Day 5 - V/H/S/Halloween | 31 Days of Halloween

Day five’s theme is Haunted Houses, and the pick is the latest entry in the found-footage anthology franchise: V/H/S/Halloween.

This is the eighth installment in the ongoing V/H/S series and the fifth produced by Shudder since taking over the franchise in 2021, starting with V/H/S/94. Since then, we’ve gotten 99, 85, Beyond (the sci-fi entry), and now Halloween. Of the Shudder era so far, 85 is still my personal favorite, with Beyond close behind for just how weird and ambitious it was.

V/H/S/Halloween features six shorts built around a Halloween theme. I liked it overall, but I didn’t love it. Maybe the theme itself was a little too limiting? Hard to say. Let’s break down each segment without getting into major spoilers.

The Segments (No Major Spoilers)

Diet Phantasma (Frame Narrative)
This serves as the wraparound story connecting all of the shorts. It’s an interesting idea and plays like an over-the-top spiritual cousin to Halloween III: Season of the Witch (which I’m a huge fan of). That said, I don’t think it worked as well as the connective tissue here. It shows up at the beginning, end, and between every segment, and by the time we got to the final stretch, it felt like it overstayed its welcome. I probably could’ve done without one or two of those check-ins.

Coochie Coochie Coo
The first haunted house–style segment. This one gave me Barbarian vibes in all the wrong ways, leaning hard into gross-out practical effects. It didn’t do much to separate itself from the many haunted house segments the franchise has already explored over the years, outside of how heavily it leans into the mother/child angle, which just wasn’t really my thing. Worth remembering: this franchise has been doing haunted house stories since the Radio Silence segment “10/31/98” in the original V/H/S so there is a high bar to hit at this point.

Ut Supra Sic Infra
Directed by Paco Plaza ([REC]). Life lesson: if anything is titled some variation of “As Above, So Below,” do not read it, do not enter it, and absolutely do not go near it. This one was genuinely effective for me. I liked the themes it plays with, and it left me wanting more. If you’re a fan of As Above, So Below, this will probably be right in your wheelhouse.

Fun Size
This is the most over-the-top and goofy of the bunch. Fun concept, but the execution didn’t land for me. The characters and performances were intentionally grating, which I get was probably the point, but it still made it a rough watch on my end. That said, I’ve already seen a lot of people online who absolutely praising this segment, so your mileage may vary.

Kid Print
This one is based on a real (and honestly wild) thing Blockbuster did in the ‘90s, where parents could record VHS “ID tapes” of their kids in case they went missing. That concept alone is unsettling. This segment is very mean-spirited and very gruesome, with a focus on child victims. If that’s something you’re sensitive to, this is one to avoid. It’s well-made, but it’s also extremely unforgiving.

Home Haunt
Easily my favorite of the bunch. Another haunted house entry, but with a fun “what if I accidentally brought my haunted house to life?” twist. This is the one I could most easily see expanded into a full feature. It’s playful, creepy, and feels like it’s having fun with the concept. Interestingly, I’ve also seen plenty of people say they hated this one, which kind of sums up the entire movie’s love-hate reception for each segment.

Overall Thoughts

V/H/S/Halloween didn’t hit quite as hard for me as some of the other recent entries, but it’s far from bad. What’s interesting is that a lot of viewers seem to agree that it’s uneven, but no one agrees on which segments are the good ones and which are the bad ones. Almost every short seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it situation.

For me, the issue is that there isn’t a segment I truly loved (although Home Hautn is my clear favorite). I didn’t outright hate any of them either, which leaves most of the movie sitting squarely in “middle of the road” territory.

If I had to rank them personally:

1. Home Haunt

2. Ut Supra Sic Infra

3. Diet Phantasma

4. Kid Print

5. Fun Size (points for originality)

6. Coochie Coochie Coo

I’d still recommend this one to fans of the V/H/S series. It’s definitely not the weakest entry, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of these segments age better over time. I was just hoping for a bit more with a theme as rich as Halloween. That said, if this means Shudder is committing to holiday-themed entries going forward, I’m absolutely on board. They’ve been releasing one of these every year since taking over the franchise, so we’ll see what’s next soon enough.

What were your favorite segments?

Drop your rankings in the comments on social media, and join me tomorrow for Day 6’s theme: Freddy Krueger.

🎃

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