WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 In January 2012, two people literally fainted 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:07.389 in a theater at the Sundance Film Festival. That's 00:00:07.389 --> 00:00:09.269 an incredible way to introduce a film. Right. 00:00:09.410 --> 00:00:11.929 And they weren't watching some, you know, massive, 00:00:12.210 --> 00:00:14.949 big budget Hollywood horror spectacle engineered 00:00:14.949 --> 00:00:17.730 by focus groups or studio executives. They were 00:00:17.730 --> 00:00:21.010 watching a raw, just chaotic, stitched together 00:00:21.010 --> 00:00:24.609 experiment called VHS. And that completely shattered 00:00:24.609 --> 00:00:27.289 the conventional rules of how movies were actually 00:00:27.289 --> 00:00:29.149 being made at the time. Like when you look at 00:00:29.149 --> 00:00:31.949 the cinematic landscape of that era, everything 00:00:31.949 --> 00:00:35.250 was trending toward highly polished serialized 00:00:35.250 --> 00:00:37.600 franchise. Yeah, everything. very safe exactly 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.579 and then this project comes along and essentially 00:00:39.579 --> 00:00:41.780 throws a hand grenade into that established development 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:44.219 process okay let's unpack this because our mission 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:47.079 today is to dig into the sources on this 2012 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:50.640 horror anthology VHS and figure out how this 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.740 this ragtag trust fall experiment by a group 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:56.619 of indie filmmakers managed to traumatize festival 00:00:56.619 --> 00:00:59.200 audiences deeply divided critics and then somehow 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.399 spawn a massive decade -spanning franchise with 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:05.870 a wild trajectory It really is. And to grasp 00:01:05.870 --> 00:01:08.370 what happened here, you really have to understand 00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:10.549 the behind -the -scenes economics of this thing. 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:13.689 I kind of view it like a creepy cinematic potluck. 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:16.829 A potluck? I like that. Yeah, where a group of 00:01:16.829 --> 00:01:19.370 eccentric directors each just brought their own 00:01:19.370 --> 00:01:21.670 twisted dish to the table? Well, the genesis 00:01:21.670 --> 00:01:24.430 of the project is entirely rooted in a specific 00:01:24.430 --> 00:01:27.310 community. It started with producer Brad Miscavaya 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:30.549 and the horror website Bloody Disgusting. And 00:01:30.549 --> 00:01:32.430 instead of writing a script and, you know, shopping 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:35.049 it around to directors, Ms. Gawai essentially 00:01:35.049 --> 00:01:37.609 operated on the currency of relationships. He 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:39.890 just went to his friends. Pretty much. He went 00:01:39.890 --> 00:01:42.609 to a group of trusted rising filmmakers. We're 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:45.129 talking people like Adam Wingard, T .R. West, 00:01:45.629 --> 00:01:48.109 David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Glenn McQuade, 00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:50.870 and the collect is known as Radio Silence. All 00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:53.150 heavy hitters now, but back then. Right, back 00:01:53.150 --> 00:01:54.790 then they were really just making a name for 00:01:54.790 --> 00:01:57.750 themselves. And the pitch was essentially, give 00:01:57.750 --> 00:02:00.750 us your wildest ideas and if we green light the 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:02.750 treatment, you have total creative freedom to 00:02:02.750 --> 00:02:05.510 go shoot it. And the way they structured that 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:08.750 production is just wild. They completely reverse 00:02:08.750 --> 00:02:11.370 engineered the entire movie. They didn't start 00:02:11.370 --> 00:02:13.569 with a cohesive beginning, middle, and end. No, 00:02:13.689 --> 00:02:15.650 not at all. They started with an overarching 00:02:15.650 --> 00:02:18.449 frame narrative and then told these independent 00:02:18.449 --> 00:02:20.650 directors to just fill in the hole with their 00:02:20.650 --> 00:02:23.569 individual short films. It's like, well, it's 00:02:23.569 --> 00:02:25.770 like building a house by having five different 00:02:25.770 --> 00:02:29.210 architects design random rooms in complete isolation 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:31.949 without ever talking to each other and only then 00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:33.659 building the hallway. is to connect them all 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:36.919 together. What's fascinating here is that the 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:39.599 disjointed nature you'd expect from that process 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.620 isn't a bug. It's actually the defining feature 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:45.039 of the film. It makes it feel more real. Yeah, 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:47.520 giving directors absolute autonomy could have 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:50.479 resulted in a totally incoherent mess. But they 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:52.939 were bound together by one incredibly strong 00:02:52.939 --> 00:02:55.639 thematic glue, and that's the concept of voyeurism. