Anthology movies are definitely hard to follow sometimes unless one is paying close attention and finds that the various stories within the anthology are to their liking. It’s very easy to see how the stories might not make sense and don’t end up having much to do with the narrative to which they belong, but to be fair, the fun of an anthology is in trying to figure out what every element in the story has to do with the next. The V/H/S movies have, to this point, been the types of movies that have been able to draw people in and get them to sit down long enough to see what they have to offer, even if it’s a little tough to tell what each story has in common since typically it’s the framing narrative and not much else. But in the same style as the movies before it, this anthology manages to build up a bit of suspense as the framing narrative starts by showing a SWAT team as they raid a warehouse where a mass suicide has taken place. The team is there for a drug bust initially, but as they start to search the warehouse a woman’s voice can be heard counting down over a loudspeaker, while their search reveals several dead people with their eyes clawed out. So yes, things get creepy rather quickly.
The first story begins as a newscast that can be seen emanating from one of the TVs in the warehouse and the story of Rat Man is allowed to unfold as a newscaster and her cameraman begin to question locals about the urban legend. Many are adamant that the creature, which has apparently been seen by more than one individual, deserves to be destroyed. Holly, the newscaster, and Jeff the cameraman are set on getting the kind of shot that will distinguish their work from others and decide to climb inside a storm drain to make certain that they’ll be the ones that people will be paying attention to. But as one should be able to guess, Jeff sees something not too far into the broadcast, and in true horror fashion he goes to investigate, as does Holly, and upon finding a dirt-ridden homeless man they’re soon captured by a group of strangers that take them to a secluded part of the sewers
It’s there that the two of them are subjected to the actual creature that has inspired the urban legend, Raatma, and where Jeff is sacrificed as the creature’s acidic drool is splashed in his face, burning him alive. Holly survives the encounter but ends up vomiting acidic bile into her co-anchor’s face after he describes her harrowing ordeal. She even finishes with ‘Hail Raatma’ after the incident, which is enough to make one think of The Howling and how it ended. Back in the framing narrative, which returns after each story, the team goes deeper into the building, finding a room adorned with crosses, in which another TV set begins to play another movie. At this point, most rational-minded individuals might think of getting out, but this isn’t how horror movies work, so it moves onto the next tale.
The next story features a young woman that’s been asked to watch over an empty room in which a wake was meant to be held for a deceased individual. As the night wears on, only one visitor attends the wake, and after speaking something in Hungarian, he leaves, once again leaving the woman alone in the room. When she hears a strange banging coming from within the coffin she calls her coworkers to assure herself that the individual is dead, and accepts their explanation that the release of gases and the backdown of the body could be responsible for the noises. This is one of those times when it becomes difficult to let things lie, especially since in a mortuary, alone, and late at night with a storm brewing outside and strange noises coming from inside a closed casket, one might assume that it’s a great time to head out and let whatever weird stuff is happening just happen. But the zombie attack that takes place soon after and leaves the young woman a zombie is kind of easy to expect, but it’s still done in a pretty cool way.
The other two stories in this movie, in which a scientist melds human bodies with machine parts to create the perfect being, are pretty cool. But the last story before the movie returns to the framing narrative is downright goofy since a bunch of gun-loving patriots that are out to stop evil find themselves as the victims of their own stupidity. All in all, this anthology was kind of fun to watch even if it did get a little crazy now and then. But as the kind of horror movie that isn’t meant to be taken seriously and is just for gags, it’s not all that bad.
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