V/H/S
★★★
Screens at the Enzian on Friday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 27, at 11:59 p.m.
On Oct. 5, V/H/S opened in only 16 theaters nationwide, earning a pale $36,402 its opening weekend and just $65,130 so far, according to Box Office Mojo. As of now, it's only slated to play for two nights in Orlando, though anyone willing to drop $6.99 to rent it can also find it on iTunes and Amazon. Given its minuscule debut in theaters, what's all the fuss about?
The movie is the latest in a long list of films in the "found-footage" genre, complete with shaky hand-held cameras, sexy girls and moronic men, but the comparisons end there. V/H/S is unpredictable, disturbing and bloody as hell.
Four vandals are hired to retrieve some mysterious VHS from a house ("you'll know it when you see it" is the only direction), but the house is full of tapes. The tape each man watches becomes a chapter of V/H/S, and the results vary. But even at its weakest, V/H/S delivers the goods.
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"Tuesday the 17th" is pure slashing shit that makes Friday the 13th look like Waiting to Exhale.
"The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger" is the reason your next Skype session will feel weird.
"10/31/98" (directed by and starring Radio Silence, an LA comedy collective) ends the film on a big, scary, special-effects-laden note.
Not for all tastes, but if you have a strong stomach and an open mind, you'll realize this movie's cleverness is as far above-average as its torrents of blood.
