Movies
V/H/S Franchise Ranked, Best to Worst
The brainchild of Bloody Disgusting founder Brad Miska, 2012’s V/H/S was an experiment in giving filmmakers free rein over their found footage passion projects. The V/H/S movies generally all follow the same concept: unfortunate people stumble onto cursed VHS tapes and watch the madness within them unfold, with each tape serving as the vessel for a different found footage short. What resulted was a slept-on cult classic being made at the height of the found footage zeitgeist, standing out even when compared with the big franchises like Paranormal Activity and REC. 6 movies later, the series continues to go strong, with a seventh sci-fi horror-centric entry on the way in 2024. So today, as part of our Found Footage February series, we celebrate the legacy of V/H/S by ranking all the films and discussing where they hit, where they miss, and where they stand after all this time.
Our V/H/S franchise ranked article is here!
No franchise embodies the beauty of the horror anthology style quite like the V/H/S films. The brainchild of Bloody Disgusting founder Brad Miska, 2012’s V/H/S was an experiment in giving filmmakers free rein over their found footage passion projects. The V/H/S movies generally all follow the same concept: unfortunate people stumble onto cursed VHS tapes and watch the madness within them unfold, with each tape serving as the vessel for a different found footage short.
What resulted was a slept-on cult classic being made at the height of the found footage zeitgeist, standing out even when compared with the big franchises like Paranormal Activity and REC. 6 movies later, the series continues to go strong, with a seventh sci-fi horror-centric entry on the way in 2024. So today, as part of our Found Footage February series, we celebrate the legacy of V/H/S by ranking all the films and discussing where they hit, where they miss, and where they stand after all this time.
And, no, we won’t be covering Siren or Kids vs Aliens since, despite being spin-offs. They abandon the formula entirely and don’t count. You can, however, read our review of Kids vs Aliens, since it was pretty great.
We’ve updated our V/H/S ranking to include V/H/S Beyond!
The Entire V/H/S Franchise Ranked
#7: V/H/S: Viral
I know, cheap shot to put it in dead last, but Viral has a reputation as the worst for a reason. I wouldn’t say the scripts here are even that poorly written, and very few of these films have out-of-this-world effects, so I can’t blame those either.
Viral’s inability to commit to a singular tone is its fatal flaw. 99 is campy, 85 is moody, and 94 is just downright terrifying. But Viral is ultimately a day late and a dollar short when it comes to being chaotic or funny, and its more dramatic wraparound segments just needed more work. As is, the framing device takes up far too much time for its payoff, and that’s saying something in a movie that’s only 80 minutes long.
I will give it credit where it is due. What Gregg Bishop does with his brief time and slender effects budget for “The Great Dante” is silly fun, and “Bonestorm” was goofy enough in concept for me to enjoy it for its sheer cheese factor (skaters versus skeletons is totally radical dude!). Still, I would be lying if I didn’t say Viral was the film that almost made me unsubscribe from the series altogether.
#6: V/H/S/Beyond
Does the latest entry in the V/H/S franchise go even further beyond than its series siblings? It’s good, but doesn’t quite break into greatness. Most of its offerings are standard fare, bound by a science fiction theme. The most underwhelming bits are confined to its framing device that, while having a payoff, doesn’t hit as hard as any of its segments.
“Stork” is messy fun, as Jordan Downey directs an adaptation of Oleg Vdovenko’s painting series of the same name; it feels straight out of the masterful digital art that inspired it. Virat Pal’s “Dream Girl” is also a bit messy, but makes a schlocky and decently interesting first half for the film. “Fur Babies” is a mostly dark comedy short in the vein of Kevin Smith’s “Tusk” with some good acting, but feels like it should be more shocking than it is.
The real standouts here are “Live and Let Dive” and “Stowaway”. “Live” really gets to the original spirit of the other films in a way its fellow Beyond chapters don’t always with its adventurous filmmaking. “Stowaway” sees Alanah Pearce giving a really great performance in Kate Siegel’s directorial debut segment. Her mannerisms and line delivery make for a compelling story of an obsessed UFO hunter who makes the find of her dreams but gets nightmarish results in her experimentation. It’s got some of the best effects of the series, as well as a final shot with an emotional gut punch. All in all, a solid anthology.