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.280 Which you see immediately. Right, you see it's 00:02:58.280 --> 00:02:59.919 established immediately in that connecting hallway 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:02.360 you mentioned, the frame narrative. It's titled 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:05.419 Tape 56, written by Simon Barrett and directed 00:03:05.419 --> 00:03:08.919 by Adam Wingard. And Tape 56 sets a distinctly 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:11.639 grimy tone right out of the gate. Yeah. We're 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:14.000 following this criminal gang, Brad. Rox, Zach, 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:16.539 and Gary. And our sources make it very clear 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:18.759 that these are not, you know, lovable rogues 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.120 or misunderstood anti -heroes. No, they're truly 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.939 awful people. Extremely awful. They film their 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:26.919 own acts of depravity, ranging from vandalizing 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:29.639 empty houses to a recorded sexual assault in 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:32.379 a parking garage. They are completely obsessed 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:35.060 with documenting their own violence. And because 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:37.340 of this reputation, an anonymous third party 00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:40.060 hires them to break into an abandoned house to 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:43.360 steal one specific rare VHS tape. And the moment 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.759 they break into that house, the atmosphere just 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.259 shifts. It goes from this chaotic crime thriller 00:03:48.259 --> 00:03:51.039 to pure dread. They find the corpse of an old 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.000 man slumped in a chair, surrounded by multiple 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.060 CRT televisions broadcasting dead static. It's 00:03:57.060 --> 00:03:59.560 such a visually arresting image. It really is. 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:01.340 And because they don't know which tape they're 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:03.520 supposed to steal, the gang realizes they have 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.360 to physically sit down, slot these unmarked tapes 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:09.080 into the VCR, and watch them. Which is, I mean, 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:11.280 it's the brilliant mechanical excuse for how 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.719 we, the audience, end up watching the anthology 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:16.790 segments. Exactly. But the frame narrative doesn't 00:04:16.790 --> 00:04:19.550 just hit pause. While the gang members are forced 00:04:19.550 --> 00:04:22.970 to watch these tapes, they slowly start to vanish 00:04:22.970 --> 00:04:26.649 or die off one by one in this dark house. And 00:04:26.649 --> 00:04:29.610 inevitably that old man's corpse begins to reanimate. 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:32.170 Because the house operates as a trap for the 00:04:32.170 --> 00:04:34.149 predatory voyeur. These criminals have spent 00:04:34.149 --> 00:04:36.529 their lives wielding cameras to exploit others, 00:04:36.829 --> 00:04:39.490 creating this sort of one way mirror where they 00:04:39.490 --> 00:04:42.250 hold all the power. Right. But the frame narrative 00:04:42.250 --> 00:04:45.610 forces them to consume media they aren't prepared 00:04:45.610 --> 00:04:48.470 for. It's punishing them for their innate desire 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:50.829 to watch things they shouldn't. The predation 00:04:50.829 --> 00:04:53.589 is turned directly back onto them. And that theme 00:04:53.589 --> 00:04:56.089 of the camera turning on the Predator flows perfectly 00:04:56.089 --> 00:04:57.949 into the actual shorts they watch. Like, let's 00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:00.110 look at Amateur Night and Second Honeymoon. Both 00:05:00.110 --> 00:05:01.949 of these segments center on intimate encounters 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:04.850 that devolve into deadly traps. But they handle 00:05:04.850 --> 00:05:06.850 the found footage gimmick in totally different 00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:09.490 ways. They really do. So Amateur Night, which 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:11.730 was directed by David Bruckner, introduces us 00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:15.910 to three guys. Shane, Patrick, and Clint. They 00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:18.350 rent a motel room with the express intent of 00:05:18.350 --> 00:05:20.670 bringing women back and filming an amateur porn 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:23.910 video without the women knowing. And to pull 00:05:23.910 --> 00:05:26.490 this off, Clint is wearing a pair of hidden camera 00:05:26.490 --> 00:05:29.269 glasses. It is the ultimate manifestation of 00:05:29.269 --> 00:05:32.430 the male gaze in a literal technological sense. 