{"id":170338,"date":"2025-09-20T20:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T20:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170338\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T20:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T20:03:07","slug":"the-funniest-and-darkest-entry-yet-fantastic-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170338\/","title":{"rendered":"The Funniest (And Darkest) Entry Yet [Fantastic Fest]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n<p>                                             &#13;<br \/>\n                                                    &#13;<br \/>\n                            &#13;<br \/>\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/intro-1758389491.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1973626\/vhs-halloween-review\/\" data-post-id=\"1973626\" data-slide-num=\"0\" data-slide-title=\"V\/H\/S\/Halloween Review: The Funniest (And Darkest) Entry Yet [Fantastic Fest]: \" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" alt=\"The mother grinning at the camera in the V\/H\/S\/Halloween segment Coochie Coochie Coo\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    Shudder<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Horror anthologies have been a staple of horror for a long, long time. On television, we can go back to stuff like &#8220;The Twilight Zone,&#8221; which remains a touchstone of the genre to this day. On the big screen, we&#8217;ve had stuff like &#8220;Creepshow&#8221; and the cult classic &#8220;Trick &#8216;r Treat.&#8221; But the modern era of the genre has largely been defined by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1675061\/vhs-horror-movies-real-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8220;V\/H\/S\/&#8221; franchise, dating back to the original found footage entry that started it all<\/a> in 2012. Now, the series is back with &#8220;V\/H\/S\/Halloweeen,&#8221; which I&#8217;m pleased to say is another winner. It&#8217;s also, by a wide margin, the funniest movie in the enterprise to date.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Make no mistake though, the folks at Shudder didn&#8217;t just deliver a laugh riot of a horror anthology. They remembered the horror part as well, as this collection of deadly videos themed around All Hallow&#8217;s Eve also features perhaps the single darkest individual segment any of these movies has ever produced. It all adds up to a remarkably satisfying, raucously good time, with even the weakest segment of the bunch ranking as at least &#8216;good.&#8217; That&#8217;s rarely the case when it comes to horror anthologies, which makes &#8220;V\/H\/S\/ Halloween&#8221; stand out from the jump.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I&#8217;m not necessarily saying that this entry contains the best &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; segments ever. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1679957\/safe-haven-greatest-horror-movie-of-the-century-so-far-inside-another-horror-movie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">It remains damn near impossible to top &#8220;Safe Haven&#8221; from &#8220;V\/H\/S\/2.&#8221;<\/a> But what makes a horror anthology great, in theory, is that they offer up different flavors for different viewers. Given that this particular anthology brand has been running for more than a decade with this being the eighth collection overall, taken as a whole, this feels like a new flavor. A welcome flavor, with various flavors contained within the overarching dish. In that way, it undeniably succeeds.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                The V\/H\/S hot streak continues<\/p>\n<p>                                             &#13;<br \/>\n                                                    &#13;<br \/>\n                            &#13;<br \/>\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/the-vhs-hot-streak-continues-1758389493.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1973626\/vhs-halloween-review\/\" data-post-id=\"1973626\" data-slide-num=\"1\" data-slide-title=\"V\/H\/S\/Halloween Review: The Funniest (And Darkest) Entry Yet [Fantastic Fest]: The V\/H\/S hot streak continues\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" alt=\"Austin on the conveyor belt in the V\/H\/S\/Halloween segment Fun Size\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    Shudder<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">What&#8217;s striking about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1952655\/vhs-halloween-trailer-what-horror-franchise-needed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8220;V\/H\/S\/Halloween&#8221; comes from the title alone<\/a>. We&#8217;ve had &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; movies themed around various years. We&#8217;ve had assorted collections only connected by the wraparound segment. We&#8217;ve even had &#8220;V\/H\/S\/Viral,&#8221; which tried to take the series into the social media era. (The less said about that one, the better.) It&#8217;s downright insane to me that it took the fine folks at Bloody Disgusting and Shudder this long to get around to doing one of these themed around Halloween.