One Star Classics : V/H/S/Halloween

V/H/S/Halloween

Oct 06, 2025 / Found Footage Film

As clockwork, Shudder released its latest entry in the V/H/S franchise on the first Friday of October. A Halloween-season tradition if you so like. These movies had their ups and downs over the years, and, in my mind, they didn’t fully find their footing until last year’s Beyond. I haven’t necessarily had huge issues with earlier entries, but the way they often tried to be almost obsessively edgy could get old. Over the last few years, the anthologies have felt more like directors trying to one-up each other more playfully – sure, the episodes can still be disturbing, but not in a you might be trying a bit too hard type of way.

So, V/H/S/Halloween then.

This may be the first movie to hit a home run fully, or at least has been the closest one to do so. This comes down to a host of things, including a streamlined framing narrative. Bryan Ferguson’s diet-soda-trial-gone-horribly-wrong, Diet Phantasma, is morbidly funny with some great (practical?) effects. It does not play into the individual segments, and that’s all for the better. A lot of the V/H/Ss have tried that, and it usually hampers the episodes with an unnecessary need to incorporate a secondary storyline.

The first segment, Coochie Coochie Coo, is probably my favorite. Two high-school trick-or-treaters get trapped in a house filled with missing persons who have been transformed into adult babies by The Mommy. And, she is on the hunt for more children. The story is disturbing, but it also contains a good dose of humor.

Ut Supra Sic Infra, meanwhile, follows a well-trodden trope of unplugged analogue telephones that ring out of nowhere and unleash a curse on those who answer. It’s well-acted and has some fun effects. It may feel a bit too slick compared to the pulpier segments, though that’s a champagne problem more than anything.

A cautionary – and snort-worthy – tale on taking too much candy, Fun Size feels like a meta commentary on the found-footage genre and the corporatization of the candy industry. There’s even a good barb on trad-wives.

Kidprints serves as the most disturbing episode of the bunch, playing into the kidnapping hysteria of the nineties. Needless to say, here it turns out to actually be true, and, not surprisingly, things take a turn. Objectively, the Alex Ross Perry-directed episode is likely the best one, with some proper Tales from the Crypt vibes.

Finally, Home Haunt follows a Halloween-obsessed family that takes it all one step too far after spinning a haunted record in their ghost house. Turns out the haunted mansion becomes just that.

V/H/S episodes are always a mixed bag, but this is the most consistent I’ve seen in any of the films. There’s nothing that is less than entertaining, and none of the segments made me lose attention. An excellent entry this year, and also the first V/H/S I probably will rewatch.

By Remi, Oct 06, 2025

Letterboxd summary: A collection of Halloween-themed videotapes unleashes a series of twisted, blood-soaked tales, turning trick-or-treat into a struggle for survival.