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:35.569 Literally built into his face. Exactly. The entire 00:05:35.569 --> 00:05:37.750 visual perspective of the short is locked into 00:05:37.750 --> 00:05:39.990 Clint's point of view. They go bar hopping, pick 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:42.769 up a highly intoxicated woman named Lisa and 00:05:42.769 --> 00:05:44.889 another woman named Lily. And Lily is such an 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:47.180 incredibly unnerving character. She's completely 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:49.540 silent for most of the night, exceptionally shy, 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:52.480 and her entire vocabulary seems limited to just 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.420 staring at Clint and saying, I like you. Which 00:05:54.420 --> 00:05:56.199 is creepy enough on its own. Oh, absolutely. 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:58.600 But once they get back to the motel, the hidden 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:00.939 camera reveals details the oblivious men are 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:03.649 missing. Clint looks down and notices Lily's 00:06:03.649 --> 00:06:06.689 feet are distinctly scaly and clawed. Like bird 00:06:06.689 --> 00:06:09.250 talons. Yeah. And when the other men try to force 00:06:09.250 --> 00:06:12.029 themselves into the situation, Lily just snaps. 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:15.370 She violently rejects them, sprouts fangs, and 00:06:15.370 --> 00:06:18.009 the short pivots from this sleazy college guy 00:06:18.009 --> 00:06:21.189 comedy into an absolute bloodbath. She rips one 00:06:21.189 --> 00:06:24.029 man's genitalia off, slaughters two of them, 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.769 and transforms into a winged demonic creature. 00:06:26.970 --> 00:06:29.129 And here, the hidden camera glass has become 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:32.769 a tool of dramatic irony. The men think they 00:06:32.769 --> 00:06:34.810 are the directors of this scenario. They believe 00:06:34.810 --> 00:06:37.170 they're exploiting these women. But they are 00:06:37.170 --> 00:06:39.129 entirely unaware that they've essentially walked 00:06:39.129 --> 00:06:42.009 into a spider's web. The power dynamic is completely 00:06:42.009 --> 00:06:45.009 inverted. Exactly. The succubus, who actually 00:06:45.009 --> 00:06:46.930 proves so popular she spawned her own feature 00:06:46.930 --> 00:06:50.350 -length spin -off film, Siren. She turns their 00:06:50.350 --> 00:06:52.629 predatory documentation into a record of their 00:06:52.629 --> 00:06:55.209 own slaughter. Okay, but contrast that full -blown 00:06:55.209 --> 00:06:57.290 monster movie approach with the second segment, 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:00.490 Second Honeymoon, directed by Tia West. We follow 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:02.310 a married couple, Sam and Stephanie, on a Route 00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:05.029 66 road trip. They're using a standard camcorder 00:07:05.029 --> 00:07:07.810 to document the vacation. And nothing supernatural 00:07:07.810 --> 00:07:11.230 happens here. No monsters. None. While they're 00:07:11.230 --> 00:07:13.410 asleep in their motel room, an intruder sneaks 00:07:13.410 --> 00:07:16.269 in, picks up their own camcorder, and films themselves 00:07:16.269 --> 00:07:18.889 performing these deeply invasive acts over their 00:07:18.889 --> 00:07:21.670 sleeping bodies. It's so unsettling. The intruder 00:07:21.670 --> 00:07:23.649 strokes Stephanie's face with a switchblade. 00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:27.290 They steal money. And then they dip Sam's toothbrush 00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:30.410 in the toilet. And I honestly think that bizarre 00:07:30.699 --> 00:07:33.600 petty violation of personal space like the toothbrush 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.220 in the toilet is somehow more visceral and memorable 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:38.819 than the actual murders that happen later. So 00:07:38.819 --> 00:07:40.699 I have to ask you and everyone listening, what 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:43.740 is actually scarier, a succubus ripping you apart 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:45.699 or the idea of someone standing over your bed 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:47.800 messing with your hygiene products? Because the 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:49.920 toothbrush thing is just terrifyingly grounded. