When you think of V/H/S, a low-budget horror anthology built from fake VHS tapes that blur the line between real footage and fiction. Also known as found footage horror anthology, it doesn’t just scare you—it makes you question if what you’re watching actually happened. Released in 2012, V/H/S wasn’t just another horror movie. It was a rebellion against polished studio scares. No big budgets. No CGI monsters. Just shaky cameras, distorted audio, and the chilling feeling that someone, somewhere, recorded this—and didn’t survive.
What made V/H/S stick wasn’t just the gore. It was how it used found footage, a filmmaking technique that mimics real-life video recordings, often from security cams, camcorders, or home videos. Also known as pseudo-documentary style, it forces you to feel like a witness, not a viewer. Each segment feels like you stumbled onto a cursed tape. One story might be a group of guys breaking into a house. Another? A couple watching a mysterious video that changes them. The framing device—a group of criminals searching for a missing VHS tape—ties it all together like a cursed library of nightmares. This structure became the blueprint for dozens of sequels and imitators, from V/H/S/2, the 2013 sequel that doubled down on surreal, disturbing imagery and expanded the anthology formula. Also known as V/H/S sequel series, it proved the original wasn’t a fluke. The horror wasn’t in the jump scares. It was in the silence between the static, the glitch that shouldn’t be there, the voice whispering just behind the camera.
What’s wild is how V/H/S turned into a movement. Indie filmmakers saw it and realized they didn’t need Hollywood money to make something unforgettable. All they needed was a camera, a friend with a good scream, and the guts to let the footage feel real. That’s why you’ll see echoes of V/H/S in everything from YouTube horror shorts to modern TikTok creepypastas. The format isn’t just a genre—it’s a mindset. It says: fear doesn’t need polish. It just needs presence.
Below, you’ll find posts that dig into the messy, brilliant, terrifying world this anthology created. Some analyze how it reshaped horror storytelling. Others explore the real tech behind the fake tapes. And a few? They just show you why, years later, you still check your camera before you go to bed.
From Creepshow to V/H/S and beyond, horror anthologies deliver bite-sized scares with lasting impact. Explore the best in the genre and why they still terrify us today.
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