V/H/S/MIXTAPE
The unhinged horror anthology franchise is back with a delightfully disgusting vengeance. This time, Qwar hosts an MTV-style clip show of weirdness, debauchery, and terror all based around audio. These hysterically gagworthy transition pieces are, IMHO, the most cohesive upgrade. This departure from the previously heavy-handed mystery and more MST3K comedy stylings works like magic. Now let’s get into each new segment, shall we?
Tape One: Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance.
Directed by Renee Zhan, a bug-themed kids’ show opens by teaching young viewers about death. Barbara Crampton plays an exasperated network exec with a frightening authenticity. Time and time again, Crampton’s chameleon abilities to inhabit any role prove startling and celebratory. That’s why she never stops working.
Cut to present day, and the original puppets are set to be scanned, digitized, and documented for promotion. But puppet caretaker and forever-fan George is visibly resistant. When the team begins work, a seemingly odd glitch makes the cameraman wander. The secret is out when the puppets become sentient and murderous mayhem ensues.
The reboot joke is chef’s kiss if you’re a fan of the franchise. Practical FX are jaw-dropping. As a product of 1980s Sesame Street and a genre babe, this is my Christmas. It’s a felt, fur, and blood-covered house of horrors.
Tape Two: Another Cabin
Directed by franchise favorite Flying Lotus, this fairy-tale-inspired stop-motion short follows a young boy and his ungrateful elder who are attacked by a flesh-eating, shapeshifting monster from the woods. After years of abuse, the boy fights back by sacrificing her to the monster, but this is a horror short we’re talking about. The film looks incredible. Laika studio fans will dig this a little extra. Zero dialogue, but none is needed to convey the darkness.
Tape Three: Heartbeat
David Moreau follows YouTuber couple, Wes and Maya, as they journey through the woods to find an abandoned underground military facility. They discover an anechoic chamber, designed to shut out all outside noise. But there’s a reason they warn against staying longer than fifteen minutes.
The handheld camerawork comes from camcorders and GoPros. Julie Clergerie and Elie Kaempfen give incredible physical performances that look like theatre training. _’s augmented sound editing is hypnotizing and triggering even the calmest viewer. It is auditory torture.
Tape Four: The Music of Mr. Sze
Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight *hell yes) gives us a story of a lonely but enthusiastic film student named Philip as he embarks on his day-in-the-life series in his new apartment. We briefly meet the other renters, but Philip is drawn to the sound of a violin emanating from another unit. Most of the footage (POV) comes from Philip’s brand-new camera glasses. As the music continues day and night, it profoundly affects Philip. He waits for Mr. Sze, offering to film his performances. But the offer backfires when Philip hums a song he should not have heard. Curiosity killed the cat, though in Philip’s case, it opens a portal to a Lovecraftian hellscape. Brilliant world-building and chaotic kills, this segment is a handcrafted throwback.
Tape Five: Premature Burial
Tobias Forge gives audiences a hardcore metal video. The story follows a twisted and satisfying revenge plot. You will be cheering with glee by the end of the song. Tee hee.
Tape Six: Death Tone
RZA dives into his world of music with a tale of a young woman’s attempts to connect with her deceased music producer father. Upon discovering a cassette with how-to instructions for creating a great track, Lydia records video diary entries to document her process and progress. When she connects most with a more visceral tone, she taps into her Patrick Bateman instincts to capture the perfect pitch. Video diaries and body cam footage get an immersive, artistic edit. Production design is moody and drenched in blood. The final moments put Johnny Depp‘s Nightmare on Elm Street demise to shame.
V/H/S/MIXTAPE is a GenX playground filled with old-school references, blood-spattered humor, and insane kills. It’s everything you want and then some. How each consecutive anthology tops the last is a mystery.
DANCE, DANCE, DANCE, DANCE: Directed by Renee Zhan
A studio attempts to reboot a long-cancelled puppet show with a mysterious past. Featuring work from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
HEARTBEAT: Directed by David Moreau
A pair of YouTube urbex influencers find themselves trapped in a decommissioned military facility used for sonic experimentation.
THE MUSIC OF MR. SZE: Directed by Ernest Dickerson
A college film student’s documentary project uncovers the reclusive life of a tormented musician.
DEATH TONE: Directed by RZA
A young sound engineer follows her late Dad’s instructions to create the ultimate track.
Wrap Segment
GWAR hosts skits and music videos in an MTV-style show from hell.
Featuring music videos directed by Tobias Forge and Flying Lotus.
