'V/H/S/Halloween' Review: Delivering the Franchise’s Scariest Treat Yet
- Becca Johnson
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
By Becca Johnson- October 2, 2025
Every spooky season since 2021, an entry into the found footage anthology franchise has been released on Shudder. This year's entry into the franchise uses the season of Halloween to its advantage, title and all. Each segment of the anthology is set on Halloween night, featuring themes and imagery from horror fans’ favorite holiday. From paranormal urban legends to trick or treating gone wrong, V/H/S/Halloween is not only the most inventive and entertaining this franchise has been for a while, but the scariest. It’s a must-watch this spooky season.
What is V/H/S/Halloween about?
Each segment is delivered by a different director, combining ideas, talent, and technique to create a varied viewing experience. This year's entry sees Bryan M. Ferguson (Pumpkin Guts), Casper Kelly (Adult Swim Yule Log), Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman (Grummy), Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell), Paco Plaza ([REC]), and Anna Zlokovic (Appendage) step behind the camera. Though some shorts hit higher than others and there are some obvious standouts, each filmmaker brings something worthwhile to V/H/S/Halloween. Whether it be an intriguing way of filming the found footage shots or their chosen method of scare tactics, the V/H/S franchise remains a good way to experience work from prominent figures in horror filmmaking, whether they have a couple of shorts or well-known features behind them.
The frame narrative, Diet Phantasma, sees test subjects try a new drinking product with grizzly effects, Coochie Coochie Coo explores an urban legend about a local witch, and Ut Supra Sic Infra accompanies a sole survivor of a massacre as he re-visits the fateful night. Fun Size explores what could happen when you go against the ‘one per person’ candy rule whilst trick-or-treating, Kidprint centers around a town experiencing an increase in missing children, and finally, Home Haunt sees a family’s yearly tradition of creating a haunt for the community go badly wrong with severe consequences.
Each story is unique in idea and execution, with each segment being nasty and mean-spirited, offering a range of practical effects, gore, and jump scares to create an unsettling watch. The use of found footage keeps you on your toes with its different styles and techniques, not just across all shorts but inside some of the shorts themselves. Though some shorts delve into the Halloween season more prominently than others, the setting is bound to be a hit for fans of the franchise, with pumpkins, candy, and costumes galore. Even though the movie has a runtime of two hours, because each anthology is roughly 20 minutes, the film flies by.
Some of the shorts fluctuate in quality, tone, and enjoyment. Diet Phantasma is a mixed bag as the frame narrative, a story we revisit in between each short that combines it all. The practical effects are killer, and the test subjects experience plenty of side effects to keep us on our toes. It’s darkly funny in places, but it can feel repetitive. Coochie Coochie Coo is perhaps the scariest installment, thrusting two teenagers into a haunted house full of gruesome villains and gory visuals.
Despite not leaning into its trick-or-treating setting quite enough, it makes up for this in scares - it’s very unsettling. Ut Supra Sic Infra can’t help but feel derivative of other pieces, namely As Above So Below, but the mixture of phone footage and police interview tapes makes it a must-watch regardless, and the ending is a blast. Fun Size is the most weird, wacky, and inventive of the bunch, and although leaning into campy with its characters and villains, it provides some gory moments that’ll go down well with true horror hounds. It’s utterly wild. Perhaps the saddest, most sombre and harrowing of the bunch, Kidprint feels very realistic in its missing children storyline, presenting an intriguing mystery with a shocking reveal and climax. Home Haunt ends things with plenty of spooky action and screams, bringing the strongest Halloween vibes of the bunch. Carnage candy is the best way to end things off.
Is V/H/S/Halloween Worth Watching?
Although some segments of the anthology deliver weak performances and a repetitive plot, V/H/S/Halloween is an absolute blast. Boasting gore, carnage, and effective scares alongside unmatched Halloween vibes and a range of successful ideas and filmmaking techniques, it’s undoubtedly one of the strongest of the franchise and should be viewed by fans and new viewers alike.
V/H/S/Halloween had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 19, 2025, and is scheduled to debut as an exclusive release on Shudder on October 3, 2025.
Want more film reviews? Check out more content on our website Film Focus Online!
