{"id":5543,"date":"2013-10-06T08:26:22","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T15:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=5543"},"modified":"2013-10-06T08:26:22","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T15:26:22","slug":"blu-ray-dvd-watch-vhs-2-available-oct-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=5543","title":{"rendered":"Blu-ray DVD Watch: V\/H\/S 2 AVAILABLE OCT. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe original \u201cV\/H\/S,\u201d released just last year in 2012, is a wonderful example of concept over content. The movie is presented as a modern horror anthology that pulled together five separate stories-all captured in the \u201cfound footage\u201d format- and presents them with an incomprehensible wrap around story. The idea was to be a lo-fi, mumble core, indie scare flick that allowed a bunch of hipster filmmakers to put something together on the cheap. 10 directors; 12 writers. And the movie was an overlong, weak and disappointing lump of shit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But I am glad to report that I can jump on the bandwagon with this one and report that \u201cV\/H\/S 2\u201d is a much better product than its predecessor and actually worth a rent. Hell, I\u2019d even suggest a horror fan should make it part of the collection as this go-round delivers on the promise and features some solid and effective segments that will creep you out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if the makers of the first film watched the original and felt the same as the rest of us. Part 2 is 20 minutes shorter and has enough money spent on it so that you can actually use the words \u201cproduction value\u201d when describing the look of the film.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Instead of relying on people just inexplicably filming everything, the filmmakers have come up with inventive ways to keep going with the \u201cfound footage\u201d element (although I think the sub-genre has worn out the welcome).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The camera is placed inside the robotic eye of a poor soul in \u201cPhase I Clinical Trials\u201d (sort of) providing an actual reason for footage to exist.\u00a0 This segment is short and slight and a bit of disappointment as it is directed by Adam Wingard- the man that brought my favorite horror film of the year \u201cYou\u2019re Next\u201d.<\/strong>
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\n\u201cA Ride in the Park\u201d is a fun romp that places you on the ground floor of a Zombie Holocaust. This marks the return to the \u201cfound footage\u201d realm for director Eduardo S\u00e1nchez- one of the masterminds that started it all with \u201cThe Blair Witch Project\u201d.\u00a0 This short isn\u2019t nearly as effect as that but show a hint of ingenuity as the story unfolds from footage captured with a camera mounted to a helmet as our victim takes a ride through a forested park. \u00a0The gore is cheap looking but overall this one works.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The winner for the weirdest way to capture \u201cfound footage\u201d goes to Jason Eisener and his idea to strap the camera to a dog for the majority of his effort \u201cSlumber Party Alien Abduction\u201d. \u00a0The segment has some nice jolts and jumps but the fact that the majority of the footage features a tuft of dog hair in the bottom of the screen is distracting. I respect that they tried to come up with something new, but this one just gets silly because of its \u201cartistic choices\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have saved the best for last: Timo Tjahjanto\u2019s \u201cSafe Haven\u201d elevates the entire film and pounds home the most disturbing and effective story of the bunch. A documentary film crew visits the compound a religious cult on the worst day possible; the day when all of the cult leader\u2019s prophecies are to come true. The film is well paced and haunting (although the monster comes off as a little silly).<\/strong><\/p>\n

What \u201cV\/H\/S 2\u201d does in the negative that mirrors the original is that it never establishes any characters in any way that allows you to care about them. The great anthologies in the past have been keen enough to limit their characters to stereotypes so that you can identify with them quick and easy. \u201cV\/H\/S 2\u201d isn\u2019t smart enough to do that and the film suffers because of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By the way, my favorite top three Horror Anthologies are as follows:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cTrick R\u2019 Treat\u201d (2007)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. \u201cCreepshow\u201d (1982)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. \u201cTrilogy of Terror\u201d (1975)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The original \u201cV\/H\/S,\u201d released just last year in 2012, is a wonderful example of concept over content. The movie is presented as a modern horror anthology that pulled together five separate stories-all captured in the \u201cfound footage\u201d format- and presents them with an incomprehensible wrap around story. The idea was to be a lo-fi, mumble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[739,9320,22919,23635],"class_list":["post-5543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-adam-wingard","tag-horror-anthology","tag-timo-tjahjanto","tag-vhs-2"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}