V/H/S/94
Gory, clever, relevant entry in horror anthology series.
V/H/S/94
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that V/H/S/94 is the fourth film in the V/H/S horror anthology series. Filled with innovative and ambitious stories, it may be the best one yet, but extreme gore and strong language make it best for mature horror hounds. Violence includes guns and shooting, tons of blood, severed limbs (and other body parts separated from their bodies), melting faces, bleeding eyes, surgery, impaling, explosions, jump scares, gross-outs, and more. Language runs the gamut from "f--k," "s--t," and "motherf----r" to "p---y," "bitch," and more. A woman's breasts are visible on a cyborg, and there's brief sex-related dialogue. A group of characters drinks excessively and proceeds to behave drunkenly and poorly. There's also some cigarette smoking and brief drug-related dialogue.
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What's the Story?
In V/H/S/94, a SWAT team enters a warehouse during a potential drug bust. Inside, they find the remains of what looks to be a bloody cult ritual. Viewers return to the warehouse in between the anthology's other stories. The next story follows a TV journalist, Holly (Anna Hopkins), as she descends into a sewer to investigate the legend of the Rat Man. Next, funeral home employee Hayley (Kyal Legend) is left alone during a wake while a storm rages outside. Only one man shows up, and the unsettling nature of the evening is made worse when the coffin seems to move by itself. Then, in Indonesia, a mad scientist experiments on kidnapped victims to create a series of human-robot hybrids. Finally, a group of militant extremists plans to blow up a government building using a highly unstable and supernatural substance. Back at the warehouse, things aren't looking so good ...
Is It Any Good?
This surprisingly good fourth entry in the horror anthology series moves things forward in time and achieves a more advanced storytelling style, especially in the disturbingly relevant fourth tale. While the V/H/S series initially combined the concept of telling scary stories with the thrill of viewing forbidden late-night movies on grungy cassettes, V/H/S/94 seems more evolved, more ambitious. With the exception of Simon Barrett -- director of Seance and writer of You're Next and The Guest -- the talent here largely consists of up-and-comers, and they go all-out with inspired ideas, camerawork, and visual effects.
The Rat Man (Storm Drain) and The Empty Wake episodes begin with endearingly old-fashioned setups -- in a creepy sewer and a dark funeral home, respectively -- before they go wild with their surprising monsters. And the cyborg episode (The Subject) is the kind of over-the-top gorefest that horror hounds dare each other to see. The wraparound segment (Holy Hell) is a little less enthralling due to its extra-jerky camerawork and its cast all wearing the same outfits. But Terror is scary in more ways than one. Its monster attack is well-executed, but the real monsters are the main characters, exhibiting cult-like thinking in their narrow, violent beliefs. It's the most relevant of the segments. But don't miss the extra-short The Veggie Masher, too, just for fun!
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about V/H/S/94's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?
In the Storm Drain segment, do you think Raatma being in charge of the world would be an improvement? Why, or why not?
In the Terror segment, how does an extremist militia group like this one come about? What causes this kind of thinking? How have things changed, if at all, since then?
In the Holy Hell segment, everything comes down to some kind of "signal." What do you suppose that signal is, and how does it relate to everyday life?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: April 19, 2022
- Cast: Anna Hopkins, Christian Potenza, Kyal Legend, Donny Alamsyah
- Directors: Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto, Ryan Prows
- Studio: Shudder
- Genre: Horror
- Topics: Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Run time: 104 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: October 8, 2022
Our Editors Recommend
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V/H/S/2
Tons of violence, over-the-top gore in anthology sequel.
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Spooky anthology horror film has lots of gore, sex, drugs.
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Ghost Stories
English horror anthology is weirder than it is scary.
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Phobias
Extremely bloody, gory anthology horror movie about fear.
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V/H/S: Viral
Third movie in horror anthology series is very bloody.
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