The V/H/S franchise is iconic and close to indie horror-hounds’ hearts. The franchise started with its first installment in 2012, featuring short films from Ti West, Adam Wingard, and other staples of contemporary indie horror cinema. The premise was simple: an anthology of V/H/S or found footage-themed horror shorts, usually with an interconnecting or overarching story.
As the franchise has expanded into other sequels filled with analog terrors, themed around specific years such as 1994 or 1999, fans have been clamoring for every new entry to see what the overarching connections will be and which indie Directors will either make their debut or pitch original concepts. Just announced by Shudder, the newest entry in the V/H/S series should be reason for excitement.
Shudder has announced V/H/S: Halloween, the eighth installment of the found footage horror series. It has a planned release of October 3rd, and will presumably be themed around the spookiest holiday of the year. Not only is the theme and release date exciting, but the lineup of Directors sounds incredible.
According to Variety, Paco Plaza, director of the infamous Spanish horror film Rec, as well as cult filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Pavement), will both direct original segments for Halloween. Casper Kelly, creator of the infamous Too Many Cooks short, will also have a segment in the film, as well as filmmakers Bryan M. Ferguson, Casper Kelly, Micheline Pitt-Norman, R.H. Norman, and Anna Zlokovic.
While not much is known about the plots of the segments at this time, or the overarching narrative, it should be filled to the brim with seasonal, joyous terror. While it is always exciting to get shorts from household names like Mike Flanagan and Scott Derrickson, it’s also exciting to have the next installment feature names that not every horror fan might be as familiar with. All that’s left to do now is suffer through the rest of these hot months, and wait on the edge of our seats for a new anthology to welcome us into Halloween season.