V/H/S/99 Review

V/H/S/99 is a return to form for the V/H/S franchise. I wasn’t very high on 94 so 99 is a comeback. The late 90s/early 2000s Y2K era is a forgotten time-period which is a shame because it is not only a unique aesthetic but the Millenia Scare of 1999 has a certain laissez-faire attitude that’s largely unlike any other time-period. When people talk about the 90s, most are referring to 1990-97. 1998, and especially 1999, are kind of lost in time which is disappointing because the fashion, culture, and technology of 1999 make it an era worthy of being period-pieced.

Getting back to the film – I thought each segment captured the essence of a very specific time-period very well. So much so that this feels like it could have actually been released in 1999. Aside from being accurate it’s also good. I’ll break down and rate each segment individually.

Shredding

“Shredding” feels like a segment straight from MTV. The depiction looks and sounds like it’s archive footage from 1999 and not a portrayal. This segment follows a punk rock band named R.A.C.K. (an acronym for the names of each of its members) as they break into a music venue that burned down three years prior, killing Bitch Cat, the band that was performing there. R.A.C.K. likes to pull obnoxious pranks, so they go to the venue to disrespectfully reenact Bitch Cat’s demises. Things of course end poorly for them.

Shredding serves as a good start in establishing the film as an astute depiction of 1999. It captures the technology of the era as well as the late 90s punk rock style and aesthetics. Even though the show Jackass dropped the following year in 2000, the spirit of the series is in this segment and in some ways Shredding pays homage to it. Lastly, Shredding introduces international folklore into the segment, something that I’m not sure the V/H/S franchise has tapped into before, helping to make the film as a whole diverse.

3 out of 5 stars

Suicide Bid

Of the five segments this is the one that got a visceral reaction out of me. I’m pretty hard to scare these days but Suicide Bid has a depiction of claustrophobia that made me physically uncomfortable. Like many people, claustrophobia is a real life fear of mine. Typically I can stomach horror films by telling myself that whatever is on the screen isn’t real and that they’re just actors who shot the breeze right after the scene was cut. For some reason I couldn’t do this in Suicide Bid. It got under my skin in the most unsettling way possible.

I’ll leave the review here because the viewer will pick up what’s about to happen pretty early on. One tidbit I will reveal is that this is an extreme example of the consequence of trying far too hard to fit in.

4 start out of 5

Ozzy’s Dungeon

I was eight years-old in 1999, so Ozzy’s Dungeon pulled at my nostalgia strings pretty heavily. This is an amalgamation of kid shows from the 90s such as Legends of the Hidden Temple, Nickelodeon GUTS, and Wild and Crazy Kids. Ozzy’s Dungeon obviously takes a more sinister and dangerous twist than these kid-friendly competitions. The activities are crude and macabre and put the child-contestants in peril. The segment focuses on Donna, a young black girl from Detroit who is looking to win the prize money in order to help her family escape poverty.

Ozzy’s Dungeon is led by a sadistic game host who leaves the kids to be grievously injured during the violent activities. These transgressions by the game host towards Donna result in revenge from her family, led by her vengeful and domineering mother, Debra.

This segment works best when it stays realistic and functions as a revenge story. There’s a supernatural twist that isn’t in alignment with the aforementioned storyline. Ozzy’s Dungeon would have hit harder had it stayed a revenge story instead of contorting itself into something otherworldly. Less is sometimes more and this segment would have worked better by staying the original course.

Regardless, this is still an entertaining story, despite it losing its way towards the end. Some people may have liked the supernatural ending but I would rather have seen it stay closer to real-life by remaining a humanistic revenge plot. The callback to the kid’s game shows of the 90s is a great touch which reaffirms the 1999 aesthetic.

3 stars out of 5

The Gawkers

This is my favorite segment of the entire anthology. Whoever wrote and directed this story is highly tapped into the youth culture of the Y2K Era. They have an intimate understanding of how young teenage boys behaved towards girls and their conversations amongst themselves about them. The title is painfully self-explanatory. The Gawkers tells the story of a group of young teen boys who gawk and intrude on one of the boy’s hot new neighbor. The group takes advantage of the tech of the time to spy on her with the hope of catching her undressing.

There’s a painful price to pay for being a Peeping Tom but the segment soars in its depiction of the interactions between the boys and their quest in satisfying their libido. It’s a highly realistic portrayal that captured the essence of what it was like for some boys going through puberty in 1999 and the painful price they pay for the intrusion of privacy.

4 out of 5 stars

To Hell and Back

The first four segments were pretty heavy, so the film concludes with the most lighthearted of the anthology. To Hell and Back has a dark story that it plays for comedy. This segment is about filmmakers who are documenting a cult who is attempting to bring a demon to Earth as the clock strikes midnight on the New Millennium. Instead of bringing the demon to Earth, the cult accidentally transports the two filmmakers to Hell. The film follows their bungling attempt to escape from Hell.

It was good to see a different take on this trope. 99 is committed to being unique and To Hell and Back culminates this point. The filmmakers in this segment are friends who have bones to pick with one another that they comedically address while trying to make it out of Hell. The comedy in the film is goofy and a tad too slap-stickish for my liking but the segment isn’t a miss.

V/H/S can be straight up bleak, so it’s a welcomed change-of-pace to have a tone that isn’t completely dreary. To Hell and Back is my least favorite of the anthology but the buddy aspect of it gives it action-comedy vibes with a horror backdrop; something totally new to the franchise. It’s not my cup of tea but I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a fan favorite.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

V/H/S/99 is an entertaining movie to have a group watch with friends. It clocks in 10 minutes short of 2 hours but it has a fast pace, so it never feels as long as it is. In fact a couple of the segments should have been longer. The segment that I least like is still average at worst. Each of the 5 segments are unique experiences from one another. A horror fan can glean something highly enjoyable from at least one of them. Fans of the V/H/S franchise will welcome this as a solid contribution to the series.

----7/10