V/H/S/2 - TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW

BY MATEO MORENO

Most of the time, when a horror sequel is rushed out to production it suffers creatively.  I’m happy to say that this is not the case with V/H/S/2, the new gory, hilarious follow up to the anthology hit from 2012.  Two of the creative team return from the original (Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard) and bring along several fresh faces to the proceedings.  The plot is thus: A private investigator is hired to find a missing person and along with his girlfriend sets off to do just that.  But when stumbling into a vacant home, they find stacks and stacks of old videotapes, which the girlfriend starts to watch.  As she does, we see each of the tape’s contents (four short horror films), and each one affects her and the house in various ways.

Barrett himself directs the narrative structure “Tape 49” which successfully wraps all the stories into one.  Wingard tackles the first short, titled “Phase 1 Clinical Trials,” documenting a man who becomes the test subject of a retinal implant and starts seeing things.  Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project) co-directs “A Ride in the Park” with Gregg Hale which follows a couple biking into a very unsafe park.  The most out there offering is Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Huw Evans’s “Safe Haven,” telling the story of four filmmaker friends who want to shed light on a Cult Leader by filming at his base camp and get in way over their heads.  My favorite of the shorts comes from Jason Eisener and is called “Slumber Party Alien Abduction.”  It tells the story from the POV of two brothers, their sister, and a group of their friends on a weekend left alone at home.  Suddenly, something appears outside and starts to wreak havoc on all of the kids.  This particular short brings shades of early Spielberg and JJ Abrams, and is less a horror film rather a very smart sci-fi short.  Possibly the best example of “don’t judge a book by its cover.”  The rest of the shorts all work in various degrees, ranging from creepy (Tape 49) to silly fun (A Ride in the Park), inspired (Slumber Party Alien Abduction), and plain out bat shit crazy (Safe Haven).  You don’t need to have even seen the original to jump in on this one, and trust me, it’s a lot of fun.

VERDICT: A GOOD CHOICE

Written by Simon Barrett, Jamie  Nash, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evans, Jason Eisener, John Davies Directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evens, Jason Eisener Starring Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L.C. Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes Rated R Content Disclaimer (Adult Situations, Adult Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity)  For ticket and screening information: http://tribecafilm.com/festival/tickets

BOTTOM LINE: Often clever, often crazy, and always entertaining.