Like sorting through your candy after a night of trick-or-treating, V/H/S/ Halloween is a mixed bag. The eighth instalment in this cult-favourite horror anthology series comes up short of previous entries, but there are still a couple of treats in here that should satisfy your twisted cravings.
Diet Phantasma
This wraparound segment follows an R&D team testing a new low-calorie soda made with “real ghosts.” It’s silly fun, but gets a bit repetitive with each new test subject. The commercial playing during the end credits was a nice touch.
Rating: ★★½☆
Coochie Coochie Coo
This short feels like walking through a haunted house — but not in a good way. The plot is like something torn from a creepypasta thread. Everything is constantly being spelled out in a painfully obvious way. The practical effects and makeup are decent, and this is probably the only segment that comes close to being scary, but the cringy, exposition-riddled writing holds it back.
Rating: ★★½☆
Ut Supra Sic Infra
Far and away the best short in this batch, this one comes from Rec director Paco Plaza — and his experience with found footage horror really shines. Flipping back and forth between a police investigation in the aftermath of a massacre and the night it happened, this had me hooked. It’s light on plot but perfectly paced and impressively edited.
Rating: ★★★½☆
Fun Size
A case of good concept and shoddy execution. It’s definitely the goofiest of all the shorts, getting a few chuckles out of me, but it’s far less polished than it should be, making it feel more like a student film. There’s a laziness in the logic that could’ve easily been tightened up to make a much more enjoyable short.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Kidprint
Darker and more grounded than the others, this short doesn’t quite fit tonally with the rest of the collection — but if there’s one likely to get under your skin, this is it. Eerie and frightening because of its realistic tone and subject matter, it’s effective, even if not entirely original.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Home Haunt
This final short follows a father and son’s annual tradition of creating an elaborate homemade haunted house. When a cursed artifact comes into the mix, the haunting becomes a little too real — and oh boy, does this one ever get brutal. Definitely the most graphic segment, it boasts some strong practical gore effects and chaotic energy, but it runs a bit too long and loses some of its punch by the end.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Final Thoughts
V/H/S/ Halloween isn’t much of a treat, but it’s got enough tricks up its sleeve to appease horror fans. Sometimes you get a full-sized chocolate bar. Sometimes you get a box of raisins. That’s the gamble with anthology horror — let’s hope for a better mix next year.
Overall Rating: ★★½☆
Review by: Benjamin Garrett