Movies
Ranking the Best V/H/S/ Segments in the Franchise
With the recent release of V/H/S/Beyond, the topic of this franchise is HOT HOT HOT. As a V/H/S fanatic, I figured there would be no better time to throw together a list of my top 10 favorite V/H/S segments! While I may feel the franchise is going in the wrong direction for some time, I will still jump at any opportunity to consume V/H/S content. But let’s cut the crap and get into my top 10 favorite segments in this groundbreaking franchise.
With the recent release of V/H/S/Beyond, the topic of this franchise is HOT HOT HOT. As a V/H/S fanatic, I figured there would be no better time to throw together a list of my top 10 favorite V/H/S segments! While I may feel the franchise is going in the wrong direction for some time, I will still jump at any opportunity to consume V/H/S content. But let’s cut the crap and get into my top 10 favorite segments in this groundbreaking franchise.
Want to read our ranking of the ENTIRE V/H/S/ franchise? Then click here!
The 10 Best V/H/S/ Segments in the Franchise
10. No Wake /Ambrosia, V/H/S/85
Written and Directed by Mike P. Nelson
It might be cheating to consider No Wake and Ambrosia the same segment. I don’t care.
No Wake thrusts a group of friends into a scenario that has life-altering consequences and a chance at eternal life. While out on a lake, these friends drink, party, and water ski; truly living their best lives. After a skilled shooter takes them out, one by one, they realize their life-ending injuries are now nothing more than lifelong wounds.
Ambrosia follows Ruth (Evie Bair) from No Wake and doles out some just desserts. The group from No Wake shows up at Ruth’s family get-together and gives one of the kids a water pistol (filled with water from Lake Evig). Kids being kids, he shoots Ruth with the water. This seemingly innocent gesture proves detrimental to Ruth when armed police show up.
Mike P. Nelson’s double feature has an exhilarating setup/payoff. No Wake sets the bar quite high as the first segment after this installment’s incredibly boring wraparound intro. The practical effects on the boat are nothing less than gorgeous and some of the best practicals in the franchise. Their wounds look wild when coupled with the fuzzy home camera grain. Ambrosia starts incredibly unassuming and gives the audience time to get the full picture. Seeing the RV from No Wake and the water pistol makes the segment feel insidious. Once you realize where the story is going, you can’t help but chuckle when the armed police show up.
9. Stork, V/H/S/Beyond
Written by Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart, Directed by Jordan Downey
When baby disappearances plague a city, it’s up to the W.A.R.D.E.N. unit to get to the bottom of it. Told through police body cams, and a single cameraman, the W.A.R.D.E.N.s are set for a night of doom and death.
Stork does what Hardcore Henry failed to do: making first-person action fun rather than migraine-inducing. Imagine seeing an effigy of some group’s god and not even ten minutes later becoming attacked by that god? Wild. The well-choreographed fight scenes give V/H/S/Beyond an unforgettable first segment. It’s a shame the rest of the film couldn’t follow suit (except for one segment we’ll talk about later). The way Downey blends practical and digital effects could be used as a masterclass for up-and-coming filmmakers. This is your segment if you like blood, first-person action, meteorites, chainsaw POV, and bird gods.
8. Terror, V/H/S/94
Written and Directed by Ryan Prows
A group of right-wing militia members plan to attack a federal building with a special type of biological weapon. But what happens when that biological weapon fights back? Well, you get an incredibly fun and compelling segment that feels more poignant than may have been originally intended.
With reports of right-wing militia members harassing FEMA workers in North Carolina, I decided to go back and watch this segment. Even though I don’t feel it’s the franchise’s strongest segment, it does work well in today’s climate. Prows’ script does an excellent job of frustrating the audience. He forces you to sit with this group of neckbeards as they spout their hate. It’s exacerbated when the group decides to continue with their plan after learning about a daycare center in their target location. (No doubt a nod to the Oklahoma City Bombing.)
Throughout the segment, the viewer is left wondering what terrible fate will befall this militia group. It seems their plan is going all too well. When everything goes belly up, you can’t help but cheer as the militia members are picked off by the weapon they have locked up (and even by each other in a few cases). Terror is the ultimate FAFO.
7. Live and Let Dive, V/H/S/Beyond
Written by Ben Turner and Justin Martinez, Directed by Justin Martinez
A group of friends goes out skydiving for Zach’s (Bobby Slaski) 30th birthday. Wow, all I did for my 30th birthday was allow myself to spend $100 at Bookoff New York. The plane they’re in swiftly crashes into a UAP, sending the soon-to-be skydivers plummeting through the air. Once they land, things go from bad to worse. The friends who landed safely find themselves running through orange groves from a four-legged creature that will stop at nothing to kill them.