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.139 I mean, I definitely understand the appeal of 00:07:52.139 --> 00:07:54.879 the grounded reality, but focusing entirely on 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:57.980 the toothbrush risks underselling the profound 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:00.769 psychological twist Ty West pulls off. Bad point? 00:08:00.990 --> 00:08:03.930 Yes, the invasion of space is disturbing. But 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:06.310 the true horror of Second Honeymoon relies on 00:08:06.310 --> 00:08:08.930 the subversion of trust. The next night, the 00:08:08.930 --> 00:08:11.389 intruder returns and repeatedly stabs Sam in 00:08:11.389 --> 00:08:13.670 the neck, filming him choking on his own blood. 00:08:14.089 --> 00:08:17.269 It's brutal. Hard to watch. But then the camcorder 00:08:17.269 --> 00:08:20.750 shifts. The intruder removes a plastic mask and 00:08:20.750 --> 00:08:23.350 reveals herself. It's a woman who had asked the 00:08:23.350 --> 00:08:25.889 couple for a ride earlier in the trip. But more 00:08:25.889 --> 00:08:28.769 importantly, the footage reveals she is Stephanie's 00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:31.910 secret lover. The ultimate betrayal. Right. The 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:34.370 two women casually pack up and drive away together, 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:36.830 with Stephanie just asking if she remembered 00:08:36.830 --> 00:08:39.509 to erase the tape. It's incredibly cold -blooded. 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:42.289 That is. But look at the thematic throughline 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:44.789 here. Just like in Amateur Night, the man holding 00:08:44.789 --> 00:08:47.070 the camera believes he is in control of the narrative. 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:49.870 Sam thinks he's documenting a happy marriage 00:08:49.870 --> 00:08:53.360 and a fun road trip. Meanwhile, the very person 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:56.220 sleeping next to him is orchestrating his demise. 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.960 The camera, again, completely fails to protect 00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:02.539 the person wielding it and instead merely serves 00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:05.080 as a passive witness to their destruction. Here's 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:07.259 where it gets really interesting, though, because 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:09.799 as the anthology progresses, the nature of the 00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:12.379 threat completely evolves. We move away from 00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:14.799 hidden monsters and treacherous spouses, and 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.519 the actual medium itself becomes the monster. 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:19.919 We see this in the third segment, Tuesday the 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:23.259 17th, directed by Glenn McQuade. Oh, that segment 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:25.399 operates as a brilliant deconstruction of the 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:29.019 slasher genre. A girl named Wendy takes her friends 00:09:29.019 --> 00:09:31.559 out to a lake in the woods. She claims it's just 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:34.539 a fun getaway, but she is actually the sole survivor 00:09:34.539 --> 00:09:36.639 of a massacre that happened at this very lake. 00:09:36.860 --> 00:09:39.750 So she has an ulterior motive. Completely. She 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:42.269 has purposefully lured her new friends out there 00:09:42.269 --> 00:09:45.309 to act as human bait so she can trap the killer. 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:48.370 But the killer she's hunting defies all the established 00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:50.830 rules of a slasher villain. It's not a hulking 00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:53.490 guy in a mask wielding a machete. It's an entity 00:09:53.490 --> 00:09:56.480 known only as The Glitch. When you look at it 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:58.940 through the camera lens, it is completely obscured 00:09:58.940 --> 00:10:02.080 by severe video tracking errors and static distortion. 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:04.740 Just a blur of static. Yeah, and it moves erratically, 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:07.299 slaughters her friends, effortlessly escapes 00:10:07.299 --> 00:10:09.779 the physical traps Wendy set for it, and then 00:10:09.779 --> 00:10:12.580 beats Wendy to death with her own camera. The 00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:14.740 visual distortion of a ruined VHS tape isn't 00:10:14.740 --> 00:10:16.820 just an aesthetic choice here. The aesthetic 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:19.840 itself is weaponized. And if we connect this 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.259 to the bigger picture of the found footage genre... 