V/H/S/85

V/H/S/85
Release poster
Directed by	David Bruckner Scott Derrickson Gigi Saul Guerrero Natasha Kermani Mike P. Nelson
Produced by	Josh Goldbloom Brad Miska David Bruckner Chad Villella Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett James Harris
Cinematography	Nick Junkersfeld
Music by	Stephen Lukach Blake Matthew
Production companies	Studio71 Cinepocalypse Productions Bloody Disgusting
Distributed by	Shudder
Release dates	September 22, 2023 (2023-09-22) (Fantastic Fest) October 6, 2023 (2023-10-06)
Running time	111 minutes
Land	Vereinigte Staaten
Languages	Englisch Spanish

V/H/S/85 is a 2023 American found footage horror anthology film, and the sixth installment in the V/H/S franchise. The film features segments from David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani and Mike P. Nelson.

The film was met with positive reviews following its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in September 2023, and was released on October 6, 2023 by Shudder.

Plot

Total Copy/frame narrative (prologue)

• Directed by David Bruckner

Presented as a made-for-TV documentary, the film begins with a special about a group of scientists who discover an unusual, slime-covered boy whom they name Rory.

No Wake

• Directed by Mike P. Nelson

A group of seven young adults are on their way to camp at a lake. After arriving, the group all make their way into the water on a boat except for two who decide to stay behind. While on the boat, an unseen person begins to shoot at them from afar, seemingly killing the five adults. Moments after having all died, four of the five adults wake up confused, questioning how they are still alive despite their fatal wounds. They make their way onto shore, and discover the couple who had stayed behind also dead but not resurrected. They also find that their RV has the roman numeral seven written on the side of it in blood. They conclude that the reason they are still alive after having been shot, and not the couple nor the boat driver, is because they swam in the lake while the other three did not, as there had been multiple signs around the lake warning swimmers to not enter the water. The group decides to enact their revenge on their attackers.

Total Copy (interlude 1)

Rory was found on top of a butte. He was then brought to Stamer University and is givin a small room and TV to watch shows and take in their culture. Dr. Spratling, the head scientist, is convinced that they can communicate with Rory.

God of Death

• Directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero

This entry is shot as a fictional Mexican news casting. It opens with a woman sitting on a news desk preparing for the upcoming news segment. Meanwhile, the scene cuts to another woman who is reporting live from the streets of Mexico. Back at the news station, right as the woman at the news desk begins the segment, an earthquake happens. The woman attempts to remain calm, but is then crushed as the roof of the building gives in. The entire news crew dies, except for the cameraman as he is seen to still be alive and is helped out of the rubble by a rescue team. The team, along with the man, attempts to make their way out of the building, but are eventually blocked from exiting by the rubble. One of them is severely injured, and is put out of his misery. While searching for an exit, they enter a secret room full of paintings and a statue of an ancient Aztec god named Mictlān. Mictlān possesses one of the rescue workers, who then kills another rescue worker. Mictlān then materializes behind the possessed rescue worker and kills him. A woman from the rescue team then kills the cameraman, and rips out his heart as an offering to the Aztec god. The room they're in then caves in. It is then shown that this event was the cause of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.

Total Copy (interlude 2)

After some time, Rory begins displaying the ability to transform and resemble other people, albeit still covered in slime. The documentary starts to frequently cut to an interview with the only surviving scientist, Dr. Grayson, who had quit the team. She says that when this discovery was made, Dr. Spratling should've set a very strict protocol. It's also Rory's 1 month birthday.

TKNOGD

• Directed by Natasha Kermani

A woman stands on a stage, and prepares to perform for a small group in a theatre. She asks the audience if they believe in God, and then says that God is dead. She explains that the world has killed God and replaced with him with a new god, the god of technology. A video is then projected of a man explaining a virtual reality software that is paired with gloves and a helmet that can simulate doing tasks, such as picking up a cup of coffee. He explains that this makes it as if he is existing on two planes of existence at the same time. The video ends and the woman is then seen wearing the same technology from the video, along with a full body suit. Another video is projected which shows what the woman is seeing through her virtual reality helmet. The woman performs a ritual to try to summon the techno god so that she can speak to it. She's successful, but the god she summoned is not a friendly one. It then attacks the woman, with her injuries in real life mirroring those she is experiencing in the virtual reality. Eventually the woman succumbs to her injuries, and the crowd claps and cheers, believing it to be part of the act. The cameraman removes the visor on the helmet, and sees that the upper part of the woman's brain has merged with the helmet.

Total Copy (interlude 3)

Rory is shown sprouting tentacles with spikes at the end.

Ambrosia

• Directed by Mike P. Nelson

A teenage girl named Ruth is shown recording a family get together. Her cousin, James (who she calls a loser), takes the camera and takes over the recording. Ruth's mom asks her to go out and bring more potato salad for the party. While outside, a little boy shoots at Ruth with a water gun. She gets angry and asks the boy where he got the water gun, and he tells her he got it from a lady in an RV. An RV is then seen speeding off. The party ends and only a hand full of family stay behind to celebrate an ancient family tradition. Ruth makes a speech to her family about how proud she is to take part in the tradition which is to take the lives of seven people. She then explains that instead of sharing photos of the murders as per usual, that she would share a video recording. The recording then reveals that Ruth was the one responsible for murdering the seven adults from the first entry at the lake. As the video ends, police surround the family home and the family rushes to fight back, arming themselves with guns. Ruth's mother tells her that if she is the last one left to take her own life and to not let the police take her or it will bring shame on the family name. James tells her that he can't shoot at the police. Ruth is not impressed, so she shoots him dead. As the police start raiding the house and shooting Ruth's family dead, Ruth fires back and is killed. As the police clean up and the coroners examine the bodies, Ruth suddenly wakes up and, in shock, shoots the medical examiner. Still in shock, Ruth does what her mother said and shoots herself in the head, but comes back to life. The police come in and arrest Ruth. It later shows that the woman who gave the water gun to the little boy was one of Ruth's victims from the lake. It shows her filling up the water gun with water from the lake and being asked if this will work.