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But this is undoubtedly a situation where better late than never applies. It&#8217;s an absolute delight to see this particular franchise tackle Halloween in this way. Halloween night is a staple of horror. From John Carpenter&#8217;s &#8220;Halloween&#8221; to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1683401\/art-the-clown-low-budget-horror-movie-all-hallows-eve-terrifier\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Art the Clown&#8217;s debut in &#8220;All Hallow&#8217;s Eve&#8221;<\/a> before becoming the star of &#8220;Terrifier,&#8221; the holiday goes hand-in-hand with the genre. In this case, it just so happens to be gut-bustingly funny at times. Darkly funny at others. Then just plain old &#8220;holy s*** that was dark&#8221; elsewhere. Mostly, it&#8217;s just twisted fun, which is when these movies are at their best, in my humble opinion.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The obvious yet welcome decision to use Halloween as a springboard is keeping the franchise&#8217;s hot streak alive. For my money, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1670288\/vhs-beyond-review-sci-fi-horror-anthology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">it&#8217;s not quite as good as last year&#8217;s sci-fi themed &#8220;V\/H\/S\/Beyond,&#8221;<\/a> but that&#8217;s a matter of personal taste and, for what it&#8217;s worth, it&#8217;s right up there. When Shudder revived the franchise with &#8220;V\/H\/S\/94,&#8221; it did so with a bang and has largely kept the quality up since. There are natural peaks and valleys, but the valleys are never all that low and with the last two installments, it&#8217;s clear the team has found its stride. Getting to enjoy a new &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; movie is rapidly becoming a welcome annual tradition.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                V\/H\/S continues to foster great new voices in horror<\/p>\n<p>                                             &#13;<br \/>\n                                                    &#13;<br \/>\n                            &#13;<br \/>\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vhs-continues-to-foster-great-new-voices-in-horror-1758389493.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1973626\/vhs-halloween-review\/\" data-post-id=\"1973626\" data-slide-num=\"2\" data-slide-title=\"V\/H\/S\/Halloween Review: The Funniest (And Darkest) Entry Yet [Fantastic Fest]: V\/H\/S continues to foster great new voices in horror\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" alt=\"The entrance to Dr. Mortis' House of Horrors in V\/H\/S\/Halloween\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    Shudder<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">One thing that &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; has always been great about is fostering new talent behind the camera. From Adam Wingard (&#8220;Godzilla vs. Kong&#8221;) to Radio Silence (&#8220;Ready or Not&#8221;), this series has birthed many of the genre&#8217;s best filmmakers working today. &#8220;Halloween&#8221; feels like it&#8217;s destined to be a springboard for these directors as well. I&#8217;m personally eager to see what many of them do next.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The collection of filmmakers assembled here makes the most of horror&#8217;s chosen holiday. Bryan M. Ferguson helms one of the best wrap-around segments in &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; history with &#8220;Diet Phantasma.&#8221; Casper Kelly&#8217;s &#8220;Fun Size&#8221; may well be the funniest individual segment we&#8217;ll ever see in any of these movies. Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman&#8217;s &#8220;Home Haunt&#8221; is one I can easily see becoming a new fan-favorite.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Anna Zlokovic kicks things off brilliantly with &#8220;Coochie Coochie Coo,&#8221; which is just about the most fun one can hope to have with a f****d up horror short. Then there&#8217;s Alex Ross Perry, the guy who co-wrote the screenplay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/560033\/christopher-robin-review-a-captivating-blend-of-whimsy-and-melancholy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">for Disney&#8217;s live-action &#8220;Winnie the Pooh&#8221; movie &#8220;Christopher Robin,&#8221;<\/a> who delivers the darkest moment in &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; history with &#8220;Kidprint.&#8221; No spoilers here, but buckle up for a twisted ride.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mileage will vary but even my personal least favorite of the bunch, Paco Plaza&#8217;s &#8220;Ut Supra Sic Infra,&#8221; is good. When the weakest link in the chain is that strong, you&#8217;re in great shape. I don&#8217;t know if I could rightfully say that this is the best &#8220;V\/H\/S&#8221; movie ever. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/1679376\/vhs-movies-ranked-worst-best\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8220;V\/H\/S\/2&#8221; would have something to say about that<\/a>. But it absolutely continues the hot streak the series has been on. If they continue to be this good, the franchise could run forever and I&#8217;d be happy about it.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\/Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;V\/H\/S\/Halloween&#8221; is streaming on Shudder beginning October 3, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Shudder Horror anthologies have been a staple of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-170338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}