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:25.659 The glitch is the ultimate expression of analog 00:10:25.659 --> 00:10:28.799 paranoia. The fear isn't just of what is captured 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.500 on the tape, but the physical degradation of 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:34.759 the tape itself. The hardware malfunction becomes 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:37.159 a tangible physical threat to the characters. 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:39.059 I completely agree with that, which is why the 00:10:39.059 --> 00:10:41.440 fourth tape feels like such a massive curveball. 00:10:42.100 --> 00:10:44.440 It's titled The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:46.960 When She Was Younger, directed by Joe Swanberg. 00:10:47.179 --> 00:10:49.679 And it completely abandons the camcorder aesthetic. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:51.919 It really does. It's presented almost entirely 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.659 in a screen life format, meaning the visual perspective 00:10:54.659 --> 00:10:57.159 is restricted to video chats and Skype calls 00:10:57.159 --> 00:10:59.080 between a girl named Emily and her boyfriend 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:01.960 James. Doesn't utilizing modern digital video 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:04.259 chats entirely break the fundamental rule of 00:11:04.259 --> 00:11:07.580 a movie literally titled VHS? This raises an 00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:09.659 important question about how horror reflects 00:11:09.659 --> 00:11:12.320 societal anxieties. I wouldn't call it breaking 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:15.370 a rule. I'd call it an essential evolution. The 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:17.970 film is tracking the transition from analog decay 00:11:17.970 --> 00:11:21.870 to digital isolation. Swanberg's segment is arguably 00:11:21.870 --> 00:11:24.309 the most psychologically complex piece of the 00:11:24.309 --> 00:11:26.909 entire project because it forces the audience 00:11:26.909 --> 00:11:29.809 to confront the inherent untrustworthiness of 00:11:29.809 --> 00:11:32.549 a digital screen. And the setup definitely leans 00:11:32.549 --> 00:11:35.919 heavily into psychological horror. Emily's convinced 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.100 her apartment is haunted by the ghosts of children. 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:41.720 She continuously shows James these shadowy, childlike 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:43.840 figures appearing on her webcam. And James plays 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.679 the skeptic. Right. James, who is an aspiring 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:49.460 doctor, plays the role of the grounded, supportive 00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:52.000 partner. He insists she's suffering from a psychological 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:55.139 episode. After she sustained some bizarre physical 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:57.379 injuries, he even manages to convince her that 00:11:57.379 --> 00:12:00.360 she is schizo -effective. He weaponizes his medical 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.649 authority to completely gaslight her. And the 00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:05.789 twist reveals that the ghosts aren't supernatural 00:12:05.789 --> 00:12:08.990 at all. They are aliens. Which is such a crazy 00:12:08.990 --> 00:12:12.169 pivot. It really is. And James isn't a supportive 00:12:12.169 --> 00:12:14.850 boyfriend. He is an active collaborator. He's 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:18.210 using Emily as a human incubator for alien -human 00:12:18.210 --> 00:12:20.710 hybrids. There is a sequence in the segment that 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:24.149 is just profoundly disturbing. James physically 00:12:24.149 --> 00:12:26.610 enters her apartment while she is unconscious. 00:12:27.129 --> 00:12:29.529 He surgically removes a fetus from her torso 00:12:29.529 --> 00:12:32.070 while these alien figures just passively watch 00:12:32.070 --> 00:12:34.350 him work. It's chilling. And then, to cover his 00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:37.070 tracks, he purposefully breaks her arm so she'll 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:39.070 think her injuries were the result of a clumsy 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:41.570 accident caused by her supposed mental illness. 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:44.809 The betrayal is absolute. And the next time they 00:12:44.809 --> 00:12:47.750 are on a video call, he is feigning deep concern 00:12:47.750 --> 00:12:50.649 for a broken arm, entirely maintaining the facade. 