V/H/S Viral: Teens wanting fame by any means? How can that go wrong!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > V/H/S Viral: Teens wanting fame by any means? How can that go wrong!

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Second Honeymoon is the second most rewatchable of the original shorts outside of Tuesday the 17th because the whole film is about the wife plotting her husband's death.

Honestly, V/H/S is a really solid and cohesive package. V/H/S 2 is a hoot, but the original is probably going to end up being a classic.

# ¿ May 18, 2014 22:00

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 15:30

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

penismightier posted:

That's interesting, I feel the exact opposite. What draws you to the first over the second?

V/H/S just seems like a more cohesive piece about gender in film. I also just genuinely like all of the shorts whereas V/H/S 2 has some weak points for me. They compliment each other well though. V/H/S is a bummer and makes you feel bad. V/H/S 2 is just a good time.

acephalousuniverse posted:

the first VHS are about crazy and/or evil women

That's a real simplification. V/H/S is about the juxtaposition of female fears towards men and male fears towards women. Yeah, there are succubi, serial killer lesbians, and possessed girls, but the end shot of the girl getting her top ripped of is pretty clear on which gender has justified fears and which gender is just afraid of have the tables turned on them.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 04:25

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

To me, what makes V/H/S feminist is that the violent women are not rooted in reality. The crazy lesbians, possessed girl, and succubus are not real things. A bunch of guys sexually assaulting a woman is. That's why the last shot of the film is the woman getting her top ripped off because it remains one of the most disturbing aspects of the film because it is real. It's not saying that men should be nice to women because they might turn out to be crazy killers or monsters. It's saying male fears of women--while making decent surface level horror--are ultimately irrational fears. Your wife probably isn't a bisexual serial killer and you're probably not going to be killed by a succubus. A bunch of dudes running up to and utterly humiliating you in a matter of seconds is a real fear for women. And that's incredibly hosed up. To make a movie in which women are terrifying to men, you have to be absurd and fantastical. To make a movie in which men are terrifying to women, you just have to reenact something that has happened numerous times today.

The movie is also heavily about how the camera can be used as a tool of assault. The guys in the first short never consider physically raping a girl. When one girl passes out, they don't even consider the idea of rape. But none of them realize that secretly videotaping someone is still sexual assault. The theme comes up in Second Honeymoon with the husband videotaping his wife against her wishes, making the camera a phallus that is only taken away from him when he's in danger of being assaulted. It returns in The Sick Thing... which actually shows an abusive relationship which despite its absurdity rings a bit truer. Then we have Tuesday the 17th in which the protagonists finds herself learning that she basically exists in an 80s slasher. She tries to take control via found footage, but her world is designed around her assaulter.

But in short, no, the film is not promoting the fears it often uses. It utilizes them as decent horror, but calls them out as illegitimate.

Timeless Appeal fucked around with this message at 03:14 on May 21, 2014

# ¿ May 20, 2014 00:25

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

SALT CURES HAM posted:

"Beep boop, thing not real therefore thing cannot be used to otherize people" is a really dumb argument. If that were the case, Yellow Peril and the equivocation of gays with pedophiles wouldn't be harmful things, and WELP.

I agree that the frame story is genuinely feminist, but the frame story is really crowded out by the shorts' gender politics, which (Sick Thing... aside) are unbelievably hosed up in this regard.

Listen, I'm willing to disagree on this, but I feel like you're really simplifying my argument. I'm saying that the made up stuff is feminist because of what it's being juxtaposed with. But yes, you're right that it still otherizes.

# ¿ May 20, 2014 01:17

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

She's frankly kinda dumb.

That's a little harsh. Her undoing is that she doesn't realize the universe is built around her psychotic killer. She views her friends as disposable since they literally are, but she's not aware enough to consider herself as equally disposable. For her, she's the last girl, she's special. But slasher films aren't about the last girl, for the most part; they're a product of structure. The movie is built around the killer. He's the only special person in the world, and that's a really hosed up thing to come to terms with.

She's an arrogant murderer, but I feel bad for her.

# ¿ May 21, 2014 03:13

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 15:30

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

I think that found footage movies also tend to have a lot of fat that is cut with V/H/S's shorts. I do appreciate the Paranormal Activity movies, but there is definitely a structure to them where you establish characters, have some minor creepy things happen, more establishing characters, major creepy thing, discussion of major creepy thing, major creepy thing, repeat until climax. V/H/S shorts tend to establish characters, setting, and then get crazy as soon as possible with stories that cover lengths of time ranging from twenty minutes to a couple of days.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2014 19:03

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