The second installment in the “V/H/S” franchise is the perfect stimulant for nightmares. An anthology, “V/H/S/2” spans several genres, and each segment is directed by today’s most compelling genre filmmakers.
The wraparound story, “Tape 49,” directed by Simon Barrett, follows two private investigators tasked with tracking down a missing person. Upon entering the subject’s residence, they discover a collection of unmarked VHS tapes. Each tape tells a horrifying story. The first is called “Phase 1 Clinical Trials,” directed by Adam Wingard, and depicts a story of a young man with a camera implanted where his right eye once was. In the second story, “A Ride in the Park,” directors Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale explore what it would be like if a person equipped with a helmet camera died during a zombie apocalypse, turned, and their corpse filmed flesh-eating attacks.
The fourth story, “Safe Haven,” directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Evans, is one of the most grisly, nauseating, and chilling segments in all of the found footage genre. A film crew enters a cult community, interviews the leader, and documents various classrooms packed with children. Once the “time of reckoning” is broadcast over the intercom, it’s a free fall into sadistic destruction. In the final story, “Slumber Party Alien Abduction,” director Jason Eisener invites the viewer into a strange sci-fi tale. All in all, “V/H/S/2” has something for every kind of horror fan.