00:12:50.889 --> 00:12:53.129 But the truly terrifying moment is the final 00:12:53.129 --> 00:12:55.830 shot. After he disconnects with Emily, the screen 00:12:55.830 --> 00:12:58.090 shows he is already on a video chat with a completely 00:12:58.090 --> 00:13:00.350 different woman. Oh, wow. And this new woman 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:03.409 has the exact same strange unexplained bump on 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:06.409 her arm. He is tracking, manipulating, and harvesting 00:13:06.409 --> 00:13:08.549 multiple women through the safety and distance 00:13:08.549 --> 00:13:11.419 of a digital interface. Critics rightly praise 00:13:11.419 --> 00:13:13.580 this segment because it highlights how modern 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:15.899 technology creates a false sense of intimacy. 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:18.320 Right, because she feels safe with him. Exactly. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.440 Emily feels connected to James because she sees 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:24.440 his face on a monitor, but that digital barrier 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.279 makes her uniquely vulnerable to his manipulation. 00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:30.120 It is an incredibly bleak note to hit, which 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:31.820 is why the final tape before the credits roll 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.899 provides such a necessary chaotic tonal shift. 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:39.039 We move from the cold, calculated, digital manipulation 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.210 of the Skype. falls into a sheer blast of haunted 00:13:42.210 --> 00:13:46.269 house adrenaline. The segment is 103198, directed 00:13:46.269 --> 00:13:49.029 by the filmmaking collective Radio Silence. And 00:13:49.029 --> 00:13:51.450 it is pure kinetic energy. The premise is simple, 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:53.870 you know. Four friends are out on Halloween night 00:13:53.870 --> 00:13:56.789 in 1998 dressed in somewhat ridiculous costumes. 00:13:57.110 --> 00:14:00.149 A nanny cam, the unabomber, a pirate, and a marine. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:02.960 They're wandering around trying to find a specific 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.279 Halloween party, but they confidently walk into 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:07.159 the wrong house. And because it's Halloween, 00:14:07.299 --> 00:14:09.620 they assume all the creaky decorations and strange 00:14:09.620 --> 00:14:11.580 noises are just part of an elaborate haunted 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:13.860 house attraction. They wander upstairs to the 00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:15.940 attic and stumble directly into a legitimate 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:18.419 cult exorcism. Talk about walking into the wrong 00:14:18.419 --> 00:14:21.570 room. Right. There's a group of men chanting 00:14:21.570 --> 00:14:24.549 ominously around a terrified woman who is suspended 00:14:24.549 --> 00:14:27.730 from the rafters. The guys quickly realize this 00:14:27.730 --> 00:14:30.210 isn't a prank, and they make a brave, albeit 00:14:30.210 --> 00:14:33.029 reckless decision to rescue her. But the moment 00:14:33.029 --> 00:14:35.950 they pull her down, the entire house goes berserk. 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:43.539 Poltergeist activity tears the house apart. Walls 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:45.879 are shattering. Invisible forces are hurling 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:49.419 the men across the room. It is a frantic, disorienting 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:51.840 escape sequence. He feels like you're on a roller 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.559 coaster. Totally. They barely manage to drag 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.720 the rescued girl out to their car and speed away 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.059 into the night. But of course, no good deed goes 00:14:59.059 --> 00:15:01.100 unpunished in this universe. They are driving 00:15:01.100 --> 00:15:03.120 away, catching their breath, and suddenly the 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:05.659 car inexplicably dies right in the middle of 00:15:05.659 --> 00:15:08.039 a set of train tracks. The girl they risked their 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:10.840 lives to save simply vanishes from the backseat. 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:13.139 She reappears standing in the street outside 00:15:13.139 --> 00:15:15.139 and then vanishes again. The supernatural just 00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:17.139 breaks all the rules. Yeah. And then the car 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:19.460 doors inexplicably lock themselves, the engine 00:15:19.460 --> 00:15:22.080 is dead, and the footage abruptly cuts out the 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:24.480 exact millisecond a train collides with their 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:27.779 vehicle. It's a deeply fatalistic ending to an 00:15:27.779 --> 00:15:30.620 incredibly high energy sequence. It is, but we 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:33.399 absolutely have to talk about the alternate joke 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:35.460 ending that radio silence shot for this segment 00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:37.440 because it tells you everything you need to know 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:39.480 about the creative environment of this production. 