Live and Let Dive serves as Radio Silence co-creator Justin Martinez’s first foray back into the V/H/S franchise since the first V/H/S film. Martinez and Ben Turner craft an undeniably intense and fast-paced story perfectly brought to life by Martinez. The plane crash, and subsequent free falls, are some of the most compelling mixtures of digital and practical effects in the franchise. As someone who is terrified of skydiving and has never been, this free fall looks all too real.
Once on the ground, the energy is kept at 100% with the introduction of the alien. While the chase scenes are frantic and fun, the alien doesn’t look great. While Stork uses a mixture of practical and digital techniques for the stork (I think), the creature in Live and Let Dive looks too digital. That doesn’t make the creature less scary, but it’s akin to seeing a scar in a film with visible putty lines.
6. The Subject, V/H/S/94
Written and Directed by Timo Tjahjanto
S.A. (Shania Sree Maharani) is the latest experiment from mad scientist Dr. James Suhendra (Budi Ross). The doctor has a whole laboratory full of these human/robot abominations. A police raid on his laboratory results in S.A. being set free, and that’s when the blood FLOWS!
Timo Tjahjanto is, personally, one of my favorite modern filmmakers. His films have all been a home run for me, but his personality is even more interesting. Whether professing his love for action and horror films or taking down trolls on Twitter, he is a force to be reckoned with. The Subject is a fast-paced, action-packed, balls-to-the-wall techno-horror ballet. If you haven’t seen this one, it needs to be seen to be believed.
5. Storm Drain, V/H/S/94
Written and Directed by Chloe Okuno
Holly Marciano (Anna Hopkins) and Cameraman Jeff (Christian Potenza) head into a sewer to investigate a story about a local cryptid dubbed “Rat Man.” They descend deep into the sewer and eventually become captured by sewer dwellers. That’s when they finally meet…Raatma.
Hail Raatma!
That’s all.
4. 10/31/98, V/H/S
Written and Directed by Radio Silence
A group of friends made up of three out of four of the Radio Silence team as well as a guy named Paul (Paul Natonek), go to the location of what they think is a Halloween party. Unfortunately for them, they’ve stumbled upon an exorcism in progress. As the four men try to make a hasty escape, they are subject to an onslaught of paranormal activity.
Whatever faults the first V/H/S film has is almost moot. Hungry filmmakers took their intense passion and made one of the genre’s most compelling anthology films of all time. Everyone was on the same playing field. Instead of having Scott Derickson and other prominent filmmakers use their connections to pull off something overly grandiose, you have barebones filmmaking. 10/31/98 showcases independent filmmaking at its core and what can be accomplished with guerrilla filmmaking.
Some of the digital effects here are dated, but that’s okay. The story, direction, and passion behind 10/31/98 (and all of V/H/S) is beyond palpable. Each segment in V/H/S showcases what each independent filmmaker can do within the same budget as one another, but, to me, 10/31/98 is the most impressive.
3. Ozzy’s Dungeon, V/H/S/99
Written by Zoe Cooper and Flying Lotus, Directed by Flying Lotus
Young Donna (Amelia Ann) finds herself permanently disfigured from her time on the Legends of the Hidden Temple-esque kids show Ozzy’s Dungeon. Sometime later, after the cancellation of the show, The Host (Steven Ogg) wakes up in a dog cage. He’s surrounded by Donna and her family, who have kidnapped him and plan on running him through their own disgusting version of a game show. But when The Host tells them he can actually make Donna’s dream come true, things get…deadly.
First and foremost, I love FlyLo. His music is beyond original and gorgeous. It’s a type of music I never thought I knew I needed in my life. FlyLo’s 2017 midnight movie Kuso changed my life. It’s funny, scary, and one of the most disgusting films I’ve ever seen. I did a backflip when I found out he was making a segment for this franchise.
Ozzy’s Dungeon is, simply put, absolutely wild. If Trevor Phillips, who was Stephen Ogg’s character in Grand Theft Auto V, was a real person then he would be The Host. In hindsight, no one else could play The Host. This segment is full of squelching, belching, vomit, and shit. It’s singlehandedly the most disturbing and disgusting segment in the franchise. And we are all better for it.
2. Safe Haven, V/H/S/2
Story by Timo Tjahjanto, Written by Garreth Huw Evans and Timo Tjahjanto, Directed by Timo Tjahjanto
A film crew attempts to shoot a documentary to expose an Indonesian cult. They sit with Father (Epy Kusnandar) for an interview, but when they get split up, things go awry. Mass suicide, boxcutter stabbings, and mythical creatures soon pit the filmmakers into a life-or-death scenario.
