Found footage films are a mixed bag. Sometimes they can be compelling, but most of the time they are one note gimmicks stretched to the length of a feature film. The recent explosion of found footage films has been for the most part rather underwhelming. Only the recent Chronicle, and maybe the first Paranormal Activity, had a compelling angle and worthwhile story.
Later this year V/H/S looks to bring a novel new twist to the sub-genre and the new trailer sells the concept well. For those of you just hearing about this indie horror film for the first time, here is the synopsis:
When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn’t going to be as easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger than the last.
One great way of avoiding the ‘single gimmick stretched to thin’ pitfall is to divide up your movie, and the structure of V/H/S even manages to do that in an interesting way.
The film hits VOD in August and theaters in October, and be sure to check out the trailer after the jump.
V/H/S looks like it will be a ton of fun, and I have to admit, the concept of a found footage anthology film is the most exciting idea for the genre I have heard in a long time.
