror Movie Review: V/H/S/85 (2023)

V/H/S/85 is a found-footage horror anthology film, releasing in 2023. It’s the sixth instalment in the V/H/S franchise and in my opinion, the best one to date.

As you’d expect, this anthology has a frame narrative in which a narrator presents a documentary on a team of scientists at a University studying a shapeshifting being they name “Rory.”

There are a total of five unique horror stories with interludes in between each of them which continue the story of Rory and the scientists. I won’t be going into any real depth on what each of the stories are about as that would end in a really long-winded review. I’m sure what you really care about is my delightful opinion on the film in general so here goes.

One area that V/H/S usually nails is the feeling of authenticity in their twisted stories. It’s important to be able to immerse yourself into the footage and attempt to buy into the idea that what you’re seeing could be real. This latest entry in the franchise executes this better than any that have come before it. It does a tremendous job of giving you the sense that you’re watching some kind of late night documentary or something.

Another aspect that is worthy of highlighting is the gore within these tales. Man, there’s some gruesome looking stuff here and it’s another area that nails that feeling of authenticity. In general, I really enjoyed the differing filming styles in each of the stories.

I’m a sucker for 80s horror so this was always going to be right up my alley. The acting, costumes, props, sets and general vibe is just perfect here. A hell of a lot of effort was made to make you feel like you have been transported back to the golden era of horror.

I believe that one of the biggest compliments you can pay to any anthology is the desire to see the short stories be expanded into full length. This is most certainly the case here as the level of consistent quality throughout is high.

Of course, there’s all the usual tropes that often make the found-footage genre one that isn’t for everyone. I have complained about many of them myself over the years but I didn’t find it quite as jarring here. This might be simply down to how compelling I was finding everything. Everyone will have their own opinion on which story they enjoyed the most or least. For me, “TKNOGD” was the weakest but even that has a killer conclusion and is quite engrossing.

Overall, I’ve been a fan of almost every V/H/S entry to date but this latest entry takes the whole cake and then some. If this is going to be the effort and quality heading forward, keep them coming.