Review: ‘V/H/S/94’ delivers creepy chills and graphic thrills

1994 was a strange time. It was the year of Pulp Fiction, Oasis’ “Definitely Maybe,” Kurt Cobain’s death, and Madonna’s (in)famous appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. It was also a turning point in our culture; coming off the commercial boom of the ’80s, it was, perhaps, the last year before home computers really began flooding the marketplace (at least in my neck of the woods, deep rural America). With the fourth entry into the V/H/S found footage franchise, V/H/S/94 whips the viewer back nearly 30 years, reconnecting them with a time before the internet and widespread cell phone use. It carries particular weight after the last film, 2014’s V/H/S: Viral, and delivers enough chills and thrills, if even a bit of a mixed bag.

A wrap-around story called “Holy Hell” follows a SWAT team launching a drug raid upon an abandoned warehouse, littered with trash, debris, body parts, and random TV screens which invite the viewer into a skin-crawling collection of VHS tapes. “Storm Drain,” written/directed by Chloe Okuno, cracks open the anthology with bone-chilling imagery, as a local news reporter Holly Marciano (Anna Hopkins) gets down and dirty in the sewer drains to cover an urban legend about a Rat Man. Alongside her camera man, she is willing to do whatever it takes to capture a human interest story about homelessness, but naturally she bites off a little more than she can chew, soon discovering the reality behind the myth. The segment’s wicked creature design guarantees you won’t be sleeping much tonight, setting up quite an unsettling pace for the latest film.

But it doesn’t quite prepare you for “The Empty Wake,” directed by Simon Barrett, co-writer with David Bruckner, as among the series best to-date. Kyal Legend stars as a funeral home worker named Hailey, tasked with hosting an overnight wake, which must be filmed, per request from the dead man’s family. With a thunderstorm raging outside, the night seems to drag on endlessly and leaves you wondering what could possibly happen. Hailey, understandably on edge, begins hearing strange clangs and bangs coming from the casket, perhaps a trick of her own paranoia. Barrett plays his cards just right; it’s a slow burn of the tallest order, allowing the tension to crackle and pop before the big, frightening climax. If you thought you had nightmares before, you will now.

With “The Subject,” Timo Tjahjanto injects the film with an absolute bloodbath — quite in line with his previous series appearance, V/H/S/2’s “Safe Haven.” Dr. James Suhendra likes to perform illegal operations. Away in his dungeon-like laboratory, grimy and sticky with blood and brain matter, he has captured two new test subjects to try out his latest “neo-human” creation, a fusion of flesh and metal. He’s only seen marginal success so far with the human body consistently rejecting the metallic implants and parts. When his lair is raided, all his work is for naught, and his creatures finally have a chance to fight back. It’s wonderfully grisly and frequently feels like a video game (I’m not a gamer, but sign me up!). It never quite hits as hard as “Safe Haven,” but there’s plenty of nauseating imagery to send you to the john.

Lastly, writer/director Ryan Prows goes for the socio-political jugular with “Terror,” in which a band of straight white men, the kind who’d attend the January 16 riot in Washington, DC, plot a terrorist attack on a federal building downtown. Their secret weapon lies in a man they have held hostage in their barn (at least, he appears to be human), and every day, they murder him, execution-style. His blood, as it appears, detonates in sunlight, the key to unlocking an unholy weapon of mass destruction. The day before their diabolical scheme, the supremacist organization throws a country bumpkin rager, provoking a terror so ghastly that is nothing short of satisfying. In effect, you’re simply rooting for the unnamed beast to kill these men in the worst ways possible, and it’s an absolute treat.

As anthology films go, V/H/S/94 contains plenty of horrifying content that’ll satiate a wide swatch of fans. While every segment doesn’t quite hit the mark, it’s a roller coaster worth riding at least once.

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