V/H/S Viral
REDUX
A Lunalord Joint!
The V/H/S series is for me that rare thing. A 'good' anthology series in the movie-art long-form where many of these are hit & miss. That includes the "Creepshow" and "Twilight Zone" movies.
But as a series, the V/H/S series isn't perfect. I found this, like many others, to be the least of the series. Almost like an epilogue to the 'swing for the fences' ambitious sequel before it.
But there is some good stuff here. It's a bit stingy in the narrative department. Once story was dropped simply because it apparently wasn't up to snuff (no pun intended).
So, with the help of faneditor Lunalord, we have embarked on polishing up this series a bit. Starting with moving around a couple short films from the other series. V/H/S 2 has been fan-edited (on this site as well) and gone from it is the "alien slumberparty" piece. In its place is the "Parallel Monsters" film from Viral, as it seems to unify the other stories there (unification becomes a goal of future installments, as in, linking the stories in some way or another). And the "alien" story is now placed here in Viral.
The biggest change is the wraparound story. Which I now treat as a fourth standalone piece here. It works because the story before it about the end of the world seems to rhyme with this one.
So, how do we connect the narratives here? Lunalord suggested making this about a man surfing the net and we are along for that ride. That's a great idea, and makes this a bit like the 80s film "Amazon Women on the moon." That meant breaking a few V/H/S rules, since those movies take place in a closed circuit of the VHS point of view. I think that's fine, though, since it's a novel departure to see for the first and maybe only time an outside POV of who they hell may be watching this stuff. Maybe this perverted dad in our fanedit of Viral is the observer of ALL the V/H/S movies?? Could be. Why not?
Also, this means an opportunity to include many odd, funny and wonderful clips you'd find online that someone surfing the net might take a gander at. That meant punching up the comedy a bit here and there (since it doesn't need to be ALL monsters and horror). Also, another small rule broken meant including the V/H/S title card at the beginning as well. Which, again, seems to be a fun departure from the other movies, grounding this a bit more in a cinematic universe. With "The Dante The Great" short film from Viral taking a cue from this choice (i.e. since you may wonder who the hell is filming him during the battles) this is a great series of experimentation in filmmaking as art.
Enjoy our experiment here!
ENTER THEATER!