The team behind the V/H/S films struck gold when Timo Tjahjanto brought them Safe Haven. As the franchise’s first non-English-speaking entry, they set a bar that could only be topped by Tjahjanto himself. The vibe is immediately off when the filmmakers get to the cult, and things just continually amp up until the segment’s final moment. There’s no question that Epy Kusnandar is one of Indonesia’s greatest horror actors. His mannerisms and all-around vibe are immaculate. Watching him go to work in this film is truly terrifying.
1. A Ride in the Park, V/H/S/2
Written by Jamie Nash, Directed by Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale
Mike (Jay Saunders) heads out for a bike ride in a state park. While on the path he encounters a woman who is covered in blood and begging for help. She quickly turns into a zombie and bites him. Mike eventually comes back as a zombie and leads an invasion against a group of partygoers. The invasion has begun!
This segment, directed by The Blair Witch Project’s Eduardo Sánchez and Gregg Hale, is beyond perfection. The entire segment looks like it was handled practically with digital effects used to clean up some edges. Beyond being scary and gory as hell, A Ride in the Park has an underlying emotional impact. Mike starts his bike ride off with a phone call with his girlfriend Amy. Once he’s a zombie, he shows no aspect of humanity. At one point he starts to reach for a shotgun, but it’s moved away from him. By the end of the segment, he accidentally calls Amy again and upon hearing her voice, he has a moment of clarity, grabs the shotgun, and kills himself.
It’s heartbreaking.
A Ride in the Park is one fo the most well-filmed segments in the entire franchise. You get the POV from Mike the whole time, which is fun, but once he is stabbed in the head with a meat fork, you’re stuck with his POV as the meat fork is in his head. It’s brilliant. Can this segment ever be topped?
What did you think of this list? Do you agree? What segments are your top of the V/H/S/ franchise?
We are finally in the midst of Shudder’s 61 days of Halloween! There are so many horror movies to consume and 31 days simply isn’t enough. Use the long Labor Day weekend to kick off your horror movie countdown and add these movies to your Shudder queue. Here is a list of what I would recommend checking out to ease into the Halloween spirit right before going into full blown premature trick-or-treating mode.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
The Yeti (2026)
A large creature has captured people in a remote Alaskan town in the 1940s. The sheriff has put together a search-and-rescue monster hunting party to bring back the captives. It sounds like the premise of a Cold Iron Studios co-op video game in the same vein as Aliens: Fireteam Elite. The stylization from co-directors Gene Gallerano & William Pisciotta in the trailer makes me think they have cooked up a story that blends action, horror, and wilderness survival. Sign me up, sheriff!
Leave (2022)
Hunter was found as a baby abandoned in a cemetery wrapped in a cloth covered with satanic symbols. She has been searching for answers her whole life about where she came from. Her journey to find her parents takes her down a mysterious path, and she is being warned by something from the beyond to leave this mystery alone. Can she trust who this investigation is leading her towards? It’s a mysterious, supernatural, culty film that will give you chills.
Penny Lane is Dead (2026)
One crazy night in Australia with perhaps a dash of revenge. Shudder’s latest original looks to be packed with blood and violence in this story of girls just trying to have fun until the crazy cousin drugs the party and invites dangerous people to play. The trailer promises lots of body horror (trigger warning, there may be SA or threat of it). I’m not saying it will be Evil Dead level, but there’s definitely something in the Aussie water with Lee Cronin pumping out his gory deadites and mummy films, and now Mia Kate Russel with this one.
The Others (2001)
This is a PSA to the younger readers of Horror Press; stop what you’re doing and watch Nicole Kidman go 100 miles per hour in this classic ghost story with a twist. Dreary weather, massive estate, confusing corridors, creepy house servants you don’t know if you can trust, and sad British kids. The ending is an all-timer and spoilers should be avoided at all costs. It has exactly what you need to get right into the cozy, spooky mood for 61-days of Halloween.
Dark Harvest (2023)
If The Hunger Games and The Purge had a baby and raised it during Oktoberfest. Teenage boys are tasked with hunting and killing the entity known as Sawtooth Jack on Halloween night, or it could mean certain peril for their town. Of the movies I have listed here that I have not seen, this is going to be at the top of my watchlist. Teens fighting for survival on Halloween night and the battle setting is in a cornfield?! Say less. I am there with my Sam Adams seasonal in hand. Another perfect movie to cannonball me right into the Halloween spirit.
This list has been carefully curated to watch in a specific order to gear up for a Halloween marathon. Start with the wintry monster movie, move on to a macabre supernatural thriller, followed by a ramp-up in blood and gore, to then be lulled into a spooky, bump-in-the-night classic, all to end on a ritualistic hunt taking place on Halloween night. This is just getting things started for the first 30-days. Looking forward to sharing the next list to get you through October.
