Film / V/H/S 85

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V/H/S 85 is a 2023 Found Footage anthology film, and the sixth installment in the V/H/S franchise. It features shorts directed by David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani and Mike P. Nelson.

• Total Copy: The frame story. Presented as a made-for-TV documentary, Dr. Spratling and his team at Stamer University have come into the possession of a gelatinous alien creature named "Rory". Rory is noted to have the ability to mimic people around it by changing its shape to match theirs, and spends all of its time watching television, prompting Spratling and his team to utilize TV in an effort to communicate with Rory. When the alien gradually grows unresponsive, Spratling, to the concern of his coworkers, resorts to more drastic actions to keep his subject "comfortable" enough to talk again.
• 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- and then things get weird.
• God of Death: In Mexico City, Luis, a cameraman for the Ahorita TV news network, prepares to film the station's morning newscast. Suddenly, the building is struck by an earthquake, crushing everyone under rubble and killing them all except Luis. A rescue team, composed of Javier, Karla, Eddie, and Miguel, manage to find Luis and get him back on his feet. Since the station's HQ is severely weakened and can collapse at any moment, Luis and the rescuers have to find a way out before it comes down on them.
• TKNOGD: Ada, a performance artist, films herself as she puts on a show. Speaking to her sparce audience, Ada espouses her belief that humankind has forsaken and killed their gods, having replaced them all with a new "God of Technology". Rebuking the rise of technology, Ada puts on VR gear and enters the virtual world, calling out to the "Techno God" and challenging it to reveal itself.
• Ambrosia: Ruth Wrigley uses her new camera to film a family get-together. After getting splashed with a squirt gun by her younger cousin Adam, which he got from a woman in an RV, Ruth heads inside to prepare her family for the main event. It's revealed that the Wrigleys are a family of sociopathic serial killers who have worshipped someone or something they call "The Seven" for generations, and work to appease their deity/deities by killing seven innocent victims in a creative way for continued success.
• 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.

Preceded by

• V/H/S (2012) The original film.
• V/H/S/2 (2013) The first sequel, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
• V/H/S: Viral (2014)
• Siren (2016): A feature length film based on the concept introduced in "Amateur Night" with Hannah Fierman reprising her role as Lily.
• V/H/S: Video Horror Shorts (2018): A series of shorts released on Snapchat.
• V/H/S/94 (2021): Completed principal photography during the COVID-19 Pandemic and was released through the streaming service Shudder.
• V/H/S/99 (2022): Debuted on Shudder.
• Kids vs. Aliens (2023): A spinoff based on V/H/S/2's "Slumber Party Alien Abduction" segment.

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This movie provides examples of the following:

General

• Darker and Edgier: 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.
• Deliberate VHS Quality: 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". Justified in that it takes place in the '80s.
• Expository Theme Tune: End credits song "Doppelganger" by Bathed in Blood summarizes the events of the film.
• Interface Screw: The film is presented as a series of programs recorded over a documentary, and as such, clips of said documentary will often glitch in, along with glimpses of other ads and shows.
• Jitter Cam: As is typical for handheld found-footage films, the cameras frequently move and shake in response to the action. The exception is TKNOGD, which is filmed professionally in-universe.
• Snuff Film: All of the segments feature brutal death scenes.

"Total Copy"

• Aliens Steal Cable: Rory is fascinated by the television programs in his chamber. The ending shows him still watching it while manipulating the scientists' corpses.
• Ambiguous Ending: Rory doesn't escape his imprisonment and voluntarily stays behind to watch television, so it isn't clear if Stamer University recaptures him or if he later escapes offscreen.
• Asshole Victim: Spratling and his crew easily get their just deserts at the end for not listening to Greyson’s warnings.
• Bad Boss: After trying to save him, Spratling gives up and leaves one of his assistants Gary to die in the hands of Rory.
• Chekhov's Gag: One of the clips played on the TVs to communicate with Rory is a 1980s workout tape. In the concluding section, Rory attacks the research staff, and manipulates their bodies into performing the movements shown on the workout tape.
• Too Dumb to Live: Dr. Greyson, who resigned from the research team, 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 possible intelligence.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Rory is a being capable of changing his shape and at one point, mimics Gary, one of the researchers. He later forms tentacles to attack and kill most of the scientists.

