I readily admitted that the found footage anthology V/H/S almost made me into a lover of the sub-genre so much so that two segments from the film actually made my top films I'm thankful for last Thanksgiving. Therefore, it should be no surprise that I not only expected a sequel but am actually looking forward to it. Of course, one thing we have to ask ourselves is what could they possible call the sequel? I mean “V/H/S 2” sounds ridiculous even if the entire gimmick behind the original was the VHS format. Obviously the geniuses behind what is becoming a franchise realized that as well since next year’s sequel is, logically, called S-VHS. I say logically because, as we videophiles can tell you, the S-VHS format (Super – VHS) did come after the VHS format. Of course most normal consumers may not be aware the S-VHS format existed since though they looked pretty much the same the format wasn't backwards compatible, therefore, the tapes wouldn't play in your standard dominating VCR. Of course it would seem more logical to the sequel Betamax since the word “beta” is literally the second letter in the Greek alphabet and was a slightly more recognized format. But, the S-VHS was the higher quality brother to the VHS containing almost digital quality video. So after putting all of this information together there is a lot we can already deduce about the sequel like it will look a little better. We can also hopefully assume they are upping the ante to give us better stories, more scares, and extreme use of the format. Also, since the differences between VHS and S-VHS are small, we'll likely get more of the same only better. But, enough about the sordid past of tape media…
Having played at this year’s Sundance, S-VHS is already receiving accolades. Described as “a leaner, but totally crazier, gorier, scarier, wilder, funnier follow-up to VHS, in every single way.” The anthology continues to assemble the greatest of the sub-genre for this outing with offerings from Gareth Evans (The Raid), Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre), VHS cowriter Simon Barrett, Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), and Sanchez’s long-time producing partner Gregg Hale (EW). I'm not particularly excited about Sanchez's involvement despite Blair Witch being the film that made found footage popular but Evans, Eisner, Wingard et al are the new standard directors for the style. According to the official announcement, S-VHS “will be similar in structure to the original, living within the mythology established by the first film and following the same basic tenants, with each director taking on a specific sub-genre of horror.”
I'm not entirely sure what mythology they are referring to here since each segment could easily stand their own, unless of course it's the wrap around story that serves as the glue that brings all these stories together. In any event this is what we know for sure about S-VHS...
“Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student's disappearance.”(IMDB)
So now that we know there is a viable franchise in putting together the best that found footage has to offer into bite size chunks the only thing left to contemplate is what to call the third installment when it comes out next year. I'm voting for DVC since it's the obvious next step. Then of course there's Mini DV and eventually will get to today’s standard DVD. So there are at least three more sequels to look forward too. Personally I'm looking forward ".AVI" and "MPEG4." Please let me know if there's anything I missed! In the meantime I am actually looking forward to another film where we get to see people watching home made movies especially if they promise to be edgier, gorier etc.
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