History Film / VHS85

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:Dr. Spratling does manage to succeed in getting Rory to mimic what he says on television, but rather than shapeshifting himself into what he sees, he becomes a grotesque tentacle monster who puppeteers the dead scientists' corpses into imitating the onscreen movements.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[DrJerk Spratling and his crew]] easily get their just deserts at the end for not listening to Greyson's warnings.

* TooDumbToLive: Dr. Greyson, who resigned from the research team, [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that Spratling and the rest of the team should have been more cautious after discovering Rory's ability to shapeshift. Later, Rory demonstrates that he can see through the one-way mirror as he was able to copy the form of Gary, a scientist who has never been down to Rory's chamber. For some reason, no one except for Greyson is concerned about Rory's [[ItCanThink possible intelligence]].

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: [[spoiler:Ruth is the only member of the family granted immortality by the campers she's tried to kill, forcing her to endure the same hell she gave them, being the lone survivor while all her loved ones are gone. In fact, it's even worse for her, as at least the immortal campers still have each other to rely on, while Ruth only has prison to look forward to.]]

* TasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: [[spoiler:Ruth is the only member of the family granted immortality by the campers she's tried to kill, forcing her to endure the same hell she gave them, being the lone survivor while all her loved ones are gone. In fact, it's even worse for her, as at least the immortal campers still have each other to rely on, while Ruth only has prison to look forward to.]]

* ''Dreamkill'': Wayne, a police detective, is investigating a series of gruesome killings with an unusual twist: video tapes depicting these murders have been arriving at the police station days before they actually happen. He and his friend, a forensic videographer called Bobby, hope to track the killer down by finding out who is sending the tapes.

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Robin and her friends who were affected by the enchanted water survived their murder attempt, but not only their unaffected friends and family are KilledOffForReal, they will likely ended up as living breathing mutilated freaks due to their exposed fatal injuries, especially Kelly who probably would need to live forever with her FacialHorror.]]

* CrusadingLawyer: [[spoiler:Turns out the second victim who valiantly defend himself no matter how futile it ultimately was and even taking a swing at his assailant with his {{Fingore}}d hand was a lawyer hired by the two rape victims to prosecute Bobby for his crime against them.]]

** During [[spoiler: Bobby's killing spree]] the tape switches to Gunther's dream of the events playing out, The camera seemingly shows the perspective of an incorporeal handheld camera.

* VillainousValor: [[spoiler:Bobby's maybe an AxCrazy KillerCop, but he engages in a shootout with with former colleagues with marksmanship and hand-to-hand-combat-wise efficiency as he goes down like a psycho badass.]]
* YouCantFightFate: Gunther warns [[spoiler:his psycho father Bobby that he knows how his vision ends before putting Bobby down for good]].

* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame: The audience applauds after [[spoiler:the God of Technology kills Ada]] as they believe it to be {{all part of the show}}.
* BottleEpisode: The whole short takes place in a small theatre.

* FacialHorror: [[spoiler: The final shot of the movie is Ada's cameraman lifting up her virtual reality helmet, revealing that all the skin and flesh is gone from the upper half of her face.]]

* BloodKnight: [[spoiler:The Wrigleys seem to be looking forward to a fight with the cops especially Ruth if her PsychoticSmirk to the camera is any indication.]]

(If you're looking for information on the VHS video format, try [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} here]].)

* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:Ruth ends up the SoleSurvivor of the family thanks to the enchanted water, but have disgraced the family name with her survival, is arrested to answer for her and her family's crimes and due to the immortality she's gain, the death sentence is out of the question and she would likely face life imprisonment, which makes her immortal state a FateWorseThanDeath.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler: It could be a coincidence that Ruth's house is raided by police after she fails to take seven victims, or it could be that the ritual's protection is gone or that Robin and her friends manages to call the police on her family for her murder attempt on them.]]

* WhiteSheep: [[spoiler: Downplayed with James. He is not as gung ho as the rest of the Wrigley family to murder people but he still wants to watch the tape where Ruth is killing the teens from No Wake, which makes him more in line of being a DirtyCoward and an AssholeVictim when given a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and YouHaveFailedMe treatment by Ruth.]]

* WhiteSheep: [[spoiler: Downplayed with James. He is not as gung ho as the rest of the Wrigley family to murder people but he still wants to watch the tape where Ruth is killing the teens from No Wake, which makes him more in line of being a DirtyCoward and an AssholeVictim when given a YoutHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and YouHaveFailedMe treatment by Ruth.]]

