V/H/S Halloween

Screened on Shudder.

I believe this is the eighth entry in the V/H/S franchise, but only the second or third that I've seen so far. I enjoyed the original enough, and I'm pretty sure there was another I gave a chance but didn't leave much of an impression on me one way or another. This series is quite popular, especially within the more hardcore horror community, and I can understand why. Anthologies aren't the massive hits you'd expect them to be with general audiences, which is strange considering - using V/H/S Halloween as an example - you basically get five different films for the price of one. What's not to love about a great bargain? But amongst the genre's biggest fans, anthologies are a dream come true. So I think that's what had me interested in this latest entry - they finally went to the core of the spooky season: Halloween. Such a no-brainer you'd think this would have have been one of the first entries, if not the first.

What also got me was one of the directors was one of the lunatics that came up with the infamous Too Many Cooks skit for Adult Swim. If you're not familiar, get to it immediately. He also directed the two Yule Log films for the same group, and well, IYKYK. His contribution here is as wacky as you'd expect, yet still feels like a natural fit, blending horror with his otherwise bizarre, irreverent style of fucked-up humor. Other segments were good as well, and though there was one I found rather unpleasant, Kidprint, I could still see its value and contribution to this anthology as a whole. So rather than criticize, I will just say if I was to watch this again I would do what any true American would do, just skip the segment and move the fuck on.

Overall I enjoyed this film's wackiness, its humor, its creativity and I really just enjoyed how darn trippy an experience it was overall. There's definitely gross elements here, some I can look past, some I can't. But that's a matter of taste. How this all comes together as a cohesive whole, is what stands out the most for me. It's actually rather indicative of how the season of the witch brings the spooky amongst us together in celebration of one common trait they all share: the need to be scared and creeped out, just for the enjoyment of it.