Anyone who follows legendary horror author Stephen King on social media or reads the back of books knows one thing. It’s harder to find something that King hasn’t blurbed than something that he has. The dude is a voracious consumer of genre media, and he finds a lot to love. It’s an admirable quality. But, speaking as someone who saw American Ultra after he praised it, you can’t always trust his recommendations. Today, I’ll cut some of the wheat from the chaff and break down the best modern horror movies he’s recommended.
Three notes: First, I have decided to define “modern” as “2001 or later.” Second, King practices good social media hygiene and has deleted many of his old posts. A lot of them are archived elsewhere. However, it’s more or less impossible to make a truly comprehensive list of his recommendations. I’ve synthesized multiple different sources and done my best to truly encapsulate the breadth of his recommendations. Third, I have not included any adaptations of his own work. He may be outspoken about the ones he doesn’t like, but he’s still obviously biased in that department.
#10 Snakes on a Plane (2006)
To quote King himself (defending putting 2012 among his top 2009 movies), “no filmgoing diet is complete without some cheese.” Snakes on a Plane is a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin movie, delivering high-flying serpentine thrills. However, it’s also a remarkably faithful resurrection of the atmosphere of old 1970s airplane thrillers.
#9 Final Destination 5 (2011)
In his Best of 2011 entry on Final Destination 5, King called it “the best since the first,” and he’s absolutely right. While the sequels probably peaked with the highway prologue in Final Destination 2, the fifth installment is pound-for-pound the most thrilling entry. Between the bridge collapse, the laser eye surgery, and the nail-biting sequence where a screw falls pointy-side-up on a balance beam, there’s no denying there’s real power here. And that’s not even mentioning the fun final twist!
#8 A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
In a since-deleted Tweet, King called Day One “the rare ‘big Hollywood film’ that is both intimate and textured.” It’s true. A Quiet Place: Day One is a mini miracle of horror filmmaking. An IP-drenched prequel to a duology of good-not-great post-apocalyptic popcorn blockbusters shouldn’t be this genuinely stirring. Plus, relative newcomer Joseph Quinn holds his own against the awe-inspiring Lupita Nyong’o, resulting in an all-timer two-hander.
#7 The Strangers (2008)
After watching The Strangers, King took to Entertainment Weekly to pontificate about what makes good horror. If you inspire someone who literally wrote the book on horror to think about it more, you’ve done something right. Bryan Bertino’s home invasion movie is one of the grimmest movies of the 2000s, but its desperate existential dread is terrifying and perfectly in line with King’s best works.
#6 Splice (2009)
King included Splice on his Top 10 list for 2010, particularly praising the “talented actors… who take the material seriously.” How did this grotesque genetic-experimentation horror movie directed by the guy who made Cube land Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley? Who knows. But they breathe life into some already super solid material. What Brody in particular gets up to feels even more twisted because it’s the guy from The Pianist doing it.
#5 Smile (2022)
In a since-deleted Tweet, King called Smile a “good, scary horror film.” He added that “the real surprise is Sosie Bacon as Rose. What a hell of a performance.” Bacon really was a revelation, but so was debut director Parker Finn. His control over tone and pacing leads to some of the best scare sequences of the 2020s.
#4 The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024)
King’s not fucking around about the New Zealand horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen. It’s one of just two horror movies on his New York Times ballot for the best of the 21st century. The underseen movie is a real corker, too. It follows a judge (Geoffrey Rush) recovering in a care home after a stroke. However, his relaxation is ruined by a sadistic retiree (John Lithgow) who is obsessed with his baby doll puppet. Lithgow’s performance is stunning, and his thrillingly dark energy commands the screen every second he’s in front of the camera.
#3 Barbarian (2022)
In a since-deleted reply to a fan’s Tweet about Barbarian, King said “Yeah, that movie blew me away. It was crazy! Crazy GOOD!” This movie contributed what is perhaps the definitive scary basement in horror, which is no small feat. That’s all thanks to director Zach Cregger’s control over onscreen darkness (one of his many skills). The man must be a shadowmancer of some kind.
#2 Train to Busan (2016)
Train to Busan is the only other horror movie on King’s NYT ballot. It has received a lot of international recognition over the years. Perhaps more than any other non-Parasite movie from South Korea. That’s because it’s flipping amazing. Its crackling energy makes it one of the scariest fast-zombie movies in history. But it also marries that with a compelling father-daughter story. There’s really nothing Train to Busan can’t do.
#1 The Descent (2005)
King put The Descent on his 2006 best-of list, calling it “the best horror movie of the year.” Forget that. It’s one of the top horror movies of the century so far. It’s a bloody good monster movie nestled into a skin-crawlingly claustrophobic spelunking movie.
Honorable Mentions:
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) – I’ve never seen it, so I can’t in good faith recommend it
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – A masterpiece, but it’s not really “horror”
Obsession (2026) – We gotta let this one sit, in order to avoid recency bias
