VHS

When S-VHS debuted at Sundance this month, it was without a distributor.  However, you could have guessed that at some point in the acquisitions game that Magnolia - the company that picked up VHS - would be a key player.  I figured it would be a "no duh" situation if the sequel was housed at Magnolia.

So, here we are with a report at Variety saying that Magnolia is closing in on its deal with the S-VHS team.  The company will likely emulate its VHS release model from last year, giving the sequel a late summer VOD bow and a fall limited theatrical run.  But that's all unconfirmed.

Before we cut out for the long weekend, let us bring you one more "best of 2012" list.  Today, we share with you Paul Doro's picks.  Again, another writer who has been contributing to Shock for some time and I think you'll dig the diversity that he brings to his list.  Read on! - Ryan Turek, Managing Editor

All week long, ShockTillYouDrop.com's contributing writers are weighing in their favorite horror films of the year.  Today, we continue with Spencer Perry's picks.  What made the cut?  Head inside to find out!  You'll also find links to our previous "Best of" lists.  As always, feel free to use our comment boards to weigh in with your picks.  Just keep it classy.

Look for a "best of 2012" list from each of Shock's contributing writers throughout the week!

Optimism has been renewed.  Things might be looking up for horror.  For the last two years or so, I always frowned at the task of creating a year-end “top 10” list.  It got to a point where I felt compelled to par back and draft only a “top five.”  This year, however, I break the norm and present eight films.  I’m happy to say coming up with top five was all too easy and I really didn’t want to leave three titles behind, so here are my “top eight horror films of 2012.”

Over-all, the year was a mixed bag – as each year in the genre tends to be - although I’m always hopeful that we’ll soon have 12 months where the good far outweighs the bad.  Speaking of “bad,” let me take a moment to fire off some of the titles that would have made a “worst of 2012” list had I created a separate article.  You ready?  The Devil Inside (atrocious, not to mention incomplete), House at the End of the Street (inept), The Woman in Black (generic), The Raven (predictable), Silent Hill: Revelation (boring) and Smiley (nonsensical drivel).

This year proved that the big studios still don’t know quite what to do with the genre, so we get clunky fare like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter or Dark Shadows, the aforementioned The Raven or The Apparition.  Three of the films that made my top six this year were studio release; out of that group one was long-delayed and another was made through a smaller company yet given a wide release.  This further reinforces that the studios in the Hollywood system are slightly misguided about the genre and for quality and diversity, horror fans should turn their attention towards the direct-to-DVD or VOD market.

Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Jason Eisener, Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto and Adam Wingard are set to contribute to V/H/S 2, says The Hollywood Reporter.  

The film is a sequel to this year's anthology found footage flick V/H/S.

Evans, director of The Raid, and Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) are co-writing and co-directing their segments.  Wingard, who directed the wraparound segment in V/H/S, will tackle his own story this time.  Hobo With a Shotgun's Eisener will direct a segment and Barrett is making his directorial debut with his own story.

With V/H/S opening this Friday, October 5th, Magnet is offering a special sneak peek at “D is for Dogfight,” a visceral short from another anticipated horror anthology, The ABCs of Death.  Directed by Marcel Sarmiento (Deadgirl), “D is for Dogfight” is one of the 26 shorts from 26 international genre filmmakers that comprise the horror anthology, an ambitious film that features a way to meet your maker for every letter of the alphabet.

“D is for Dogfight” - which I considered one of the best of the 26 stories - will be shown before theatrical showings of V/H/S at the following Landmark theaters...

Could the horror genre finally be seeing an anthology horror film resurgence?  The format - long thought of a bad news by the Hollywood studio system - is making a comeback with titles like V/H/S and The ABCs of Death.  Chiller TV has commissioned an anthology film of its own entitled Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear and THR scored a breakdown of the filmmakers involved.

Two historically dubious filmmaking forms come together in V/H/S, a horror anthology comprised entirely of found-footage vignettes and which chillingly showcases both the breadth of interesting ideas still available to explore within the genre, and the considerable talent of some of its most promising filmmakers. Bloody Disgusting’s Brad Miska conceived the project and recruited David Bruckner (The Signal), Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead), Joe Swanberg (Silver Bullets), Ti West (The Innkeepers), Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die), and directing team Radio Silence to write and direct segments of various technical fidelity, in the process creating a consistently fun and scary journey across the landscape of contemporary horror.

Magnolia Pictures supplied us with a clip from V/H/S, which is being made available this week on VOD August 30th.

The clip is culled from David Bruckner's segment, the first story out of the gate following the introduction.  Bruckner previously directed a chunk of 2007's The Signal (look for an interview with the man later this week).

The clip arrived via VHS in a blood-splattered packed (seen right).  Head inside for the clip.

With the poster for V/H/S behind us, all that was left for us to see was the official trailer until Magnolia drops the film on us later this summer.  This is your first look at footage from the film which features work from directors Adam Wingard, Ti West, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence.  Look for it on VOD August 31st with an October 5th limited theatrical release to follow.

Magnolia has released the poster for V/H/S, which premiered at Sundance and features the works of filmmakers Adam Wingard, Ti West, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and the team known as Radio Silence.

The poster, to me at least, is a nice throwback to Visiting Hours, although the two films are vastly different, of course.

The film is making its way to VOD on August 31st and then rolling into a limited theatrical run on October 5th.  Head inside for a larger look at the poster.

When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for. 

The film festival darling that made its debut at Sundance and will soon play to SXSW audiences, VHS, has a release date from distributor Magnolia Pictures.  The distributor is planning to roll the horror anthology film out on VOD August 31st with a limited theatrical run to follow October 5th.

Though Magnolia already nabbed domestic distribution for V/H/S at Sundance, the film is now on the International Market and a piece of sales art has debuted in the Screen International Berlin magazine.

Directed by Adam Wingard, Ti West, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence, V/H/S concerns a group of misfits who are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape; there, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

South By Southwest's film festival schedule just got much more exciting.  The midnight line-up has been updated and it now includs The Tall Man, Rec 3: Genesis and V/H/S.

The Tall Man is the anticipated return of Pascal Laugier, the director of Martyrs.  And, of course, Rec 3 is the next chapter in the Spanish Rec series - this time directed solely by Paco Plaza.  Meanwhile, this is V/H/S' sophomore festival run after premiering at Sundance last month.

Head inside for the full SXSW midnight line-up.

Found footage never went away, it has always been here, contrary to the mainstream media’s claims that “found footage” films are smokin’ hot courtesy of The Devil Inside successful opening weekend.  And I’ve waxed philosophical before here on Shock as to why audiences are fascinated with this narrative device.

Some of it has to do with the curiosity and arousal one gets watching home videos on You Tube where the element of voyeurism is amplified.  Found footage – as far as horror films are concerned – eliminates the need for polished visuals, allowing filmmakers to get creative; however, on an audience level, the raw nature serves a more plausible connective tissue between the screen and the viewer, opening the door for immeasurable ways to create frights.  Take Neil Marshall’s The Descent, for instance.  It’s by no means a found footage film, but what is the one scene that elicits the biggest jump?  When Marshall employs the use of a home video camera, in night vision mode, and in a frantic state, the frame finds a creature lurking just over another character’s shoulder.

Found footage is here to stay, at least until movie-goers completely dismiss the sub-genre.  Then it may go into hibernation, only to be rejuvenated years later.  For now, with Chronicle opening on February 3, I thought we could look ahead at what is to come.