#5: V/H/S/99
None of the entries above Viral on this list are even bad. Most of them just barely beat each other out for their spot.
And in fact, V/H/S/99 has two of my personal favorite V/H/S segments: “Ozzy’s Dungeon”, Flying Lotus’s demented take on the Nickelodeon game shows of the 90s, and “To Hell and Back”, Joseph and Vanessa Winter’s cinematic equivalent to a haunted house run through hell. “The Gawkers” also feels like a very fun callback to the first V/H/S segment of all, “Amateur Night”, as we see the grisly fate of some teenage peeping toms who mess with the wrong woman. It’s a very solid collection.
Of the Shudder films that have been released so far (94, 99, and 85), 99 is definitively the campiest of the films, and its segments are carried a lot by dark humor and a low-budget, B-movie spirit. Even “Shredding”, which I was a bit harsh on in my first review of the film, is much more enjoyable when seen for its gallows humor and grotesque but comedic ending.
The jokes probably won’t hit the same for everyone, and in general, V/H/S/99 gets stiff-armed by the other films surrounding it (especially with no strong framing device as a backbone). That being said, I’ll never pass up watching a wacky and weird horror film like this one, so it still gets some love from me.
#4: V/H/S
Looking back, it makes complete sense that the V/H/S series got as big as it did when this is what we got as an opener. Though it didn’t see as much critical acclaim as it deserved in 2012 (a year that was 2023 levels of jam-packed horror releases), you have to pay homage to V/H/S for revitalizing the horror anthology format in a major way. Its unique brand of visionary-directed shorts gave us plenty of promise, and it delivered on that potential even if non-horror fans didn’t vibe with it initially.
Not every part of this movie lands, but it only needed three truly great shorts to make its mark: David Bruckner’s “Amateur Night”, “10/31/98” by a pre-Scream Radio Silence, and Joe Swanberg’s “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger”. Though “Amateur Night” got so much love it earned itself a full-length spin-off in Siren, I find myself revisiting “10/31/98” the most often just because it’s such a fun concept; frat bros accidentally rescuing the monster from the heroes will always be perfect.
Even if the entries in this anthology are outpaced by their successors in terms of brutality or skill, this movie is where it all began. V/H/S left an indelible mark on the horror landscape in the long run, and for that, it deserves all its flowers.
#3: V/H/S/85
The latest entry in the franchise, V/H/S/85’s arrival was hailed with a lot of critical and audience praise, and for good reason. Two standout shorts in 85 earned that rep.
The first is Scott Derrickson’s “Dreamkill”, a spiritual sequel to Derrickson’s work in The Black Phone; “Dreamkill” is an entirely different caliber of short film than anything that has been featured in a V/H/S film. The same can be said of Gigi Saul Guerrero’s “God of Death”, following a rescue crew during the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake, and the ancient evil unleashed by the tremors.
The two are possibly the best made of all the V/H/S segments on a technical level. On top of that, “Ambrosia” is an absolute trip with a very fun connection to another segment in the film and gets a nasty resolution. Bruckner returns to direct this film’s framing device, “Total Copy”, about an alien shapeshifter in captivity slowly learning to mimic things in its surroundings. It’s a very fun setup to a dark punchline in the film’s final shot that never fails to make me smile.
Not every short film here is equally satisfying, and though all of them are well-made, they don’t pack the same punch. It’s very hard to compete with the narrative highs of Derrickson and Guerrero’s work which leaves you wanting more. Still, you can’t take away the kind of quality that 85 brings to the table, and it’s an undeniable standout.
#2: V/H/S/2
Fun fact: this was my first V/H/S film, and the one I was certain would not at all hold up on revisit. I was afraid my own bias had overblown how good it was, but no, it is just that good.
