After breaking Shudder records with V/H/S/94, the found footage franchise returns to the nineties with this 1999 set entry. Taking in punk bands, kids’ game shows and Jackass-style pranksters, this is an authentically scuzzy instalment, and one of the nastiest V/H/S movies so far. But is there anything in it that can beat 94’s Raatma, or does the turn-of-the-century bring us more in line with the series’ low point, Viral?
Enlisting filmmakers Maggie Levin, Johannes Roberts, Flying Lotus, Tyler MacIntyre and Joseph and Vanessa Winter, ’99 may have its lows, but its highs are some of the highest the series has ever seen. Opener Shredding is grisly but not a reliable sample of quality, offering little besides lurid splatter and gory makeup. The scares really drop when Suicide Bid does. This sorority girls piece is simple but effective, throwing a double-whammy of claustrophobia and arachnophobia at tormented heroine (Ally Ioannides). Be warned.
However, the anthology’s standout tale comes with Flying Lotus’ Ozzy’s Dungeon, which is part Legends of the Hidden Temple (or Jungle Run, to those of us who grew up on CITV), part Saw film. Featuring a standout performance from Steven Ogg, it’s one of the franchise’s more demented entries, drastically switching gears not once but twice, and featuring a truly gag-worthy use of gore and bodily fluids.
After that, MacIntyre’s The Gawkers is something of a disappointment, even if its depiction of American Pie-era creeps rings true. Scares are minimal, the CGI is rough, and the twist was done far better in the first V/H/S movie.
Thankfully, the film goes out on a high with the Winters’ To Hell and Back, which would send a couple of Bros to Hell and back… if they survive. The madcap energy of the directors’ recent Deadstream gives the film its best action sequences and gnarliest creature designs. If ever one of these things deserved their own spin-off feature, it’s this one, which confirms the Winters as two of the most exciting directors working in found footage today.
As ever with this franchise, the hit rate veers wildly in its quality. Still, V/H/S/99 has a higher hit rate than previous instalments, and replicates its era’s visuals and sensibilities well.
