The latest in a string of new franchise entries, V/H/S/85 is set to hit streaming services during Halloween season, followed by a premiere at Fantastic Fest in September.
V/H/S/85 has an official release date and festival premiere set, as announced by Shudder.
Alongside the announcement, Shudder also revealed the first teaser trailer, which promises more found footage terror than fans of the franchise have come to expect. The trailer for V/H/S/85 can be found here and offers a glimpse into the different stories that will take place within this rendition of the anthology format.
V/H/S/85 will premiere on September 21 at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas before a streaming release date on Shudder on October 6. This will be the franchise’s sixth installment, and the third to sport its supposed set year in the title. V/H/S/94 and V/H/S/99 were released on Shudder each of the past two years during the month of October.
The horror franchise is notorious for its found footage anthology structure, usually propping up some of the brightest young filmmakers in the genre with quick 15-20 minute segments. This includes horror mainstays like Ti West, Radio Silence, Chloe Okuno, and others. This time around, they’ve taken a slightly different approach and included a few heavy hitters in the mix.
This includes Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Black Phone) and David Bruckner (The Night House, Hellraiser) alongside newer filmmakers like Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero and Natasha Kermani. This will mark David Bruckner’s second appearance in a V/H/S film after directing a segment in the original back in 2012.
I’m generally in the bag for each of these movies because I think the anthology format works best in the horror genre. In order to deliver a real punch, many of these filmmakers develop audacious ideas such as monster entries or gross-out flicks, most of which are effective and scary. I’m particularly excited to see Mike P. Nelson’s entry because I thought his iteration of Wrong Turn worked in small spurts. He hasn’t done much since that release in 2021, so his will surely be interesting.
I’ve been a critic of Shudder’s recent movies, but there’s a chance V/H/S/85 pulls me back in if executed correctly. V/H/S/94 was a shockingly tight reimagining of the franchise. I reviewed V/H/S/99 when it came out last year and felt rather lukewarm on the film. I think this entry looks to have more seasoned talent attached to it so hopefully it veers closer to the former than the latter.
