“I’m filming everything. Do you… wanna try?”

Story: A VHS tape seems to have been a documentary filmed off TV… But five stories have been recorded over it. Oh c’mon, give it a watch. What’s the worst that can happen?

Scares: Jumps, creepy situations, shootouts, and such.
Splat Factor: YES. It’s no Dead Alive, but it’s goopy.

Subgenre: Found VHS Anthologies
Year Released: 2023
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Part of the V/H/S franchise.


Trick or Treat?: The VHS franchise can be hit or miss. (For the rest of this review, I am not using the back-slashes. For I am lazy. We know dis.) There’s the OG VHS, VHS2, and the horrifically terrible VHS Viral. I haven’t gotten to VHS99 yet. Let’s just say I wanted to watch them in their world’s chronological order, rather than me just forgetting that existed? Cool. So when 85 hit Shudder, I figured why not? I’m a sucker for horror anthologies, and this film is shiny and new. Y’know what? I think I might get to 99 now, because 85 was a blast.

As per the anthology format, we get five different stories, and a wrap-around that brings everything (or at least the film) to a nice close. Let’s make things easy for me, by doing a listicle of these stories, shall we? Thank you. You rock.

• No Wake – Lake Trip! Six twenty-somethings decide a day of water-skiing and general nature fun are in order. But what wasn’t a part of the plan was a sniper trying to pick them off, one by one. But that’s not the only thing they’ve got to deal with… Very fast paced once things get going, and the gore is plentiful, setting the stage for the rest of the stories. There’s a “hiccup” in the tape during the story, and when things continue? Well, stick a pin in that.
• God Of Death – Mexican news crew are in the middle of their show, when a natural disaster hits. Cameraman continues to film so he can make a “real heroes” story out of their rescue. But getting somewhere safe may be impossible, when they seem trapped in the building. But the earthquake is the least of their worries when they have to go deeper and deeper to try to stay alive… Made me want to research central American mythology. This one’s Spanish with English subtitles, which obviously made the found footage feel more, y’know, found. More disaster than horror, though the use of an historic event makes grounds things a bit. I’m sure there weren’t any inhuman issues on that day. Right? Right. RIGHT.
• TKNOGD – A performance artist worries that VR technology crosses the barrier between reality and “the digital world”. Killing the old gods and ushering in “techno-gods”. So she calls on them to wake up, and gets an answer… This one’s very American Gods, and while the one woman show-esque nature of this story has a different feel than the more straightforward group mayhem tales? It’s a nice look at how technology was just starting up – and starting to freak people out.
• Ambrosia – Congratulations Ruth – party time! It’s your day to do what your family has done for generations… A tie-in with the first story ties things together nicely, even though each story has a different vibe. Think of them as Deliverance vs. Dirty Harry. But spooky.
• Dreamkill – A break-in, which is captured by the killer. But the police officer swears he saw the death happen on a tape he watched…last week. The policeman’s son Gunther swears the VHS at home has been recording his dreams, but really, kid? This one’s the most gruesome yet. And the my favorite of this collection, if I had to choose, but honestly? They’re all good fun.
• And then there’s the wrap-around story, Total Copy – “young boy” Rory is in a college research center doing nothing but watching TV. But he’s alien life form that seems to be slowly transforming into a more and more humanoid appearance. I’m sure this’ll go well, especially with zero safety protocols! Remember kids, don’t anthropomorphize non-humanoid beings… Excellent use of tape “hiccups” to tease us with bits of the story as the other stories come and go. And a final scene that had me thinking WTF and grinning with sick glee (just a touch of sick glee. As a treat.)

As with the earlier entries in this franchise, the performers are relative unknowns and little-knowns. But in 85, Ugly Betty‘s Freddy Rodríguez plays a detective in the fifth story. Even with Rodriquez, the wonderful camera work pulled me in, as the cinematography is spot on for an 80s home movie on tape that’s been used, re-used, and used again. Peeks at the “original” tape are like hiccups in and over-stressed tape. Bits of retro stuff peek out, like the infamous “It’s 10 o’clock – do you know where your children are?” and “friends don’t let friends drive drunk” ads. Plus, in Total Copy and Dreamkill, the use of multiple types of cameras, as footage is “edited” together, make these stories feel voyeuristic, like we’re watching something not for our eyes. In fact, several stories start with a black screen with various versions of “top secret no do not the cat” type of titling. And I’m a sucker for that crap.

The fun tongue-in-cheek end credits song, “Doppelganger”, which sounds a lot like Weird Al, but is actually the band Bathed in Blood. That, along with a DOS-like font for the end credits, gives 80s horror fans one more smile as things wrap up.

Score: 4 out of 5 pumpkins.