Movie Research: V/H/S

  For the past week the group has been researching various thriller movies, the movie we're researching at the moment is the found footage thriller film V/H/S.

VHS is an very unique thriller movie unlike any I’ve seen so far. VHS utilizes a unique amount of camera and editing work to immerse the audience in the found footage style. The VHS uses ominous music to create tension and suspense amongst audiences and the film also relies on the use of sound and visual distortion in the film. The films use of acting also makes the audience feel disturbed and disgusted as if the audience was there reacting live with the cast. The VHS also properly uses dim lighting to constantly leave the audience tense and scared.

This film is easily my favorite out of the 3 I’ve researched and it unsettled me the most out of all the thriller films I’ve seen. This film’s use of poor lighting and disturbed and immersive acting made it feel like I was inside of the movie. This movie’s editing is also top notch and it makes the clips and scenes shot actually appear like found footage. This film doesn’t rely on the conventional themes thriller films follow but it left me on the edge of my seat the same way an old fashioned slasher film would.

Despite this film being entertaining and captivating there are a few conventions that I would avoid using, such as the pacing of the film, I found it to be very long and dragged out the film wearing off some of the thrill factor it has. The film uses most of its intriguing conventions far too late into the film which may leave audiences uninterested at times. VHS lacks a real hook to draw in audiences from start to finish. To avoid this in our sequence we must make sure to properly attract the audience right from the beginning.