Story: Our first tale is Shredding, which follows a group of young friends who formed a punk band and now, they want to play the most infamous venue ever. But will the trip to the long dormant, underground location prove to be even more cursed than the legends suggest? Suicide Bid looks at one young woman’s attempt to be part of the most exclusive sorority on campus, even if it means being buried alive. Then we have Ozzy’s Dungeon, where the host of an over the top, exploitative game show is taken prisoner and forced to endure horrific challenges. Will he fare as well as his former contestants did? In The Gawkers, a group of young men discover that the neighbor they’ve been spying on might be more than they bargained for. And finally we have To Hell and Back, where two filmmakers are tasked to record a ritual, with unexpected results.

Entertainment Value: This installment in the V/H/S series is about late 90s vibes and rituals, which is a combo I don’t mind at all. This anthology houses five core stories and while the first one didn’t bowl me over, even The Shredding is a solid little tale, I think. But once the second story kicks in, things pick up and continue to escalate as more of the segments unveil themselves. The last two stories, The Gawkers and To Hell and Back are easily the standouts in V/H/S/99, with both nailing the 90s occult vibes, especially the final story, which I loved and ended up watching a few times. The tone is serious, but with some bursts of humor, so there is some great atmosphere and tension here at times. The video texture works great for found footage in general, but when mixed with these late 90s aesthetics, all the tumblers fall into place for wild visuals and unsettling, chaotic moments. The cast is good and the stories are fun, so V/H/S/99 earns a high recommendation.

There is some light sleaze in this one, though just a couple of topless scenes, so don’t expect a tidal wave of naked flesh here. The blood quotient is much higher however, with a fairly consistent flow of the crimson throughout and that includes some creative touches. You can see throat slashes, face melting, zombie attacks, pitchfork trauma, demon attacks, stab wounds, and more. The gore is just part of the fun in this department however, as there are also some amazing effects beyond the bloodshed, like the monster designs and some body horror sequences. I was impressed by the effects work in V/H/S/99 and as I mentioned before, the retro video visuals really enhance the film, including the effects and monsters. The dialogue is well written and has a sense of humor at times, so there are some fun lines. Not a lot of quotable exchanges or memorable one liners, but the dialogue consistently does what it needs to do. As for general craziness, this one has tons of demonic rituals, supernatural monsters, wild visuals, colorful characters, and more. While things never devolve into utter chaos, there is a good deal of weird, fun madness happening in this one.

Nudity: 2/10

Blood: 6/10

Dialogue: 1/10

Overall Insanity: 5/10

The Disc: Shudder released V/H/S/99 on Blu-ray via RLJE Films and the movie looks fantastic here, capturing all the old school, shot on video vibes and then some. I love the colors used, especially the reds and how the video effect makes the hues pop, even in muted fashion. The image looks just as it should, hitting the retro visuals perfectly and with no real flaws to mention. You can also sample a host of extras, like an audio commentary track, a Comic Con panel, deleted scenes, behind the scenes material, storyboards, location scouts, bloopers, a music video, and more!

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