V/H/S/Halloween

V/H/S/Halloween
Starring David Haydn, Anna KcMelvie, Adam James Johnson, Eddie MacKenzie
Directed by Bryan M. Ferguson, Anna Zlokovic, Paco Plaza, Casper Kelly, Alex Ross Perry, Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman

For us horror fans, Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year. A time to dress up, get candy, go to parties, attend haunted houses, and binge our eyes on all the horror movies we can feast on. In that sense the "V/H/S/" franchise has finally given us a series of short films that take place around October 31st - just in the for Halloween - and the result is one of the best in the long-running franchise. While not every short slaps, there's not a bad one in this bunch, and will have you giddy with excitement to celebrate the Halloween season.

As with every "V/H/S/" entry, there's a wraparound story, and that's director Bryan M. Ferguson's "Diet Phantasma," which is a story about a company that plans on launching their new brand of diet cola with control groups who, let's just say, get more than just tummy aches from bad soda. This short separates all the others, and as each interlude occurs the stakes - and gore - continually amps up. While it doesn't have anything to do with the other shorts (like most "V/H/S/" movies do), it's a wonderful framing devise for the movie.
The Score: A

The first installment is Anna Zlokovic's "Coochie Coochie Coo" that centers around two girls way too old to be trick-or-treating who learn of the fabled "mommy" in their town - a woman who abducts children on Halloween and are never seen again. They enter a mysterious home and find that it belongs to the titular "mommy," and the result is a house of horrors unlike anything they - or we - have seen. While it's drawn obvious comparisons to "Barbarian," it more than stands on its own as a terrifying romp with stellar practical effects and a creepy atmosphere from start to finish.
The Score: A+

Next is Paco Plaza (known for directing the acclaimed Spanish horror film "[rec]" called "Ut Supra Sic Infra." This story focuses on the lone survivor of a mysterious massacre that left everyone else dead with their eyes missing, and when he brings the cops back to the scene of the crime, they learn the horror isn't quite over. While it strays from the found footage format slightly, "Ut Supra Sic Infra" still has some stunning visuals and is creepy and unnerving - but for me, I wanted more out of it.
The Score: A-

Casper Kelly's "Fun Size" is the crowning achievement of this film, a dark comedy that has a new iconic villain in the form of Fun Size, a being that punishes people who take more than one candy from their bowl. For four young adults, they learn the hard way the consequences of taking more than they deserve. The effects are impeccable, the story is equal parts horrifying and hilarious, and will have you thinking twice before you take more than one piece of candy from someone's front porch bowl.
The Score: A+

Alex Ross Perry's "Kidprint" is easily "V/H/S/"'s most daring adventure, as it features numerous scenes of children getting killed in bloody ways, and for many it could be a turn off - but I appreciated the bold move they took. This film takes place in the 90s at a small video store, where the owner films children before Halloween in the event they go missing, they'll have information to try and find them. In this town, kids have gone missing, and it comes as no surprise the store is the center of it. It's creepy, atmospheric, and crosses the taboo of killing kids - but the ending leaves more questions that doesn't make sense.
The Score: A

Finally there's Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman's "Home Haunt," about a family who throws a yearly Halloween haunted house that the son is tired of participating in. When the father finds a supposedly cursed record, the music he plays literally brings the ghosts, zombies, and witches to life, resulting in - again - mass children killing. The effects are, as always, top notch, and it perfectly blends its dark humor with the darker tone the story demands.
The Score: A+

Following the likes of "Trick 'r Treat" and "Tales of Halloween," "V/H/S/Halloween" will be one of those beloved horror anthology movies you'll turn on every Halloween to scare up some terrifying delights.

The Score: A