The V/H/S franchise has been a staple of spooky season on Shudder for a while now. I look forward to it every year. There’s always at least one good bit among the anthology of found-footage bits.
This year’s feels particularly weak in some ways, but very creative in others.
The overall theme, as could be guessed from the title being V/H/S/Mixtape, is music/sound. That leads to some distinctly creative reasons for there to be video footage.
If they’d tried for an actual wrap-around story, I guess there would have been even more of a creative challenge.
Instead, they just brough in GWAR and more or less let them do their thing. Which is a fun thing, if you like GWAR’s schtick… which I generally do, and it was plenty entertaining here. It just wasn’t much of a wrap-around “story” was we’ve gotten in some past years.
Of the individual segments, the only one that really rocked my socks was the one by the RZA, “Death Tone”, which was very well done, very creative, and had a solid enough reason for there to be footage, as well as a reason it could be “found”… though no real reason it would be in the state we see it. It’s also the most music-centric story that’s told, digging deep into the creative process as a whole.
The absolute lamest excuses for “found footage” bits were “Another Cabin” (which was cool stop-motion animation, but had nothing really to do with music or being found footage) and “Premature Burial” (which was just a music video… not a bad music video, but definitely not a found footage story like we’ve all come to expect from this franchise).
Rounding out the entries were “Heartbeat”, “Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance”, and “The Music of Mr. Sze” which were pretty okay, but didn’t land as well with me as I would have hoped.
“Heartbeat” was an interesting little bit that told the story of two vloggers going someplace they shouldn’t have gone and experiencing the terror of an absolutely quiet room… driven insane by the sounds of their own bodies (no music, but close enough to on theme for me). The only thing that really took it down a notch was the lingering question of how anyone actually found their footage… and the fact that I found the two characters absolutely insufferable and didn’t at all feel bad they ended up dead.
“Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance” was a kid’s show related bit of horror… which immediately put it at a disadvantage because I saw and loved Buddy earlier this year. This wasn’t anywhere near that story or that quality. But, it did have the ever-iconic Barbara Crampton in it, so that was cool. It does involve an annoying catchy tune from a long-ago kids’ show that some network execs are thinking of reviving as a CGI-fueled nostalgia grab. The original puppets aren’t too happy about that. Hilarity ensues. While there’s no question of how the initially footage was found, there is a question of why it was edited together… and then the further question of if it was ever found again. Still a good bunch of fun, though.
“The Music of Mr. Sze” put a little too much of a hat on how Lovecraft inspired it was. It wasn’t a bad idea, but the bad CGI/AI effects that popped up in the middle of the story really ruined it for me. At least the big rumble with the monster was physical effects. It’s another one that left the question of how the footage was found and edited together lingering more than a bit.
Not the worst iteration of a V/H/S jam, but definitely not my overall favorite. Still glad to see them making these, giving filmmakers a chance to experiment a bit. So, I’ll still be looking forward to next years edition.
- V/H/S/Mixtape – October 10, 2026
- Carrie (2026 Series) – October 10, 2026
- Good Boy – October 8, 2026
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