V/H/S Halloween Review: A Found-Footage Nightmare Wrapped in October Atmosphere

V/H/S/Halloween is the eighth installment in the long-running found-footage horror anthology franchise, released on Shudder on October 3, 2025, following its premiere at Fantastic Fest. Directed by a mix of returning talents and newcomers including Bryan M. Ferguson, Anna Zlokovic, Paco Plaza, Casper Kelly, Alex Ross Perry, and Micheline Pitt-Norman with R.H. Norman it runs about 115 minutes and leans hard into Halloween-themed terror. 

Like previous entries, it wraps its shorts in a framing narrative (here, “Diet Phantasma” by Bryan M. Ferguson) that ties the “found” VHS tapes together while delivering its own escalating gore. The premise, a corporate taste-test for a new ghost-extract-infused diet soda called Diet Phantasma goes horrifically wrong across multiple test subjects, with increasingly grotesque, body-horror results involving bleeding, possession, exploding heads, and more. It serves as a nasty, gory palate cleanser between the main segments. 

The Segments 

“Coochie Coochie Coo” (Anna Zlokovic): 

Two bratty high-school seniors on one last trick-or-treat outing enter a seemingly abandoned house and encounter “The Mommy”, a monstrous maternal figure born from trauma, complete with multiple breasts and a nightmarish desire to “adopt” victims into infantile states. It blends haunted-house tension with body horror and dark maternal themes. 

“Ut Supra Sic Infra” (Paco Plaza): 

A standout Spanish-language segment (with English subtitles) about a Halloween party in an abandoned Madrid mansion tied to occult forces. It intercuts chaotic party footage with a later police interrogation/reconstruction. The “as above, so below” ritual unleashes gravity-defying demonic possession and eyeball gore. Plaza (of [REC] fame) nails the found-footage style with strong shifts in visual tone and a virtuosic, disorienting climax. 

“Fun Size” (Casper Kelly): 

Quite possibly one of the film’s highlights and one of the funniest V/H/S segments ever. A group of adults trick-or-treating grabs more than one piece from a forbidden candy bowl and ends up in a nightmarish parallel-dimension candy factory run by a mascot-like killer. It delivers over-the-top practical gore, conveyor-belt dismemberment, and absurd dark humor (phallic candy, anyone?). Kelly’s Too Many Cooks energy shines through in the chaotic, memorable spectacle.

 “Kidprint” (Alex Ross Perry): 

The most disturbing and mean-spirited entry. Set in the early ’90s, it follows a video-store owner who makes “Kidprint” ID videos for missing children only for his employee to use them for abduction, torture, and murder. It lingers on the graphic suffering of child victims in ways that feel confrontational and deeply upsetting. Perry’s segment questions the audience’s voyeurism while delivering unflinching cruelty. It’s effective but not for the faint of heart. 

“Home Haunt” (Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman): 

A dad’s ambitious backyard Halloween haunted house attraction comes alive (literally) thanks to a cursed record. It mixes practical effects, spectacle, and some humorous cameos with chaotic kills. It serves as a fun, prop-heavy closer with strong visual gags, though the found-footage shakiness occasionally obscures the action. 

Strengths and Weaknesses

The anthology’s greatest strength is its consistent commitment to practical effects, inventive (if uneven) premises, and Halloween atmosphere including costumes, candy, haunts, and seasonal mischief twisted into horror. Gorehounds will be satisfied, and segments like “Fun Size” and “Ut Supra Sic Infra” rank among the franchise’s better outings. The mean-spirited tone, especially in “Kidprint,” gives it a confrontational edge that forces viewers to sit with the ugliness. 

On the downside, the V/H/S formula is showing its age. The relentless shaky-cam screaming, jump scares, and running sequences become exhausting over nearly two hours. Some segments feel derivative or repetitive, and the framing mechanism, while gory, loses impact with repetition. 

V/H/S/Halloween is a solid, gory addition to the series that delivers exactly what fans expect, bite-sized, nasty Halloween horror with standout segments that elevate it above some weaker franchise entries. It’s not revolutionary and can feel exhausting, but its best parts are creative, funny, and memorably disturbing. If you’re in the mood for practical-effects carnage wrapped in seasonal vibes, pop this tape in. 

Rating: 7.2/10 (Stronger than average for recent anthologies; carried by its highs.)

“Trick-or-treat turns into a blood-soaked screamfest where the real monster is the one that keeps the camera rolling.”