I'm not the biggest fan of "found footage" films. Too often they are just an excuse for a cheap gimmick that involves POV-style camera work and story, character, and plot are always quick to suffer and be left in the dust. The "V/H/S/"films do little to not fall down this trap as the entire franchise is built on short, anthology collection of tales that are all about asking the question, "Wouldn't it be cool if we saw this from the perspective of nutjobs who film every aspect of their lives?" The first two films are pretty lazy and forgettable, in my book, and this one, essentially, is not much different. There's no real central story hub that the other stories branch off from like in the previous two and the editing is chaotic, sloppy, and an almost incoherent mess. However, and I found this shocking, the stories are actually better constructed than they've been in the other films.
Granted, the stories are still far from being grand tales but they are easier to digest and are not just quickly thrown together events made to utilize the gimmick. I will admit that I found the central story awful, terribly put together, and a complete waste of time but the other stories—ones that involve a magician with an evil cloak, demon battling skaters, and a dude that discovers a parallel world—to be fairly decent. Sure, some of them don't live up to the potential they have, suffer all the usual pitfalls that "found footage" films suffer from, and, sometimes, just end on an outright silly note but they have more direction than the other films have offered.
While there is clearly some improvement in this third film, the final product is still a really sloppy one and is very poorly constructed. The movie feels incomplete (maybe due to a whole story being edited out before it hit the Video On Demand market) and comes off like a quick, needless sequel.
Hi! The name is Rev. Ron and if you feel like reading more of my rants, ramblings, bad jokes, geek references, and other movie reviews (like a more in-depth look at "V/H/S/: Viral" and other films from this franchise) you can visit my blog at revronmovies.blogspot.com. If you don't want to do that because your DVR is filled to bursting and you need to spend your time watching all those episodes of "Pawn Stars" you recorded, I completely understand if you don't visit.
Granted, the stories are still far from being grand tales but they are easier to digest and are not just quickly thrown together events made to utilize the gimmick. I will admit that I found the central story awful, terribly put together, and a complete waste of time but the other stories—ones that involve a magician with an evil cloak, demon battling skaters, and a dude that discovers a parallel world—to be fairly decent. Sure, some of them don't live up to the potential they have, suffer all the usual pitfalls that "found footage" films suffer from, and, sometimes, just end on an outright silly note but they have more direction than the other films have offered.
While there is clearly some improvement in this third film, the final product is still a really sloppy one and is very poorly constructed. The movie feels incomplete (maybe due to a whole story being edited out before it hit the Video On Demand market) and comes off like a quick, needless sequel.
Hi! The name is Rev. Ron and if you feel like reading more of my rants, ramblings, bad jokes, geek references, and other movie reviews (like a more in-depth look at "V/H/S/: Viral" and other films from this franchise) you can visit my blog at revronmovies.blogspot.com. If you don't want to do that because your DVR is filled to bursting and you need to spend your time watching all those episodes of "Pawn Stars" you recorded, I completely understand if you don't visit.