V/H/S has grown from a humble indie found-footage horror anthology born out of the grindhouse and exploitation films of decades past, becoming an annual horror staple for fans on Shudder. The films have introduced great young directors who have since moved to projects like Godzilla vs. Kong, Ready or Not, and Scream. The original V/H/S in 2012 established a formula that has continued in some fashion for over a decade. Each entry’s framing storyline connects the different segments, but doesn’t limit them to those boundaries. Instead, the movies shake up the traditional anthology formula and also take loose risks with the format, like V/H/S: Viral ditching cassettes in 2014, or the latest edition, V/H/S/Beyond in 2024, focusing on more science fiction-related stories.
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The project started with Bloody Disgusting founder Brad Miska joining with a slew of notable indie filmmakers to create segments that would be featured on V/H/S that seem to originate from evil sources. They feature a potpourri of names behind the camera, like Scott Derrickson, Haunting of Hill House actress Kate Siegel, rapper Flying Lotus, Adam Wingard, Blair Witch creator Eduardo Sanchez, Barbarian star Justin Long, and many others. It’s a place to take risks while also delivering segments that can stand with any of the great horror movies in recent years.
We’ve combed through the franchise to pick out some of our favorite segments from the V/H/S series. We love the he ones that stick with you, cover you in viscous goo, fly you to an underground lair, and then turn you into a robotic monster. Dust off the old VCR and sit back to take in our list of the best V/H/S/ segments across the whole franchise.
Scroll down to read our list and why these are the standouts among dozens of stories, both from the original loose trilogy and the more recent Shudder entries.
“Amateur Night”
The first V/H/S segment set a standard for the rest of the films, “Amateur Night” even spawned a feature-length remake a few years later in 2016. None of that should be surprising, given it is one of the strongest segments of the entire franchise.
Three friends prepare for a night out and rent a motel room for their proposed sex tape antics, with one friend donning glasses with a hidden camera inside to make an amateur adult movie that night. The trio end up at the mercy of a demonic winged creature instead, slaughtering two of the friends and snatching the friend in glasses before flying away. It’s fast, simple, and the POV camera doesn’t take away from the horror. It provides a benefit to the story, if anything, allowing viewers to feel the terror he’s experiencing. Plus, its ending is nearly perfect. The final victim drops with a thud after the creature takes to the skies with him, and his glasses are knocked from his face, falling to the ground. His fate is seemingly confirmed in an abrupt fashion, with the glasses filming the parking lot after they came to a rest.
“Safe Haven”
While “Amateur Night” sets the standard for the franchise, Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto push it to its heights with this segment from V/H/S 2. It follows a film crew infiltrating an Indonesian cult compound to film a documentary. This quickly turns into a hellish odyssey after the true nature of the cult is revealed. The cult’s leader, Father, kills himself as part of a mass suicide across the compound. The crew’s pregnant member is taken by the cultists in order to use her unborn child, while another is shot amid the chaos. Then, in a final twist, all of the dead return to life and begin attacking any remaining survivors.
But the real shock comes when the pregnant crewmember’s stomach becomes ripped open and reveals a demon resembling Baphomet that chases the final survivor out of the compound and attacks him, bringing it to a close. From the very start, this feels like a segment from a different movie and doesn’t hesitate to ramp up the gore. But more importantly, this entry is legitimately scary. It sticks with you and doesn’t let up, which is fitting from the folks behind The Raid.
“Slumber Party Alien Abduction”
Another entry that was turned into a feature-length film, the title is the only description you need to understand the plot. A group of friends is having a sleepover while their parents are out of town, but soon have to contend with a frightening close encounter.
The aliens featured in this segment are far more terrifying and vicious than what we’ve seen in the past. Think of the angry aliens from the X-Files or the invaders from Signs, and you’re on the right track. Their abductions of each of the kids are violent and shocking, and they lay out traps to make their job easier. All of the kids end up captive by the aliens, and the segment should end there. Sadly, it does mistreat our canine friend and does it very dirty to boot. So maybe turn this one off a bit early to avoid that major bummer.
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“Parallel Monsters”
There are tons of possibilities when dealing with the concept of parallel worlds. The notion of the evil doppelganger or the mirror version of a heroic character is prevalent across pop culture and represents the playing ground for this segment. An inventor has created a portal to a parallel Earth in his basement, and he decides to switch with his parallel version for an evening.
He quickly realizes this parallel world is a Satanic shadow of his own, with all of the people existing as some sort of mutated demon with fangs for genitals. Both men return to the portal, with the demonic version stabbing his double. Both end up killed by their respective wives, the evil version in retaliation for assumed domestic violence, and the real world version after an assault by the demonic husband. It’s like a quality episode of The Outer Limits series from Showtime, stuffing a ton of world-building in just one short.
“The Subject”
Timo Tjahjanto returns with another mini classic in V/H/S/94, this time delivering a body horror tale that has fun with the series found footage perspective. When the scientist’s lab is raided by soldiers there to arrest him, the scientist’s creations, Subject 98 and a female subject named S.A., get loose and slaughter the soldiers.
The plot is simple and executed with precision, not leaving any fat on the bone. The body horror is up there with Cronenberg and Richard Stanley, even giving off some Tetsuo the Iron Man vibes at some point.
“Suicide Bid”
An entry that might also be the most infuriating segment of the entire franchise. V/H/S/99′s second segment deals with a college freshman going through a hazing ritual gone wrong to gain entry into the best sorority on campus. The ritual involves her spending the night in a coffin, recreating an urban legend that is claimed to have happened twenty years before, resulting in a girl’s death.
The sorority sisters turn the stunt into a cruel prank that ends tragically after they leave her in the coffin until the morning. She dies after the spirit of the urban legend’s victim attacks, but returns later for revenge and to give the sorority sisters a little comeuppance. Johannes Roberts delivers a segment that cuts to the core for a lot of folks and delivers a satisfying end that stands with the greats from the earlier entries.
“Storm Drain”
V/H/S/94‘s first segment, after the frame narrative, represents a great example of the franchise trying to expand its POV work. It takes the form of a local news report from Channel 6 reporter Holly Marciano. She’s filming a story covering the urban legend of the Rat Man, taking to the sewers with her cameraman to hunt down some answers.
It’s scary enough as they make their way through the sewer, running into people who live underground and worship the Ratman. The people capture the reporter and cameraman, summoning the creature they call Raatma to join the “new order.” The monster vomits black liquid that the followers pour on the cameraman’s face, melting him, before they turn their focus on Marciano. The fun part is when it returns to the studio footage and she’s revealed to be a new follower, vomiting on her co-anchor and saying Hail Raatma to the audience.
These segments have stood out for me since my initial viewing, but they’re far from the only examples. V/H/S/ is an imperfect vessel that allows filmmakers to play with creative horror stories. Horror fans have proven to enjoy the franchise up through the present day, and the success only adds to the mainstream success and creative resurgence of horror films over the past few decades. If they keep making these, I’ll keep watching them.
Stream the original V/H/S, V/H/S/2 and V/H/S: Viral on Hoopla currently, while the latest entries all can be streamed on Shudder. Did you enjoy other segments from the series? Do you think we missed the mark on the choices above? Let us know in the comments.
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