There’s nothing quite like it.
Unlike the majority of other genres, horror is unique because of the amount of subcategories it has.
Body horror (The Fly), haunted house(The Conjuring , demonic possession (The Exorcist), slasher film (Scream), torture (Saw), psychological horror (Silence of the Lambs) and various different monsters – vampire, werewolf, zombie etc – are all popular.
Each to their own regarding the merits of these categories and films, but the V/H/S anthology series has done its best to cater to all of these terrifying tastes – with vastly different degrees of success.
For those that aren’t aware of the V/H/S series, the premise is very simple.
Inside a darkened house lies a column of TVs that are littered with VHS tapes. relax though because this is no mere movie night.
Each tape depicts a different horror scenario and they’re all filled with gory delights.
Once the play button is pressed, various different short horror films unfold that cover different horror stories, genres and tropes. Now, some of these short films are terrible, some are average and some are quite enjoyable but one feature, Safe Haven, is bloody brilliant. Extra emphasis on the word ‘bloody’ here.
Clip via – FilmIsNow Movie Trailers
Directed by Timo Tjahjanto and the supremely talented director of The Raid series, Gareth Evans, the story is unlike anything that you’ve ever seen before but be warned, it’s not for the faint-hearted or squeamish.
Safe Haven revolves around a four-person news crew that infiltrate an Indonesian cult in the hope of filming a documentary about their mysterious activities.
Inside the building, they find the walls adorned in bizarre symbols, schoolchildren in classrooms, and women dressed in white garments.
In the basement, Adam (the lead character) finds a bloody woman strapped to a chair who begins convulsing. While the cult leader is being interviewed, a bell chimes, and he suddenly announces the “time of reckoning” over the intercom.
What unfolds is the very definition of all hell breaking loose. Pardon the language, but it’s fucking bonkers. There’s no other way to put it.
When asked about his inspiration for the short film, Evans said that it’s based on one of the most infamous stories about cult-suicide, the Jonestown Massacre that saw over 900 people die from cyanide poisoning.
Evans said his aim while shooting the short film was to answer one question, “What would happen if a team of journalists went into the Jonestown group on the day of the massacre? It’s basically about that idea about when the shit is all about to fall apart and come down. What would you do in that situation? To throw a journalist team into that yielded some really interesting results.”
FYI, we’re not saying that every minute in V/H/S 2 is worth your time, it’s not, and we don’t blame you for fast forwarding through certain segments, but this 30 minutes from Evans is breathtaking.
Truth be told, it’s one of the most bloody and brilliant pieces of horror that you’ll ever see.
Plenty of people agree with that sentiment.
V/H/S 2 airs on Film 4 at 1:05am on Sunday 24th September.
Trust us, all horror fans will want to record it.
Idc what anyone says but VHS 2 "safe haven" is defo the scariest shit I've seen – and it takes a lot to scare me. Timo Tjahjanto 👌🏼
— 🤷🏻♀️ (@shoools_lais) August 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/SoulfulChris/status/907738143905824769
https://twitter.com/KimVanMunching/status/900117372236726272
https://twitter.com/ReneBadillo3/status/805956261757984768
I finished VHS 2, and well…color me impressed. Far better than I expected. The Safe Haven cult segment was just brilliant.
— Rigormorton (@WeirdNPissdOff) September 5, 2016
Take a look at these answers to this question.
https://twitter.com/JonathanBarkan/status/874270314665877504
SAFE HAVEN from VHS 2 by a fucking light year. Then THE WITCH. https://t.co/HHtXBmU0ch
— pigeon farm boy (@itsunclecarl) June 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/johng5150/status/874423508884783104
Can I cheat and say the "Safe Haven" segment in VHS 2? https://t.co/SWrx152bVo
— I’m a Ryan B+ (@TheChewDefense) June 12, 2017
