{"id":50013,"date":"2025-10-07T15:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T19:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=50013"},"modified":"2025-10-07T01:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T05:49:11","slug":"v-h-s-halloween-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/07\/v-h-s-halloween-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"V\/H\/S\/Halloween [2025] [Halloween Horror Month 2025]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The eighth entry of the V\/H\/S anthology film series brings six well-done stories, taking place on the best of the holidays in V\/H\/S\/Halloween, now streaming on Shudder.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

CW: Many, many children are hurt and killed across the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

The V\/H\/S series has become a fantastic staple of anthology filmmaking over its 8 films, with two feature films expanding on shorts (Siren & Kids V. Aliens).\u00a0 Except for the mostly terrible V\/H\/S Viral, each entry has had some really amazing shorts, along with expected nadirs. After the original trilogy (I saw the first two entries theatrically, which was awesome), V\/H\/S has been appearing regularly on Shudder every October. They\u2019ve been a welcome and awesome part of the Halloween holiday, finding their stride in the perfect place and time for them. Every installment is produced by Brad Miska, so it didn\u2019t change hands, just focus. The newest entry, V\/H\/S\/Halloween, now uses our favorite holiday as the basis of all segments, akin to Trick \u2018r Treat or Tales from Halloween. And they\u2019re all good!<\/span><\/p>\n

V\/H\/S Halloween is easily the steadiest of the bunch. Each of the five shorts, plus the wrap-around around is solid, with no stinkers in the group. The downside of the consistency in the quality this is year is none really stands out as a new \u201cfavorite segment\u201d, with the possible exception of the wonderfully demented \u201cFun Size.\u201d(For the record, my favorite short across the eighth films remains 10\/31\/98; Radio Silence\u2019s Halloween-based haunted house\/cult flick).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As V\/H\/S Halloween is an anthology with different stories, writers, and directors for each story, it\u2019s best to break down for smaller reviews of each segment. But on the whole, this year\u2019s grouping is scary and clever, albeit a little familiar in many ways (tenets of found footage over dozens of shorts and all), providing exactly what it should: shocks, laughs, occasionally geyser-like bursts of blood, scares, and even a new horror icon I wouldn\u2019t mind seeing again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDiet Phantasma\u201d is the wraparound. Written and directed by Bryan M. Ferguson, Diet PHantasma shows the 1982 consumer trials of a new soda with a peculiar aftertaste. I don\u2019t remember the Pepsi Challenge or the Cola Wars being this nasty. It doesn\u2019t actually introduce or tie into the films; instead, its nature is to pop in, provide some truly gnarly and fun kills as the soda affects each person in a new, violent, and bloody way. If presented a continued short, it wouldn\u2019t sustain, but the drop-in and get-out method works as a fun, increasingly violent jolt between the more serious (mostly) full segments. Totally nails the early ’80s look as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cCoochie Coochie Coo\u201d is a well-made but very familiar start. Anna Zlokovia\u2019s film follows a trio of girls who decide to trick or treat during their senior year of high school (\u201caren\u2019t you too old to be trick or treating?\u201d a mantra across the film. And no, no one is too old). There\u2019s a town legend of a \u201cMomma,\u201d an entity that kidnaps teenagers out on Halloween. Guess who they find when a house they \u201cmissed\u201d suddenly appears? It becomes a legitimately scary journey through a hellish, changing house; claustrophobic in the stalking of Momma and other mothers and ghouls (and victims) create increasing danger. <\/span>It reminded me of the [REC] movies, funnily enough, because\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUt Supra Sic Infra\u201d is from the director of the [REC] films, Paco Plaza (and written by the same plus Alberto Marini)! This one follows a Halloween party gone wrong (bodies crushed and eyes missing) with a single survivor. That survivor has to lead the police back through it. So, in a nice change, the story shifts across two timelines, allowing breaks in the sustained takes and building of tension in the following two stories in the same place. While the story is rather scant, missing any sort of lore when it feels like it should be there, it works from impressive effects and overall tone. And as always: \u201cDon\u2019t Read the Latin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFun Size,\u201d written and directed by Casper Kelly, is my favorite of the set. Kelly is most known for [adult swim]\u2019s Too Many Cooks (one of my favorite shorts of all time) and Yule Log 1 & 2; if you know his work, he banks in the surreal and absurd. He makes dangerous liminal spaces of films, and Fun Size is no exception. Fun Size starts like many V\/H\/S segments but soon gets dileriously strange. A quartet of college kids head out trick or treating and disregard a \u201cTake One!\u201d sign on a bowl of odd candies unknown to them and sporting Ikea-like names. The affront to the rules sends them to an esoteric space, chased by a pair of new horror icons. Candy-headed and stating only \u201cFun Size!\u201d and \u201cWhoopsie!\u201d, they are disturbing and uncomfortable in the best ways. Kelly\u2019s segment is Full-Sized Weirdness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The fun of FunSize is followed by the more serious (but it\u2019s V\/H\/S, so it still has a sort of humor; a very dark humor), Kidprint. Her Smell\u2019s Alex Ross Perry segment was often truly disturbing and uncomfortable, nonetheless. My warning about kids in danger and death is across the film, but this short in particular. Someone is kidnapping and killing kids in a small town, and a local photographer has set up a \u201cmost current photo\u201d service. When someone he photographed earlier on the day goes missing, he finds more than he bargains for. It drags a bit with repetition and waiting for the next push in the narrative, but still a solid go.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHome Haunt,\u201d written and directed by Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman, closes the program. In many ways, it serves as a celebration for those who love Halloween, transforming their yards and homes into haunted attractions. A local Halloween nut preps for his yearly haunt, with the willing help of his game wife and less willing distant son (a plot point that doesn\u2019t go anywhere). On a personal note, it starts with home movies of said kid as a very young and very excited for Halloween. My 4-year-old is gaga for Halloween, and I fear that won\u2019t last\u2026 when he finds a record that claims to bring hell to earth if played on Halloween. Perfect new music for the haunt! The crux is just what you expect from that. Once it gets into it, it\u2019s a wild blast. And it features special effects master Rick Baker! Lots of fun deaths, and the sheer joy of a haunted attraction, and Halloween pervades.<\/span><\/p>\n

V\/H\/S\/Halloween is a strong entry to the series, although its steadiness doesn\u2019t reach series highs (or lows, thankfully). Fans of the franchise will be more than pleased with the overall output. It\u2019s often scary, rather bloody in segments, fittingly disturbing, and all in all a great way to spend an October night, leading up to Halloween. Can\u2019t wait until next year\u2019s!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The eighth entry of the V\/H\/S anthology film series brings six well-done stories, taking place on the best of the holidays in V\/H\/S\/Halloween, now streaming on Shudder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[477],"class_list":["post-50013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halloween-horror-month","category-movie-reviews","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50017,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50013\/revisions\/50017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}