There’s a moment with certain horror franchises where you can practically feel the wheels coming off. And V/H/S: Viral is exactly that moment for the V/H/S series. After two films that actually made the format work, this feels like the point where the whole thing just gives up and collapses into pointless spectacle.
Originally, I wasn’t planning to go any further than the second film. Those first two films make for a near-perfect double bill I feel, and honestly they’re a natural stopping point. But here we are. And while Viral might represent the absolute low point of the franchise, the more disappointing truth is that nothing that follows ever really climbs back to the highs of those first couple of entries.
If you’ve never seen a V/H/S film before, let me fill you in. They’re anthology horrors stitched together with a wraparound that barely makes sense, all filtered through that grimy “found footage” aesthetic. The appeal is that it feels like something you weren’t meant to see. Viral, however, takes that idea, throws it in the bin, and replaces it with something that feels like a rejected YouTube compilation.
The wraparound segment, ‘Vicious Circles‘ (directed by Marcel Sarmiento), wastes absolutely no time reminding you what kind of film you’re in for. Within the first 60 seconds you get the obligatory T&A shot, as if the franchise has a contractual obligation to remind you it’s still sleazy at heart. Tradition is important, after all. From there, it spirals into a chaotic mess about a guy chasing an ice cream truck while society collapses due to viral videos driving people insane. It’s basically The Signal but shit.
On paper, a chaotic, internet-age framing device could have been a clever way to tie the shorts together. In practice, it’s grating, incoherent, and borderline unbearable. The sequence is loud, frantic, and almost aggressively irritating, with the shaky camera constantly in motion and characters shouting over each other like they’re performing for an audience that doesn’t exist.
Instead of giving the anthology structure or momentum, it just feels like it constantly interrupts the stories. The chase itself is nearly impossible to follow, the geography makes no sense, and the logic of the characters’ actions is laughably thin. There’s an attempt at humour and absurdity, but it lands only as annoyance, emphasizing just how unpolished and poorly paced the film is.
By the time the wraparound finally concludes, you’re left with the sense that it has added nothing to the experience. It neither builds suspense for the next segment nor enhances the narrative; it simply exists as noisy filler. It’s the perfect microcosm of what’s wrong with Viral as a whole: chaotic, overlong, and completely lacking in the tension or creativity that made the first two entries watchable.
And that’s before we even get to discussing the segments themselves.
First up is ‘Dante the Great‘ (directed by Gregg Bishop), about a magician who finds a supernatural cloak and immediately goes off the deep end. It should be a tight occult horror story: man finds cursed object, man regrets it, job done. Instead, it’s a weird hybrid of mockumentary, found footage, and what feels suspiciously like a demo reel for a magician who didn’t make it onto Britain’s Got Talent.
The segment flits awkwardly between documentary-style footage, staged magic performances, and frantic found-footage shots, never committing to a single tone or perspective. One moment it seems to be presenting a serious occult mystery; the next it’s bouncing through flashy illusions and overacted reactions that feel more like a bad magic show than genuine horror.
The segment jumps between faux interviews and performance footage like it’s trying to convince you it’s clever, but it never commits to anything. The cloak itself -this supposedly ancient evil – has all the menace of something you’d pick up in a Halloween clearance sale.
And while there are moments of creativity (turning a rabbit inside out is admittedly memorable in a “what the hell did I just watch” way), the whole thing drags and never feels like it belongs in a V/H/S film at all. Even other reviewers pointed out it barely feels like found footage, with its polished editing and random music cues breaking the illusion completely.
By the time it ends, it’s less “terrifying descent into madness” and more “mildly interesting idea stretched well past its limits.” Not scary, not cohesive – just there.
Next is ‘Parallel Monsters‘ (directed by Nacho Vigalondo), which is easily the best segment here, though that’s a bit like being the cleanest corner of a public toilet. The premise is genuinely intriguing. A man discovers a parallel universe where everything appears to be like our world, but it’s actually a hellish realm occupied by some, ahem, interesting demons.
Yes, this is the segment that gives us the now-infamous monster genital reveal, which is exactly as subtle as it sounds. There are men with literal monster dongs and, most memorably, the demon version of the protagonist’s wife whose vagina brings a whole new meaning to the term growler.
While it flirts with the kind of inventive horror that made the first two films engaging, it never quite lands. The scares are sporadic, the pacing uneven, and the viewer is left with the impression of a segment that could have been great, had it been trimmed and allowed to breathe.
So even at its “best”, Viral can’t help tripping over itself. The segment spends too long meandering before getting to the weird stuff, and just as it starts to get interesting, it’s over. The wraparound barges in, kills the momentum, and you’re left with the frustrating sense that you just watched the rough draft of something much better.
Finally, there’s ‘Bonestorm‘ (directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead), which might be the most exasperating part of the anthology. A bunch of skateboarders head to Mexico, act like absolute tools for ten minutes, and then stumble into a cult ritual.
What follows is less “horror” and more “Jackass meets demonic possession,” with the group on their skateboards fighting off monster like they’re in some weird Tony Hawk DLC. The biggest problem is that nothing feels threatening – these idiots are dispatching cultists and monsters with alarming ease, completely killing any sense of danger. Even when things get gory, it’s so chaotic and weightless that it barely registers.
It also goes on forever. What should have been a tight, chaotic short instead feels bloated, repetitive, and weirdly proud of how annoying its characters are. By the end, you’re not scared, you’re just wondering how these people survived when far better characters in better horror films didn’t.
Why anyone thought this would work as part of a horror anthology is beyond me. And the only nice thing I can say about this segment is that the title made me think about a really good episode of The Simpsons.
And that’s really the problem with Viral. It’s a collection of half-finished ideas stitched together with a wraparound that actively makes everything worse. It ditches the analogue horror charm, forgets how found footage works, and replaces it with something louder, messier, and infinitely more irritating.
There are glimpses of creativity here and there, but they’re buried under bad editing, weak structure, and a complete lack of focus. It’s telling that even fans of the series tend to single this out as the weakest entry by a long shot.
Viral isn’t completely devoid of ideas. But it’s the first V/H/S film that feels genuinely disposable: the kind of sequel you watch out of obligation, not curiosity. And unlike a worn-out VHS tape, this is one entry that probably wasn’t worth rewinding.
Leave a Reply