V/H/S/94 (2021)

Directors: Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto, Ryan Prows

 

Another Halloween and another horror anthology film. One might read that sentence as a bad thing, but - hey - I’m all in on this trend. Particularly when it’s a revival of the impressive V/H/S series that were rocking the rails on two different horror cinema trends. The fourth film in the series, V/H/S/94, is a hell of a return to form after the forgettable misfire of the third film, V/H/S Viral. It’s a fun horror mixture of stories and approaches, it features some fun new reasons for people to be recording their stories, and there is a ton of new talent in executing those stories. For fans of either anthologies or found-footage horror, V/H/S/94 represents some of the best of both and kicks off the October spooky season nicely. 

 

Blair Witch (2016)

Director: Adam Wingard

Notable Cast: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson, Valorie Curry

When the trailer for The Woods first showed up online, I had a friend of mine bring it up in one of our movie discussions. “It looks like a Blair Witch movie,” he said. “Nah. Adam Wingard wouldn’t touch that franchise and why would they bring it back now? The second one killed any kind of hopes for a series,” I replied. Turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong. Never underestimated Hollywood’s new need to capitalize on nostalgia, I guess. The Woods was then revealed a short time later to be a secret Blair Witch sequel, cleverly titled Blair Witch, and was meant to reboot the franchise and bring back ‘one of horror’s scariest movies’ just a few years short of 20 years from when the original Blair Witch Project capsized the box office. Still, the first two films don’t necessarily hook my attention and even the addition of Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett didn’t perk my interest enough. Now that Blair Witch hit home video, the franchise whore in my just had to finish off my collection. Oddly enough, Blair Witch just might be my favorite one. It’s a bit tedious in the first half in its replication of the style and set up of the original, but when it finally picks up momentum it hits some of the potential this franchise has been missing. Who knew?