"No Wake"

• Ambiguous Situation: Robin states that her brother is dead too after Rob angrily tells Drew that his sister is dead, but it is never made clear if it is Jared or Kevin that is the dead brother in question. Robin doesn't interact with Jared, and her onscreen conversations with Kevin are neutral, with no hint that they both are siblings.
• Bait-and-Switch: Most of the foreshadowing can be misleading. The "no swimming" sign and the strange disappearance of the squirrel's corpse on the shoreline may prompt the viewer to believe 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.
• Facial Horror: A bullet hits Kelly's face, nearly ripping off her jaw. It remains a gory mess when her immortality kicks in.
• Fate Worse than Death: Robin and her friends, who were affected by the enchanted water, survive their murder attempt, but not only are their unaffected friends and family Killed Off for Real, they will likely ended up as living, breathing mutilated freaks due to their exposed fatal injuries, especially Kelly, who probably will live forever with her Facial Horror.
• Immortality: 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 (Anna and Jared) or didn't dive into the lake to surf behind the boat (Kevin). The "dead" squirrel Rob found earlier is also immortal as its body disappeared when Rob looked away.
• Killed Offscreen: Played with. The shooter kills Anna and Jared offscreen before taking aim at the others, but the sequel short Ambrosia reveals how Ruth murdered Anna and Jared before moving on to the others.
• Mood Whiplash: A carefree day at the lake is interrupted by a lethal (and very bloody) sniper attack.
• Pinned Down: The sniper shoots the boat's motor out, trapping the survivors onboard with no way to get to shore.
• Shout-Out: Robyn calls the situation "some Pet Sematary shit."
• Shipper on Deck: Kelly thinks Rob and Robin are cute together when watching Rob help Robin with the surfing harness.

"God of Death"

• Ambiguous Situation: It's not entirely clear if Mictlān caused the earthquake, or if the earthquake coincidentally unearthed his temple and allowed him to be summoned.
• Demonic Possession: Eddie is possessed by Mictlān, and later Karla also falls under his sway.
• Historical In-Joke: The earthquake at the beginning of the film is the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.
• Mercy Kill: One of the rescue crew, Javier, is mortally wounded by falling debris. He and the others persuade Karla to kill him quickly.
• Wham Line: "Today, September 19th, approximately 7:20 am, will be a day to remember."

"TKNOGD"

• And You Thought It Was a Game: The audience applauds after the God of Technology mutilates Ada as they believe it to be All Part of the Show.
• Bottle Episode: The whole short takes place in a small theatre. Well, that's the only physical location, anyway.
• Cyberspace: Ada enters a virtual reality to find the God of Technology.
• Facial Horror: 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, and her brain appears to have melded with the VR helmet.
• Fate Worse than Death: Ada is still alive at the end of the short despite her severe injuries, still able to move her eyes and mumble incoherently.
• God Is Dead: Discussed by Ada. The God of Technology is very much alive, however.
• Have You Seen My God?: Ada conducts a ritual to summon the God of Technology, searching for it through a virtual cityscape, and loudly declares it to be dead when it doesn't show up for some time. It shows up more or less straight after she makes this statement.
• High-Tech Heaven
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Whenever the God of Technology injures Ada's virtual body, parallel wounds appear on Ada's real body.

