It wouldn\u2019t be Fantastic Fest without a \u201cV\/H\/S\u201d movie. Once again, the good folks at Shudder, Bloody Disgusting, and Cinepocalypse have gathered some adventurous directors around the found footage campfire to tell some twisted tales, and this time they\u2019re all centered on every horror fan\u2019s favorite holiday. \u201cV\/H\/S\/HALLOWEEN\u201d is one of the best entries in this now-annual anthology series because it feels the most tonally consistent (and has maybe the best batting average). Not only are most of the stories tied together with themes of Halloween like urban legends, bowls of candy, and haunted houses, but they mostly have the same tone: a tongue-in-bloody-cheek sense of humor and willingness to go beyond perceived decorum. Keep your elevated horror. Let\u2019s get down in the muck. I heard that\u2019s where they have the full-size candy bars.<\/p>\n
Every \u201cV\/H\/S\u201d has a connecting short that the film returns to between entries and this one presents the excellent \u201cDiet Phantasma,\u201d which plays out like grainy footage of a focus group working on its latest product, complete with \u201cFor Internal Use Only\u201d across the screen. From the mad scientist side of the glass, we see test subjects given a can of Diet Phantasma, and they await to see the side effects. We\u2019re not talking nausea or hives. Think demonic possession and spontaneous combustion. It\u2019s a clever bit because we know as horror fans that each time we come back to it, the ante has been upped on the insanity that we\u2019re likely to witness.<\/p>\n
The first proper segment in \u201cHalloween\u201d is Anna Zlokovic\u2019s inspired \u201cCoochie Coochie Coo,\u201d a story of two of those kids who are a little too old to be trick or treating but want one last run at the candy machine. They\u2019ve heard the stories of \u201cmommy,\u201d an urban legend figure that makes unruly teenagers disappear on Halloween. Of course, they end up at her house, which is a deranged piece of filmmaking, both in conception and execution. There\u2019s something truly unsettling around every corner of this impossible house of horrors, making it a great one to include early, as it launches the momentum of the film overall and sets the bar for gross shit.<\/p>\n