V/H/S/2 is one of those few and far between examples of an ideal sequel: where V/H/S gave us a bunch of very solid short films, V/H/S/2 delivered on that while upping the ante with more shocking and much gorier stories. It’s over the top, and the leap in effects and budget that V/H/S/2 earned makes it surprisingly hold up after all these years.
All four stories are insane, but “Safe Haven” (about an Indonesian death cult and its day of reckoning) and “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” (about exactly what it sounds like) have a special place in my heart for how crazy their climaxes are. If there’s one guiding principle that each filmmaker was on the same page about, it was that they could hold no punches. Even the framing device, “Tape 49”, is a strictly better and bloodier version of its precursor “Tape 56” from the first film.
With returning directors Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sánchez & Gregg Hale of The Blair Witch Project fame, and my personal favorite Gareth Evans of The Raid: Redemption, we have stories that aren’t only disturbing but unbelievably stylish. Conceptually, aesthetically, and cinematography-wise, V/H/S/2 takes the cake. It only gets beaten out by…
#1: V/H/S/94
I need to emphasize: I have not and never will be a worshipper of Raatma. I judge this movie solely on its execution as a really fun anthology film. And any footage of me hanging out in storm drains with rat worshippers is taken ENTIRELY out of context.
Jokes aside, the best entry could have never belonged to anyone but V/H/S/94. It’s the apotheosis of the series’ formula because of how perfectly balanced it is. Though many anthology films would feel lopsided, there’s zero disparity here between the quality of the shorts, and it feels uncanny how they coordinated with such different visual styles.
Newcomers like Chloe Akuno and Ryan Prows stole the show with their segments “Storm Drain” and “Terror”, but series vets like Timo Tjahjanto and Simon Barrett deliver absolute heaters like “The Subject” and “The Empty Wake” to supplement them. “The Subject” in particular stunned me; directorially, it’s hard to top Hardcore Henry meets Resident Evil. That’s not even mentioning Jennifer Reeder’s framing story, “Holy Hell”, which has to be the freakiest of any V/H/S film with its drug-induced cult shenanigans. Separately, they’re strong, but altogether, they make for what is undoubtedly the most frightening and cohesive V/H/S film yet.
While you may get distracted during the framing device in one film, or skip a segment here and there in another, V/H/S/94 keeps you hooked to your screen from start to finish. And that is a true feat.
***
Is your ranking of the V/H/S films different? Are you excited for the seventh film on the horizon in 2024?
I was late to the Radio Silence party. However, I do not let that stop me from being one of the loudest people at the function now. I randomly decided to see Ready or Not in theaters one afternoon in 2019 and walked out a better person for it. The movie introduced me to the work of a team that would become some of my favorite current filmmakers. It also confirmed that getting married is the worst thing one can do. That felt very validating as someone who doesn’t buy into the needing to be married to be complete narrative.
Ready or Not is about a fucked up family with a fucked up tradition. The unassuming Grace (Samara Weaving) thinks her new in-laws are a bit weird. However, she’s blinded by love on her wedding day. She would never suspect that her groom, Alex (Mark O’Brien), would lead her into a deadly wedding night. So, she heads downstairs to play a game with the family, not knowing that they will be hunting her this evening. This is one of the many ways I am different from Grace. I watch enough of the news to know the husband should be the prime suspect, and I have been around long enough to know men are the worst. I also have a commitment phobia, so the idea of walking down the aisle gives me anxiety.
Grace Under Fire
Ready or Not is a horror comedy set on a wealthy family’s estate that got overshadowed by Knives Out. I have gone on record multiple times saying it’s the better movie. Sadly, because it has fewer actors who are household names, people are not ready to have that conversation. However, I’m taking up space this month to talk about catharsis, so let me get back on track. One of the many ways this movie is better than the latter is because of that sweet catharsis awaiting us at the end.