"Ambrosia"

• Ate His Gun: Ruth tries to kill herself by shooting herself in the head… but had already been granted immortality by the water gun courtesy of Robin, leading to her arrest.
• Blood Knight: The Wrigleys seem to be looking forward to a fight with the cops, especially Ruth if her Psychotic Smirk to the camera is any indication.
• Chekhov's Gun: Ruth's young cousin, Adam, shoots her with a water gun. It's later revealed that the gun is full of the enchanted water from Lake Evic.
• Cruel Mercy: Ruth ends up the Sole Survivor of the family thanks to the enchanted water, but she disgraced the family name with her survival, and is arrested to answer for her and her family's crimes. Due to the immortality she's gained, the death sentence is out of the question, and she would likely face life imprisonment, which makes her immortal state a Fate Worse than Death.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: 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. Of course, the most likely scenario is that the survivors of Ruth's sniper attack contacted the police.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: In a meta/in-Universe sense. The segment is explicitly stated to be recorded on Beta rather than VHS.
  • This is also the first segment in the franchise to be a direct sequel to a previous one.
• The Family That Slays Together: Ruth's family have a tradition of killing seven victims each. It's revealed that Ruth is the sniper that killed the campers in No Wake.
• Psychotic Smirk: As her mom hugs her one final time, Ruth does an Aside Glance to the camera and smirks at the chance to go down fighting with a Scare Chord played in the soundtrack.
• Samus Is a Girl: The protagonists of No Wake refer to their assassin as a "he", but the this short reveals that their attacker is a woman.
• Snuff Film: Ruth discloses that she recorded her kills on video, a departure from her family's tradition of recording their kills on photos or slides.
• White Sheep: 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 Dirty Coward and an Asshole Victim when given the You Have Outlived Your Usefulness and You Have Failed Me treatment by Ruth.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Ruth's despairing reaction to being unable to die and complete her ritual shows she feels this way about her "punishment" by Robin.
• Villainous Valor: The Wrigley family chooses to down Suicide by Cop.

"Dreamkill"

• Abusive Dad: Bobby is this towards his son Gunther. Comes to a near-fatal head in the climax after he goes completely mask-off. Where he mockingly mimics his son's words like a petulant child, pins all the death that's happened entirely on him, then calls him a freak before he raises his gun with intent of shooting him without the slightest bit of hesitation. Unfortunately for him, Gunther also doesn't hesitate to shoot when he's given the chance.
• Big Bad Friend: Wayne and Bobby were best friends on the force. Then Wayne discovers just what Bobby got up to behind the scenes, and Bobby proceeds to murder Wayne to keep it a secret.
• Bloodier and Gorier: This segment has some of the goriest deaths of the franchise.
• Crusading Lawyer: The second victim, who fought back against the killer, even taking a swing at his assailant with his Fingored hand, was the lawyer hired by the two rape victims to prosecute Bobby.
• Dirty Cop: Bobby, who stalked and sexually assaulted two women, creating a big enough scandal that he was forced to turn in his badge. Only he then slips into Killer Cop territory when he retaliates by brutally murdering them and their attorney.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: The segment includes sequences that appear to be shot on film stock, a first in the series.
  • It's also the only short in this film to use the 16:9 aspect ratio instead of 4:3.
• Karmic Death: Bobby is killed by his son right after threatening to kill him.
• Killer Cop: Bobby. Originally a Dirty Cop, firmly establishes himself as this after brutally murdering the people involved in a lawsuit against him, then murdering his old friend and partner in cold blood in an instant for simply implying he's going to turn him in, then commits a mass-shooting at his own precinct shortly after.
• Police Psychic: Attempted by Gunther, who tries to anonymously mail tapes of his visions to his father's police department.
• Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Gunther's power shows him gruesome home-invasion slayings through the eyes of the murderer: his father, Bobby.
• Shared Universe: Gunther has a cousin named Gwen who also has Psychic Powers; director Scott Derrickson confirmed she is the same Gwen from his previous film The Black Phone, set in 1978.
• Unhappy Medium: Bobby explains to his partner that his family's hereditary psychic powders drove his sister to suicide. Gunther himself is a Gloomy Goth, which may or may not be because of his powers.
• Villainous Valor: Bobby's maybe an Ax-Crazy Killer Cop, but he engages in a shootout with with former colleagues, putting up an impressive fight with both marksmanship and hand-to-hand-combat. He only goes down when Gunther shoots him from behind.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Gunther warns his father Bobby that he knows how his vision ends before putting Bobby down for good.

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