Synopsis:
V/H/S/MIXTAPE cranks the franchise’s signature found-footage horror up to eleven with an electrifying new anthology where music and sound become the source of terror. United by a theme that explores the power of music, rhythm, and audio to haunt, possess, transform, and destroy, the film blends cosmic horror, psychological suspense, outrageous splatter, and groundbreaking practical effects into one unforgettable mixtape of nightmares.
Featuring all-new segments from legendary filmmaker Ernest Dickerson, hip-hop icon RZA, visionary director David Moreau, and acclaimed filmmaker Renee Zhan, the latest installment pushes the boundaries of found footage with four wildly original stories that each put a unique spin on the terrifying relationship between sound and fear.
Producers: Josh Goldbloom, Steven Schneider, Roy Lee, Michael Schreiber, Brad Miska
Writers: Zoe Cooper, David Moreau, Ernest Dickerson, RZA, Matt Landsman
Executive Producers: Ben Ross and Rami Yasin
Genre: Horror
Country: United States
Language: English
Runtime: 98 minutes
Director Allison Sloan Berg‘s Tribeca 2026 doc Time Warp, and I see you shiver with Antici… pation. September 2022 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a small theatre dares to put on a Shadow Cast production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Theatre director, producer, choreographer, house manager, and star of the show, Kenny Starling, brings us into the industrious, loving, and hardworking theatre company that delivers excitement and love to an otherwise quiet, conservative, and seemingly forgotten town. 
Theatre has always been a safe space, long before that became a political buzzword. Time Warp appears relatively straightforward in its initial presentation. Berg features cast members’ backgrounds, rehearsals, and most surprisingly, a city council meeting that does not go the way we think it will. 
Huge ups to music supervisor Doug Bernheim for the soundtrack, which features the OG Frank-N-Furter, Tim Curry, Siouxsie, Betty Davis, and Jobriath. Frank Keraudren’s editing, particularly the five-day-out rehearsal montage, opening night, and the credits, is delicious. Loved seeing huge Broadway stars line up as Executive Producers! Berg boasts Josh Gad, Billy Porter, and John Cameron Mitchell.
Remaining Tribeca screenings of General Admissions:
The film sucks you in by introducing the horrid history, but then allows the present attraction to act as a reclamation of power for the atrocities once committed there. Archival newspaper clips, alongside a perfectly ominous score, highlight the sickening language and mindset of Pennhurst’s 1907 origin. The film begins with a warning. Fifteen minutes in, the viewer will recognize its necessity. 
In this rhythmic psychological thriller, a lonely aspiring teen actress finds herself drawn to an acting teacher who pulls her into a web of desire and control, blurring the lines of seduction and obsession.
Synopsis: When the buffet where Zeke’s mom works closes down, he’s forced to entertain the wild advances of a rich regular who is weirdly and vehemently obsessed with becoming his father.
After a breakup, rudderless millennial Jane hires a team of Gen-Z consultants to reinvent her life. But what begins as a makeover soon spirals into a sharp social media satire about image, app culture, and the cost of becoming someone else.
Seven years after her Grammy Award-winning Amidst the Chaos, Sara Bareilles reunites with her closest collaborators to record a new album. What emerges is an intimate, cinematic process that lays bare the musician’s deep connections and inspirations in Tribeca alum Josh Alexander’s moving music documentary.
Jordan Dulieu (Danny) gives us an emo rocker heartthrob and villainous mayhem with equal fire. He is genuinely mesmerizing. Avalon Fast (Gen) is great. Her delivery is so natural, you might think she’s in a documentary. Alexandra McVicker (Anna) brings innocent ingénue energy. The three have stellar chemistry. I not-so-secretly wanted a threesome scene between them. Shout out to Intimacy Coordinator, Zoe Taylor, for the overall hotness. 
MacKay has a neon-saturated visual calling card and always provides a kick-ass soundtrack. Another genius collab with 
SXSW 2026 true-crime doc I Got Bombed at Harvey’s tells the off-the-wall tale of a casino, a ransom note, a homemade bomb with 1000 pounds of dynamite, and 24 hrs. Your jaw will drop as one absolute narcissistic lunatic’s spiral brings his kids down with him.
In Lauren Noll’s SXSW 2026 dramedy, Same Same But Different, we follow three Persian childhood friends: a personal trainer, a lawyer, and an aspiring writer, grappling with identity and their ever-evolving relationships.
You must be logged in to post a comment.