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:41.820 Oh, this is a great detail. They shot an alternate 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:44.399 take where the car dies on the tracks, but instead 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.580 of panicking, the guy just casually unlock the 00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:50.100 doors, step out into the cool night air, and 00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:53.279 walk away. They are just strolling down the street 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.220 casually reminiscing about what a fun, crazy 00:15:56.220 --> 00:15:58.519 night they just had, completely ignoring the 00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:01.539 fact that a massive train obliterates their car 00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:04.100 in a fiery explosion right behind them in the 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:06.919 background. That is hilarious. The sheer audacity 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:09.840 to spend the time and resources to film a one 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:12.820 -take joke ending like that is amazing. And it 00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:15.960 perfectly encapsulates the uninhibited experimental 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:19.840 spirit of the entire VHS project. The filmmakers 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.100 were allowed to take massive swings, knowing 00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:24.320 that not everything had to perfectly align with 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.679 a rigid studio mandate. What does this all mean 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:29.940 for the legacy of the film? Because when you 00:16:29.940 --> 00:16:32.399 look at the reception, we are presented with 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.700 a massive paradox. The movie premiered at Sundance, 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:38.559 people fainted, and Magnolia Pictures immediately 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.080 bought the North American rights for over a million 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:44.039 dollars. That's a massive indie success story. 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:46.399 Oh, for sure. But when it hit the wider critical 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:49.860 circuit, the response was heavily divided. The 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:51.700 critical metrics are actually fascinating to 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:54.120 look back on. Right now it's sitting at a 56 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:57.259 % on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic, it holds 00:16:57.259 --> 00:17:00.899 a 54. which is the literal definition of mixed 00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:03.820 or average. You had legendary critics like Roger 00:17:03.820 --> 00:17:06.380 Ebert giving it one star, complaining heavily 00:17:06.380 --> 00:17:09.420 about the 116 -minute runtime, calling the shaky 00:17:09.420 --> 00:17:11.900 cam work unwatchable, and describing the whole 00:17:11.900 --> 00:17:14.200 affair as way too much of a muchness. Which is 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:16.619 such an Ebert phrase. Classic Ebert. The Washington 00:17:16.619 --> 00:17:19.039 Post slammed the acting as rough and amateurish. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:21.220 But on the other end of the spectrum, Empire 00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:24.380 magazine gave it four out of five stars, specifically 00:17:24.380 --> 00:17:29.100 praising the anything -goes mentality. polarized 00:17:29.100 --> 00:17:31.740 numerically average critical reception, this 00:17:31.740 --> 00:17:34.940 2012 indie experiment birthed an unstoppable 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:40.039 juggernaut. It spawned VHS2, viral 94, 99, 85, 00:17:40.259 --> 00:17:43.279 Beyond, Halloween, and even a Snapchat miniseries. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.440 So I have to ask, how does a movie with a 54 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:48.960 Metacritic score become the foundation for eight 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:51.299 feature films? Well, if we connect this to the 00:17:51.299 --> 00:17:53.980 broader landscape of the film industry, it perfectly 00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:55.980 demonstrates the unique resilience of the horror 00:17:55.980 --> 00:17:58.730 anthology format. Think of a traditional single 00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:01.450 narrative horror film. If the pacing drags in 00:18:01.450 --> 00:18:03.769 the second act or if the lead actor's performance 00:18:03.769 --> 00:18:05.950 is rough, the entire illusion breaks and the 00:18:05.950 --> 00:18:08.190 movie