V/H/S/Halloween — V/H/S/Halloween( Blu Ray)

V/H/S/Halloween is the 8th in the V/H/S/ found footage anthology series.  As its title suggests, all six of the stories have an All Hallows' Eve setting and/or theme. Moving between a spectral-sourced frizzy drink, a deranged children's home, weird goings on/ murder in a medium’s house, a macabre alternative candy reality, a child killer stalking during Halloween, and a family-made haunt that suddenly becomes very real.  Here from Acorn Media is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a commentary track and a few other extra

V/H/S/Halloween is a 2025 production and has a total runtime of one hour and fifty-five minutes. Each of the stories runs around the ten to twenty-minute mark, and I’d say for the most part each remains entertaining enough, with a largely even blend of neat concepts, decent creepy-to-deranged atmospheres, and some creative enough/well-realised gore/ effects. Throughout the whole film, there are more than a few touches of dark humour/ black satire present, which I don’t really recall being that prevalent in other films in the series, so it’s good to see the franchise developing/ growing.

We open with the ‘wrap around story’- which of course pops up later in between the other stories. Diet Phantasma is written/ directed by Glasgow-born Bryan M. Ferguson- between the 2010’s and present day, he has thirty-nine credits to his name- these move between horror shorts and music videos.  It regards the secret lab testing of the new frizzy drink, Diet Phantasma, which we find out later is made from real ghosts.  We see a series of orange-suited people cracking open the drink, as a group of inpatient/grumpy PR folk/ lab techs look on. We get some neat face-hug/ bloody stretching effects, and this one has those dark humour traces I mentioned.

Next is Coochie Coochie Coo, which is written/ directed by  Anna Zlokovic. She has eleven credits to her name- these include a mix of shorts, a music video for experimental hip-hop collective Clipping, and  2023 feature-length  Appendage- a horror/ drama regarding a young fashion designer.  This story focuses on two rather obnoxious/ older female high school students. It’s Halloween night, and they’ve both dressed as babies- wandering the streets bad mouthing folks, stealing candy, etc. At the end of their night of causing havoc, they notice a standalone house, whose lights are pulsing on and off oddly. Making their way in, they find it’s full of nightmarish baby fare- including a multi-drooping-breasted humanoid creature. This one is ok, and it’s nice to see unpleasant characters get their comeuppance- there are some decent enough creature effects, and jumps, though it does at times feel like a haunt walk-through.

Story three is Ut Supra Sic Infra, which is a Spanish production, with English subs. It’s directed/ co-written by Valenciana, Spain born Paco Plaza.  He has twenty-five credits to his name- taking in shorts and features, with his most notable credit being the three films in the [REC] found footage series.  This, I’d say, is one of the more creative/ creepy of the stories here- it blends typical phone recordings with official crime scene footage- just after the event, and with a surviving witness. It regards a group of teens breaking into the abandoned house of a medium. The story features great use of an old-school phone, brutal levitation, and some spewing out of eyeballs.

Story number four is Fun Size- this was written/ directed by Casper Kelly- who has thirteen credits to his name, taking in shorts, a TV film, and a  2026 feature film Buddy- a dark comedy/ sci-fi/ horror crossbred regarding a girl trying to escape from a kids' TV show. This story has a decidedly bizzarro/ darkly wacky edgy. It regards a  group of twentysomething trick or treaters, who come to the house with a huge orange bowl full of weird candies, with a sign saying ‘take one each’…and of course, you guess it, they take more than one. The group get sucked into an alternative reality- where there’s a huge smiling face creature who spurts skittles when his limbs are lopped off, and a machine that turns people into candy.

The fifth story is Kidprint, which was written/ directed by Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania born Alex Ross Perry.  Since the late 2000’s hes had twenty-eight credits to his name- taking in shorts, music videos for the likes of Kim Gordon( ex-Sonic Youth), and six features. This story is set in the early 90’s- focusing on a small American town, where an unusual number of kids and teens are disappearing/ turning up dead. Local video shop owner Tim Kaplan tries to do his bit in protecting/ finding the town's youth, making "Kidprints", documentary videos,  which can be used to ID and help in the search for the missing. This starts off lightly uneasy, before shifting into very troubling/ deranged territory- this I’d say was the most impactful/ disturbing of the stories.

The final story is Home Haunt- it was co-written/ co director by Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman. Micheline has one other short credit to her name, where as R.H has five shorts.  This story is a rewarding mix of entertainment,  neat horror creatures, and great gory effects. It’s about a father and son who have been doing a neighbourhood haunt since the son was a youngster- we get video footage of their first haunt, then move to the present day, where the son is fed up with helping out dad. They go to a junk shop- picking up an old horror sound effects record- this makes the haunt very real, with, as mentioned, some great creature effects, including body grinding sheet ghosts. A great end to the anthology

 

On the extra side, we get a commentary track from each writer/ director, aside from Paco Plaza for Ut Supra Sic Infra. The tracks are largely interesting, with none of the creators coming across as too arrogant.

Otherwise, on the extra side, we have: Behind The Scenes- Diet Phantasma( 4.06).Behind The Scenes-Coochie Coochie Coo(4.56).KidPrint Deleted Scene(0.51). Diet Phantasma Uninterrupted Cut(16.05). Diet Phantasma Commercial, and Diet Phantasma Gallery.

On the whole, V/H/S/Halloween is up to the great standards of the rest of this found footage anthology series. It has an even blend of decent/ inventive enough stories, effective/ at times brutal effects, and creepy to derange atmospherics… oh, it’s well worth picking up this physical release, as the commentary tracks give you some rewarding insights.