* CrusadingLawyer: [[spoiler:Turns out the second victim who valiantly defend himself no matter how futile it ultimately was and even taking a swing at his assailment with his {{Fingore}}d hand was a lawyer hired by the two rape victims to prosecute Bobby for his crime against them.]]

* BloodierandGorier: This segment has some of the goriest deaths of the franchise
* CrusadingLawyer: [[spoiler:Turns out the second victim who valiantly defend himself no matter how futile it ultimately was even taking a swing at his assailment with his {{Fingore}}d hand was a lawyer hired by the two rape victims to prosecute Bobby for his crime against them.]]

* BadBoss: [[spoiler:After trying to save him, Spraptling gives up and leaves one of his assistants Gary to die in the hands of Rory.]]

* AssholeVictim: Spratling and his crew easily get their just deserts at the end for not listening to Greyson’s warnings.

* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:Ruth ends up the SoleSurvivor of the family thanks to the enchanted water, but is arrested to answer for her and her family's crimes and due to the immortality she's gain, the death sentence is out of the question and she would likely face life imprisonment, which makes her immortal state a FateWorseThanDeath.]]

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:Ruth's despairing reaction to being unable to die and complete her ritual shows she feels this way about her "punishment" by Robin.]]

* WhiteSheep: [[spoiler: Downplayed with James. He is not as gung ho as the rest of the Wrigley family to murder people but he still wants to watch the tape where Ruth is killing the teens from No Wake, which makes him more in line of being a DirtyCoward and an AssholeVictim when given a YoutHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness treatment by Ruth.]]

* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:Ruth ends up the SoleSurvivor of the family thanks to the enchanted water, but is arrested to to answer for her and her family's crimes and due to the immortality she's gain, the death sentence is out of the question and she would likely face life imprisonment, which makes her immortal state a FateWorseThanDeath.]]

* DarkerandEdgier: After the more comedic tone of it’s predecessor, this one returns to the straight up horror route with segments like DREAMKILL, Total Copy, and God Of Death having some of the most disturbing tones/scenes of the V/H/S segments. Although some comedic moments can be found in a few scenes.

* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:Ruth ends up the SoleSurvivor of the family thanks to the enchanted water, but is arrested to to answer for her and her family's crimes and due to the immortality she's gain, the death sentence is out of the question and she would likely face life imprisonment, which makes her immortal state a FateWorseThanDeath.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler: It could be a coincidence that Ruth's house is raided by police after she fails to take seven victims, or it could be that the ritual's protection is gone.]]

* WhiteSheep: [[spoiler: Downplayed with James. He is not as gung ho as the rest of the Wrigley family to murder people but he still wants to watch the tape where Ruth is killing the teens from No Wake.]]

* DeliberateVHSQuality: Like the other films in the series, each segment looks like it came from a VHS tape. However this entry in the series is the first to be almost entirely presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, only going into a 19:6 aspect ratio for "Dreamkill".

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Rory is a being capable of changing his shape and at one point, mimics Gary, one of the researchers.

* SnuffFilm: [[spoiler:Ruth discloses that she recorded her kills on video, a departure from her family's tradition of recording their kills on photos or slides.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: Most of the {{foreshadowing}} can be misleading. The "no swimming" sign and the strange disappearance of the squirrel's corpse may prompt the viewer to believe [[spoiler:that the protagonists are about to run into a sea monster. However, the actual supernatural element is that the lake's water grants immortality, hence the prior buildup.]]
* FacialHorror: One of the girls has her jaw shot nearly off. [[spoiler:It remains a gory mess when her immortality kicks in.]]
* {{Immortality}}: [[spoiler: The lake water grants immortality, allowing the boat passengers shot by a sniper rifle to shrug off lethal injuries. The only campers that died were the ones that chose to stay onshore.]]

* ''No Wake'': Seven young adults, Rob, Kelly, Drew, Anna, Jared, Kevin, and Robin, travel to Lake Evic, an isolated body of water normally off limits to visitors, for a camping trip. Ignoring the signs that warn visitors against swimming, five of the friends take a boat and their video camera out onto the lake to try their hand at water-skiing. However, the group are swiftly gunned down by an unseen sniper.

* ChekhovsGag: One of the clips played on the {{TVs}} to communicate with Rory is a 1980s workout tape. [[spoiler: In the concluding section, Rory attacks the research staff, and manipulates their bodies into performing the movements shown on the workout tape.]]