V/H/S 99

I have been a VHS loyalist since the beginning and even liked 1984. Has every segment ever been a homer in? No. But there's always a diamond or two in the rough. This time around there was quite literally nothing redeeming. Even gawker which should have been the best was wasted with filler and a boring climax. It was like a "Lily" rip-off with none of the tension. Man I can't believe every segment was a dud but here we are. Give some new writers a chance or at least be honest with yourselves when reading the scripts and weed out the garbage. Otherwise this franchises will suffer even further..

1. Suicide Bid 2. Shredding 3. The Gawkers 4. Ozzy's Dungeon 5. To Hell And Back

V/H/S/99 is the latest in the mixed bag that makes up the V/H/S franchise. Of the five stories, none are particularly awful yet none hit some of the heights previous V/H/S' have managed.

An 1hr 50m for this kind of anthology is rather long and the running time begins to tell the longer it goes on. Ozzy's Dungeon has lots of potential but begins to bore. Same goes for To Hell And Back. The most accomplished piece is Suicide Bid which contains the better scares with a neat ending.

V/H/S/99 is a shudder exclusive and is the perfect platform for a series of it's kind. There is a sequel already announced called V/H/S/85 coming to shudder as well and so far V/H/S still has legs.

The first 3 movies are absolute treasures, but these new cash-ins lack all the underground gritty realism and engrossing segments.

The first 3 movies felt like you were watching some cursed or random snuff VHS that had been unearthed. These 90's installments feel like some kids decided to create their own little creepypasta style shots and it just falls flat and feels empty, the bad CGI doesn't help either. Some segments have decent story ideas but either bad acting, CGI, or dialogue ruin it.

Like '94 there's only one good segment, and the overarching shots between segments is bland. Still waiting for the series to get back to its original brilliance.

I have to start by saying the main poster for this film featuring hell with the camera lense eyed face at the top is a truly great poster. It says in the trivia that after the success of 'V/H/S/94' this was rushed into production and it sadly feels that way a bit. It's not a bad entry in the series, however it isn't close to the best.

A brief analysis of the segments:

Shredding - Probably my least favourite segment. Not very creative and nothing new or memorable about it.

Suicide Bid - The stuff in the coffin was very claustrophobic and effective. The ending I could have down without, however a 'V/H/S' movie has to 'V/H/S'. All said, probably my favourite segment.

Ozzy's Dungeon - I thought I was really going to enjoy this one until it went down a completely different path to what I expected. There was so much potential and it was set up so well. Then it fell apart. Very disappointing.

The Gawkers - This one was decent. Spends a lot of time setting everything up and then it's over a little too quickly. This was a strong enough concept to get a full length feature out of.

To Hell And Back - I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The idea is a good one. The execution didn't quite live up to the concept however. It never really felt like they were in hell.

2/5 would get pass marks for me. I will give the overall film a 6/10.

I don't know what film the other reviewers watched but V/H/S 99 is the worst. Boring, predictable and God awful. I'm a huge fan of the first two, a little less with Viral and 94 but this film one will find in the bargin bin probably by days end. Tedious and hard to watch. Trust me on this, really bad. I had to take a break from it twice now and actually have it paused as we speak to write this review. From the opening short that ties the others together seems almost like a bad parody of the original to the others it's like making a wish for heaven and waking up in hell. I've been counting the days for the film to drop on Shudder and now I'm counting the minutes for the film to end. It's been a bleak year for horror films to live up to the hype, from Halloween Ends to Malignant, all have fallen short but V/H/S 99 really has surpassed in the disappointment level. Watch the original and spare yourself from this mess of a film.