Originally developed via the Bloody Disgusting website by producers Brad Miska and Roxanne Benjamin, V/H/S has evolved from a portmanteau horror film in 2012 to an ongoing franchise of anthology features. The sixth and most recent instalment, V/H/S/85, premiered on the streaming service Shudder in 2023 and is now available in Australia on physical media. As its title suggests, this collection of horror shorts is set in 1985 and continues the generally high quality of the franchise so far.

It is a great format for horror cinema, enabling independent and early career filmmakers to develop while granting them a much broader audience than an independent short film ever would. It also suits the genre incredibly well, since many singular horror ideas can excel in a short presentation when they may have stretched an audience’s patience if stretched to feature length. It also proves an effective way for filmmakers to explore the ‘found footage’ technique typified by horror classic The Blair Witch Project.

In this iteration, the short films are framed by an apparent television documentary about “Rory”, a slowly transforming creature that is observed sitting in a room watching television. The scientists observing him have their questions and doubts, and as their experiment progresses between each of the main shorts divisions break out between staff and their supervisor Dr Spratling (Jordan Belfi). For the most part it’s weirdly funny more than scary, but the buildup does pay off wonderfully at film’s end. These sequences, collectively titled “Total Control”, are effectively presented by director David Bruckner (The Signal, The Ritual, and the original V/H/S’ “Amateur Night”).

In “No Wake” by Mike P. Nelson, a group of friends go camping by a lake – only to be targeted by an unseen assailant in the woods. At first this short feels a little rote and predictable, but it manages to surprise its audience more than once as it develops. When it ends, it feels very abrupt and unfinished – more on that later.

Gigi Saul Guerrero directs “God of Death”, a harrowing but ultimately satisfying short about an earthquake devastating a Mexico City building, and breaking open something supernatural underneath. In terms of scripting it feels overly familiar, but it is well directed with a strong sense of immediacy. Guerrero is the exact sort of talent V/H/S is designed to showcase, having directed for a number of anthology films and one feature (2021’s Bingo Hell).

In Natasha Kermani’s “TKNOGD”, a performance artist (Chivonne Michelle) sees her act goes awry in front of a live audience. I am myself a graduate from one of the more arty performing arts schools in Australia, and as such found this particular segment a pitch-perfect, savagely accurate satire of avant-garde theatre. It proves a strong contrast against the preceding two shorts.

“Ambrosia”, which details a young debutante (Evie Bair) sharing a party with her family, is satisfying enough. Its entertainment value jumps to a new level once it becomes clear it is actually the second half to Mike P. Nelson’s “No Wake”. Between the two shorts, which are largely very different to one another, there is plenty of evidence that two could easily form a full-length feature. It is a nice blend of horror genres, and well integrated.

“Dreamkill”, in which a police detective (Freddy Rodriguez) starts receiving VHS recordings of murders before they have been committed, is an anomaly for the V/H/S brand. It is the work of Scott Derrickson, a well-established and popular director whose works include The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Doctor Strange. Fans of his 2012 film Sinister will be in very comfortable territory here, as it utilises many of the same techniques.

This is a solid and enjoyable anthology feature, in which all the shorts hit a certain level of quality and none of them outstay their welcome. The V/H/S format continues to work well as a framework for a wide variety of horror cinema, and a showcase for a similarly wide range of directors.