Every fall, I make a list of new horror movies I have to check out before the spooky season comes to an end. For the past few years, the V/H/S series of great anthology movies has given me some of the craziest, most unsettling, and goriest experiences, and it’s no different this year with the release of V/H/S/Halloween. Having read CinemaBlend’s four-star review before settling in for a night of thrills and chills, I was prepared for a couple more hours of insane found footage.
The five segments (plus the frame narrative) that make up the eighth installment in the outrageous anthology series were over-the-top in terms of gore, visceral scenes, and stomach-churning imagery. But there’s one short film that freaked me out the most, both as a horror fan and a dad…
Though Not The Goriest, ‘Kidprint’ Was The Most Unsettling Short In V/H/S/Halloween
Don’t get me wrong, “Kidprint,” a short film written and directed by Alex Ross Perry, has its fair share of bloodshed over the course of its 20-plus-minute runtime. However, it has something the other segments lack: an unsettling psychological aspect that seeps into your bones and doesn’t leave. The film centers on a video store owner whose idea to make documentaries to help look for missing children results in several local kids being abducted, tortured, and ultimately killed.
After watching an hour or so of people getting trapped in demenanted haunted houses, getting turned into candy, and some bonkers soda taste tests, this more grounded “Kidprint” left a lasting impression on me. It was just so unsettling, so plausible, so traumatizing. The ending (which I won’t reveal for those who haven’t watched), with its utterly gut-wrenching found footage, struck a nerve and left me in a bad spot for the rest of the night.
It’s Up There With Some Of The Best V/H/S Segments Overall
I’d go as far as to say “Kidprint” is not only one of the best V/H/S: Halloween segments but also one of the best shorts from the entire anthology series. It’s too early to tell if it’ll have the same level of cultural significance and staying power as “Safe Haven” (V/H/S/2), “Amateur Night” (V/H/S), or “Storm Drain” (V/H/S/94), but it’s definitely the one I’ve been thinking about the most since finishing the latest entry in the saga.
But Yeah, So Many Kids Die In Brutal Ways In This Movie
Just a heads up, though, “Kidprint” isn’t the only segment in V/H/S/Halloween where kids die in brutal ways, as everything from the frame narrative “Diet Phantasma” to the concluding short “Home Haunt” has children being killed in incredibly violent ways. If you’re a parent or just don’t like watching movies where kids die, then this may not be for you. Sure, those other two mentioned shorts are more over-the-top and sensationalized when it comes to violence, but it’s still there. You’ve been warned.
I don’t know when or if I’ll ever shake the unsettling and heart-wrenching feeling that overcame me during “Kidprint,” or at least see anything that’s more unnerving, but it doesn’t look like this great horror franchise is going away anytime soon.