V/H/S/99

I liked it unexpectedly more than I thought, certainly more than the last (mostly praised) and the penultimate (mostly hated) entry. First of all, I appreciate that this time they ditched the framing story, which was mostly about shit. This V/H/S is simply five fully fledged short stories, with the interludes consisting of only brief scenes with soldiers (related to one of the stories) that don't significantly linger. The first story, Shredding, by Maggie Levin, is the weakest. It's just a classic found footage mess, but at least there are nice zombies and it has a nice punk rock vibe. The second story, Suicide Bid, by Johannes Roberts, has a nice idea, taking us to a university setting where a young student wants to become a member of an elite sorority, but she begins to bitterly regret it during the admission ritual. The third story, Ozzy's Dungeon, by Flying Lotus (whose film Kuso I couldn't stand) is a good oddity, inspired by wacky 90s TV shows, but its final sequence felt slightly superfluous. The fourth story, The Gawkers, by Tyler MacIntyre, tells a teenage tale set in suburbia, where a group of young men stalk a sexy neighbour, which unexpectedly leads to an encounter with a creature from ancient Greek myths. Nicely captured period dynamics of the relationships between the characters, a good idea, a good monster, the finale could have been longer. And the last story, To Hell And Back, by Vanessa and Joseph Winter, is something like their recent feature debut, Deadstream, enthusiastic and energetic, with a solid idea taken further than most filmmakers with limited funds would dare. Overall, I wasn't downright annoyed by any of the stories this time around. And I especially appreciated that from each story I felt some connection with the title year 1999. In short, an enjoyable horror trip into the past. (2022.10.21)