V/H/S/94 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc - mostly. Parts of the image went with 1.33:1 – and given the nature of VHS circa 1994, the entire flick should’ve used that ratio.
Why didn’t it? To match modern choices, I suppose. I guess the producers felt no one wanted to watch 104 minutes of 1.33:1 material.
Whatever the case, the final product lived up – or down – to its fabricated origins. Because the film wanted to look like 90s-era videotape, the end result seemed predictably ugly.
Sharpness consistently felt blah at best. The image always felt soft and mushy.
Jagged edges and moiré effects turned up through much of the movie. VHS-style distortion, interference and artifacts became a persistent factor.
Colors looked bland and on the brown side. Few – if any – instances of brighter hues manifested in this dull presentation.
Blacks came across as flat and inky, while shadows appeared dense and murky. From start to finish, V/H/S/94 brought an ugly image.
So why did I go with a “C”? Because V/H/S/94 should look awful, given the premise.
The movie felt too unattractive for me to give it a higher rating. Nonetheless, due to the concept, I also felt a lower grade seemed unfair, so “C” it was!
At least the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fared better, even though it clearly violated the aforementioned premise. In a realistic world, the audio would both seem distant/rough and be stereo at best, with monaural more likely.
If we ignore the unreality of these choices, the soundscape seemed pretty good. The mix didn’t go crazy, so it stayed mostly with general atmosphere. A few spooky or violent moments featured the side and rear channels more actively, but the majority of the track remained environmental in nature.
Audio quality was fine. Despite the “on the fly” nature, speech seemed acceptably concise and natural, and effects demonstrated nice clarity and range.
The score was subdued but seemed well-rendered. This wasn’t an impressive track, but it worked in a positive manner.
As we move to extras, we open with an audio commentary. Hosted by Bloody Disgusting’s “Boo Crew” Leone D'Antonio, Trevor Shand, and Lauren Shand, this running, screen-specific pieces involves from directors Jennifer Reeder, Chloe Okuno, Simon Barrett and Ryan Prows and producers Brad Miska and Josh Goldbloom.
During this track, we learn about stories/characters, cast and performances, shooting during the COVID pandemic, sets and locations, music, influences, various effects and connected domains.
The presence of so many participants made me fear the commentary would become a mess. However, the Boo Crew folks keep matters under control.
This allows the discussion to cover a lot of domains in an efficient manner. Brisk and lively, this turns into an effective commentary.
We also get a sequence-specific commentary from Barrett for “The Empty Wake”. This goes for 16 minutes, 15 seconds and gives us Barrett’s notes about various aspects of his segment.
Since Barrett appears during the main commentary, it seems odd that he does another solo track here. Still, he brings a useful discussion. While Barrett repeats some notes from the primary track, he nonetheless adds new info and turns this into an effective discussion.
Hosted by journalist Richard Newby, a 2021 Comic-Con Panel goes for 30 minutes, 18 seconds. It features Goldbloom, Miska, Barrett, Okuno, Prows, Reeder and director Timo Tjahjanto.
Conducted via Zoom, the piece looks at the franchise, the various segments and aspects of the production. Because these Comic-Con panels mainly exist to promote projects, we don’t get a ton of insights here, but the chat still produces a decent view of the film.
Behind the Scenes fills 24 minutes, two seconds with info from Barrett, Prows, Okuno, Reeder, special effects coordinator Michael W. Hamilton, and actors Anna Hopkins, Kyal Legend, Christian Lloyd and Christian Potenza.
“Scenes” looks at how the directors came to the project as well as aspects of their segments. Inevitably, some of this repeats from prior extras, but “Scenes” nonetheless delivers a good overview, and ample footage from the set helps.
Five Deleted and Extended Scenes occupy a total of 13 minutes, 58 seconds. These tend toward exposition and feel like they would’ve slowed down the final film.
Next comes Special FX, a collection of three segments that occupy a total of 10 minutes, 39 seconds. These give us a decent look at the various effects used on the film, though some added commentary would make this raw footage more informative.
”The Empty Wake” VFX runs one minute, 11 seconds and shows a breakdown with notes from visual effects artist Justin Martinez. We find a short but interesting look at this work.
Briefly seen in the final film, we locate the Full-Length Veggie Masher Commercial. The 44-second clip offers an amusing parody of 1990s infomercials.
Finally, Behind the Scenes Images brings 25 stills. These show some effects work and feel adequate, if not especially revealing.
An anthology with a gimmicky concept, V/H/S/94 offers occasional glimmers. However, much of it seems slow and without a lot of horror impact. The Blu-ray comes with ugly but appropriate visuals as well as good audio and a nice mix of bonus materials. This becomes a largely forgettable collection of short stories.