Total Copy (interlude 4)

Gary, one of the scientists, becomes disturbed when Rory takes on his appearance, as he is the only one in the group that has never had a face-to-face with him. Dr. Grayson calls for an emergency meeting. She says that Gary has never been in the chamber and deduces that it can see through the one-way mirror that splits Gary's room and the study room. While Grayson sees this as a concern, Dr. Spratling sees this as a miracle, as Rory is breaching beyond his restraints to make contact. Dr. Grayson, during her interview, explains that Dr. Spratling did not deserve what happened to him, but that he did bring it on himself, and that she primarily sympathizes with the people Spratling "took with him."

Dreamkill

• Directed by Scott Derrickson

An unseen man records himself breaking and entering into a home. The woman inside can be heard on the phone with 9-11. The man eventually finds her and murders her with an electric meat carver. Soon after, the police arrive and the lead detective in charge comments to his partner Bobby on how the home and murder scene looks very familiar to a video tape he received at the station of a woman being murdered a few weeks prior. The same man from earlier then makes his way into another home and, after fighting the man living inside, murders him. Police arrive at the home and again the detective from before explains that he had already seen footage of this murder in a video tape he received days ago. The detective then tracks the source of the tapes and captures the person responsible for sending them. The person responsible turns out to be Gunther, the son of the detective's partner Bobby. Gunther is interrogated about the tapes and he explains that he had seen the murders take place in his dreams, and that his dreams were being manifested into the video tapes. He sent them into the station as a way to warn the police. The detective does not believe his story, however Bobby explains that their family has a psychic gift that lets them see the future. He explains that his sister committed suicide after being driven crazy from seeing them, and that Gunther has accurately predicted the future before. A final tape is then found and reveals a third murder with the victim having been dismembered. Bobby and the detective recognize the home in the tape and go to investigate. After arriving outside the home, the detective confronts Bobby about having known his connections to the murders. The women murdered in the first tape and the last tape have both accused Bobby of sexual assault and stalking and the man in the second tape was an attorney representing the women. He also tell Bobby that he learned that Bobby had to turn in his badge after the women accused him of stalking. He asks Bobby why he lied to him, but Bobby instead shoots the detective in the head, killing him. Bobby then makes his way into the house they were at to commit the murder from Gunther's dream. While at the police station, Gunther looks into the camera that is filming him and learns that it's playing back his dream. Bobby arrives back at the station, and finds Gunther. Gunther realizes that he was the one that committed the murders from his dreams. He then reveals that he already know how this ends having had just seen it in a dream. Bobby attempts to kill Gunther, but is then attacked by guards. Bobby kills the guards, and is then killed by Gunther.

Total Copy (epilogue)

Rory begins to not respond, which Dr. Spratling interprets as him being sick, but Dr. Grayson doesn't think so, saying that if it is as intelligent as Spratling says it is, than it could be manipulating him. Because of this, Dr. Grayson leaves the study. She tries to get others to leave as well, but is unsuccessful. In the interview, she says she wonders why no one followed her. The narrator of the documentary reveals that, while authorities have shared footage to them of what happened at Stamer University, the place where the study took place, he explains that they will not show the footage of what happened to the scientists because of the disturbing nature of the images and concern for the well-being of the viewer, but the film cuts to it anyway. Dr. Spratling sends Gary into Rory's room to give him an adrenaline shot, but before he can do so, Rory suddenly grows tentacles and attacks and eventually kills Gary. He then proceeds to kill the rest of the scientists, and finally Dr. Spratling, who fails to escape the lab. As Rory pulls the scientists back to his room, it is revealed that he simply wanted their bodies to recreate the videos he sees on the tv.

Production

In October 2022, Bloody Disgusting announced V/H/S/85 and that the film was secretly shot back-to-back alongside V/H/S/99. David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero , Natasha Kermani and Mike P. Nelson will direct the segments while Josh Goldbloom, Brad Miska, Bruckner, Chad Villella, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and James Harris will produce the film.

Filming

Filming began in April 2022. In October 2022, Scott Derrickson confirmed his segment was already filmed.

Release

V/H/S/85 was released on October 6, 2023 exclusively via Shudder, following its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2023. The film also screened at American Cinematheque's Beyond Fest on October 1, 2023.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 76% of 29 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10.

Jacob Hall of Slashfilm stated that "this is the first film in the series where it feels like every director is actively shooting for the moon," rating it 7 out of 10. Mary McAndrews of Dread Central wrote that "V/H/S/85 is perhaps the serie's most consistent entry," praising the focus on cosmic horror and "the shifting cultural consciousness of the 80s," rating it 4 out of 5.

Emily Von Seele of Daily Dead deemed the film "an exceptionally strong entry" in the franchise, highlighting the consistent quality between segments with "no obvious weak link," rating it 5 out of 5. In a positive review for The Daily Texan, Ryan Ranc commented that "'V/H/S/85' stands out as one of the best in the long running franchise," pointing out the "very satisfying payoff" of the main wraparound story and rating the film 3.5 out of 5. Kat Hughes of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film as one of the best in the franchise, specifying Nelson's segment as "by far the bloodiest, messiest, and goriest of all the stories shown" and rating the film 4 out of 5.

External links

• V/H/S/85 at IMDb