This movie puts Grace through it and then some. Weaving easily makes her one of the easiest final girls to root for over a decade too. From finding out the man she loves has betrayed her, to having to fight off the in-laws trying to kill her, as she is suddenly forced to fight to survive her wedding night. No one can say that Grace doesn’t earn that cigarette at the end of the film. As she sits on the stairs covered in the blood of what was supposed to be her new family, she is a relatable icon. As the unseen cop asks what happened to her, she simply says, “In-laws.” It’s a quick laugh before the credits roll, and “Love Me Tender” by Stereo Jane makes us dance and giggle in our seats.
Ready or Not Proves That Maybe She’s Better Off Alone
It is also a moment in which Grace is one of many women who survives marriage. She comes out of the other side beaten but not broken. Grace finally put herself, and her needs first, and can breathe again in a way she hasn’t since saying I do. She fought kids, her parents-in-law, and even her husband to escape with her life. She refused to be a victim, and with that cigarette, she is finally free and safe. Grace is back to being single, and that’s clearly for the best.
This Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy script is funny on the surface, even before you start digging into the subtext. The fact that Ready or Not is a movie where the happy ending is a woman being left alone is not wasted on me, though. While Grace thought being married would make her happy, she now has physical and emotional wounds to remind her that it’s okay to be alone.
One of the things I love about this current era of Radio Silence films is that the women in these projects are not the perfect victims. Whether it’s Ready or Not, Abigail, or Scream (2022), or Scream VI, the girls are fighting. They want to live, they are smart and resourceful, and they know that no one is coming to help them. That’s why I get excited whenever I see Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s names appear next to a Guy Busick co-written script. Those three have cracked the code to give us women protagonists that are badasses, and often more dangerous than their would-be killers when push comes to shove.
Ready or Not Proves That Commitment is Scarier Than Death
So, watching Grace run around this creepy family’s estate in her wedding dress is a vision. It’s also very much the opposite of what we expect when we see a bride. Wedding days are supposed to be champagne, friends, family, and trying to buy into the societal notion that being married is what we’re supposed to aspire to as AFABs. They start programming us pretty early that we have to learn to cook to feed future husbands and children.
The traditions of being given away by our fathers, and taking our husbands’ last name, are outdated patriarchal nonsense. Let’s not even get started on how some guys still ask for a woman’s father’s permission to propose. These practices tell us that we are not real people so much as pawns men pass off to each other. These are things that cause me to hyperventilate a little when people try to talk to me about settling down.
Marriage Ain’t For Everybody
I have a lot of beef with marriage propaganda. That’s why Ready or Not speaks to me on a bunch of levels that I find surprising and fresh. Most movies would have forced Grace and Alex to make up at the end to continue selling the idea that heterosexual romance is always the answer. Even in horror, the concept that “love will save the day” is shoved at us (glares at The Conjuring Universe). So, it’s cool to see a movie that understands women can be enough on their own. We don’t need a man to complete us, and most of the time, men do lead to more problems. While I am no longer a part-time smoker, I find myself inhaling and exhaling as Grace takes that puff at the end of the film. As a woman who loves being alone, it’s awesome to be seen this way.
The Cigarette of Singledom
We don’t need movies to validate our life choices. However, it’s nice to be acknowledged every so often. If for no other reason than to break up the routine. I’m so tired of seeing movies that feel like a guy and a girl making it work, no matter the odds, is admirable. Sometimes people are better when they separate, and sometimes divorce saves lives. So, I salute Grace and her cathartic cigarette at the end of her bloody ordeal.
I cannot wait to see what single shenanigans she gets into in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. I personally hope she inherited that money from the dead in-laws who tried her. She deserves to live her best single girl life on a beach somewhere. Grace’s marriage was a short one, but she learned a lot. She survived it, came out the other side stronger, richer, and knowing that marriage isn’t for everybody.
