If
some form of uncanny mass hysteria broke out in Los Angeles, would anyone
notice? At least, there would be no shortage of handheld devices to record the phenomenon.
The reigning champion of found footage horror franchises gets a spruced up
framing device, taking it to the streets for its third installment, V/H/S: Viral (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in New York.
“Viral”
is definitely the key word for Kev, the amateur videographer dreaming of
youtube glory in Marcel Sarmiento’s interstitial Vicious Circles. However, it takes on multiple meanings when
outbreaks of mob violence follow the wake of the evil clown ice-cream truck
pursued by nearly all of LA's Finest. Somehow, the clown-mobile also managed to
abduct his long-suffering girlfriend, making the hot pursuit distinctly
personal for Kev. The early segments of Circles
really capture a vivid sense of the city’s mean streets, where the everyday
is just as scary as the horror movie elements. Unfortunately, the conclusion
makes little sense and is even less satisfying.
Overall,
the discrete constituent films are much stronger and scarier. While Gregg
Bishop’s Dante the Great largely
plays like a well-executed Twilight Zone episode,
it has some nice flashes of macabre humor. The titular Dante was a poor
aspiring illusionist with little prospects until he got his hands on a
mysterious cape. Reportedly, it was once owned by Houdini, but he was so
freaked out by it, he deliberately shed it somehow. Right, you’re already
getting the picture and his new assistant Scarlett soon will too. Frankly, Dante often seems to “cheat” on the
found footage format, but since it has some pretty cool scenes of magical mayhem,
so be it.
Arguably,
the most inventive segment of Viral is
Nacho Vigalondo’s Parallel Monsters.
Alfonso is an eccentric inventor who has created a portal to an alternate
dimension, as has his counterpart on the other side of the hatch. They switch
places to briefly explore each other’s worlds, but our Alfonso soon discovers
he is in the one parallel universe they never explored in Star Trek. Let’s just say it belongs in a horror anthology like
this. The way Vigalondo slowly reveals details on this other dark world is
quite clever and massively creepy.
Frankly,
Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead’s Bonestorm
is not much for character development, but it is tough to beat for sheer
adrenaline charged lunacy. Basically, a group of knuckleheaded thrill-seekers
head down to Tijuana to film a skateboarding video, but they inadvertently
crash some sort of demonic zombie party. Madness ensues—spectacularly. When it
comes to energy and attitude, Bonestorm is
a gory three-ring circus, while remaining fully found footage-compliant. You
just need to pop a few Dramamine and see it for yourself.