fails. The audience checks out. You're 00:18:08.190 --> 00:18:10.470 stuck with it for two hours. Exactly. But an 00:18:10.470 --> 00:18:12.349 anthology operates more like a venture capital 00:18:12.349 --> 00:18:13.849 portfolio. Oh, that's a great way to put it. 00:18:14.049 --> 00:18:16.289 It really is. It doesn't matter if the film as 00:18:16.289 --> 00:18:18.730 a whole is uneven or if two out of the five segments 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:21.740 fall flat for a particular viewer. The Anything 00:18:21.740 --> 00:18:24.119 Goes format mathematically guarantees that at 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:26.299 least one segment is going to deeply resonate, 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:29.460 terrify, or surprise a horror fan. You endure 00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:31.079 the rough patches because you know a completely 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:33.660 new vision is only 10 minutes away. It's constantly 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:36.960 refreshing. Right. It is definitive proof that 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.880 in the horror genre, raw, chaotic creativity 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:42.619 and unpredictability will often win out over 00:18:42.619 --> 00:18:45.650 sterile polished perfection. The format allows 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:48.170 up -and -coming directors to take wild experimental 00:18:48.170 --> 00:18:50.549 swings without the crushing pressure of sustaining 00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:53.750 a concept for a full feature runtime. One massive 00:18:53.750 --> 00:18:56.769 hit -like amateur night spawning the Siren franchise 00:18:56.769 --> 00:19:00.009 just justifies the entire experiment. We've covered 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:02.430 a massive amount of ground today. We've tracked 00:19:02.430 --> 00:19:04.670 the journey of VHS from a relationship -based 00:19:04.670 --> 00:19:07.450 trust fall among indie filmmakers at Bloody Disgusting 00:19:07.450 --> 00:19:10.670 to a chaotic Sundance sensation to an enduring 00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:13.150 franchise that completely revitalized the found 00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:16.029 -footage genre. It really is a testament to what 00:19:16.029 --> 00:19:18.029 happens when you throw out the traditional blueprint 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:20.109 and just allow creative people to build in the 00:19:20.109 --> 00:19:22.289 dark. And for you listening, whether you're interested 00:19:22.289 --> 00:19:25.410 in filmmaking, business, or just creative problem 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:28.329 -solving, the success of VHS offers a highly 00:19:28.329 --> 00:19:30.859 practical takeaway. What's that? It is a stark 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.619 reminder that leaning into your constraints can 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:36.579 be your greatest asset. Whether you are dealing 00:19:36.579 --> 00:19:38.839 with cheap consumer cameras, restricted budgets, 00:19:39.059 --> 00:19:42.259 or unpolished ideas, those limitations often 00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:45.160 force the kind of groundbreaking innovation that 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:48.680 endless resources simply cannot buy. Perfection 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:52.000 is often forgettable. The messy, the raw, and 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.400 the unpolished. That is what sticks in the mind. 00:19:54.819 --> 00:19:57.079 Before we wrap up this deep dive, there is one 00:19:57.079 --> 00:19:59.019 specific detail from the source text that I haven't 00:19:59.019 --> 00:20:00.700 been able to shake, and I want to leave you with 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:03.500 it to mull over. Think back to that initial frame 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:06.900 narrative, tape 56. Zach and Gary are wandering 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:08.480 around the basement of that abandoned house, 00:20:08.539 --> 00:20:10.960 and they find hundreds of unmarked VHS tapes 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:12.700 stacked on the shelves, hundreds of them. So 00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:16.009 many tapes. Yeah. If we accept the premise that 00:20:16.009 --> 00:20:18.369 every single tape on those shelves is a literal 00:20:18.369 --> 00:20:20.829 portal to another recorded nightmare, another 00:20:20.829 --> 00:20:23.349 monster, another murder, another alien abduction, 00:20:23.750 --> 00:20:25.890 what does the sheer overwhelming volume of those 00:20:25.890 --> 00:20:28.130 tapes say about humanity's dark obsession with 00:20:28.130 --> 00:20:30.569 documenting our own worst moments? And perhaps 00:20:30.569 --> 00:20:33.329 more chillingly, who exactly is taking the time 00:20:33.329 --> 00:20:35.769 to curate all those nightmares into one single 00:20:35.769 --> 00:20:38.490 library? Think about that the next time you casually 00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:39.450 hit record on your phone.