My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time watching my favorite app. Luckily, Shudder is not taking it easy on us this holiday season, so I may meet my quota this January. The streamer is bringing in the new year with quite a few bangers. We have classics from icons, a new title from the first family of indie horror, and a couple of lesser-known films that have finally found a home. So, I am obviously living for this month’s programming and think most of you will too. I have picked the five films that I believe deserve our collective attention the most. Get into each of them and start your 2026 off on the right foot.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Carrie (1976)
A sheltered teen finally unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated for the last time. Carrie is the reason I thought proms might be cool when I was a kid. This Brian De Palma adaptation is one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations. It is also an important title in the good-for-her subgenre. I cannot help rooting for Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) when I watch her snap at this prom and then head home to accidentally deal with her mom. The only tragedy of this evening is that Carrie had to die, too. I said what I said, and I will be hitting play again while it is on Shudder. This recommendation goes out to the other recovering sheltered girls who would be the problem if they had powers. I see you because I am you.
You can watch Carrie on January 1st.
Marshmallow (2025)
A shy 12-year-old gets sent to summer camp and finds himself in a living nightmare. While Marshmallow did not land for me, I know plenty of people who love it. Which makes this the perfect addition to the Shudder catalogue. I am actually excited to see more folks fall in love with this movie when it hits the streamer. If nothing else, it will help a few folks cross off another 2025 title if they are still playing catch-up with last year’s movies. It also gets cool points from me for not taking the easy route with the mystery it built. I hope you all dig it more than I did, and tell your friends about it. Perhaps you could even encourage them to sign up for the app.
You can watch Marshmallow on January 1st.
Chain Reactions (2024)
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre cemented his horror legacy over fifty years ago. So, it is long overdue for a documentary where horror royalty can discuss its impact on them and their careers. I have been waiting for a couple of years to hear Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike talk about Hooper’s work and how he inspired them. So, I am super geeked that Shudder is finally giving me the chance to see this film. The streamer is also helping the nerds out by adding The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 (1986) this month. If you are also an overachieving couch potato, I will see you at the finish line next week.
You can watch Chain Reactions on January 9th.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
An insurance investigator discovers the impact a horror writer’s books have on people. I love chaos, and John Carpenter chaos happens to be one of my favorite kinds of chaos. While we talk about The Thing and Halloween all the time, this maestro has given us plenty of horror to celebrate. In the Mouth of Madness is very much one of those titles vying for a top spot among the best of his filmography. To sweeten the batshit pot, this movie features Sam Neill. You know that he only shows up in our genre if the movie is going to be legendary. You cannot tell me this is not a Shudder priority this month.
You can watch In the Mouth of Madness on January 10th.
Mother of Flies (2025)
A terminally ill young woman and her dad head to the woods to seek out a recluse who claims she can cure her cancer. The Adams Family has been holding court on Shudder for years, so it feels right that Mother of Flies is a Shudder Original. More importantly, this fest favorite has one of the best performances of 2025. Which makes it a great time for people to finally get to see it and get in line to give Toby Poser her flowers. Whatever you think your favorite Poser role is, it is about to change when you see her as Solveig. I am being serious when I say that this movie might be the first family of indie horror at their best.
You can watch Mother of Flies on January 23rd.
New year, but same Shudder. I would not want to go into 2026 any other way, personally. I hope these horrific recommendations bring you the good kind of anxiety. Or at least distract you from the state of the world for a bit.
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The Horror Press Podcast Episode 54: Heated Rivalry & Yahtzee
‘Sleepy Hollow’ Review: Seeing Really Is Believing
‘Ready or Not’ and the Cathartic Cigarette of a Relatable Final Girl
‘Carrie’ Review: A Look At Two Adaptations
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Shudder in January 2026
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Netflix in January 2026
‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ Review: An Overlooked Gem
‘The People Under the Stairs’ Review: A Brilliantly Bizarre Horror Classic
Slappy Was the Blueprint: How the Dummy from Goosebumps Became A Horror Icon
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ and The Story of William Afton Explained
Glen and Glenda: Don Mancini’s Reverence for Queerness in ‘Seed of Chucky’ (2004)
‘Truth or Dare’: Who Did it Best?
V/H/S Franchise Ranked, Best to Worst
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