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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

For more V/H/S franchise coverage, click here!

As we take another spin around the films that came out in 1985, it’s hard to pass up an 80s cult classic like Michael Schultz‘ (or should I say Barry Gordy‘s) The Last Dragon. The 80s were an interesting time for martial arts films. Since Bruce Lee’s death in 1973, the genre lingered in the exploitation realm with no bona fide star to bring it to the forefront again. Grossing $26 million (33rd best of 1985), The Last Dragon was a hit despite opening opposite Friday the 13th Part V and Porky’s Revenge. Did it help resurrect the genre? Likely not. However, it helped keep the martial arts film in consciousness of moviegoers until the late 80s when stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal picked up the mantel.

So for the unlucky few who haven’t seen this one, this is how it shakes out. Local legend “Bruce” Leroy Green (Taimak – yes, that’s his name…and he isn’t the only singular name in the film) trains hard with his master, gives everything he’s got to take himself to the next level of consciousness as a student, to achieve the final level where the spirit takes over for the mind and guides the body without thought. Why do you ask would he want to do this? Well, whoever achieves this level will find him or herself engulfed in “the glow”, a power that, if in the hands of a true master, could create beauty that would be without bounds. But if it got into the wrong hands…well, I think you know where this is going. This struggles unfolds by happenstance when Leroy rescues popular club deejay and singer Laura Charles (former Prince protégé Vanity…see, another singular name) after refusing to help video arcade magnate Eddie Arkadian (Christopher Murney) by playing his girlfriend’s music video on her show.

As Arkadian attempts every trick in his devious book to persuade her to play the video, including letting her order a la carte at dinner, Leroy is there to thwart his efforts. So he decides to look for a little help to get Leroy out of the way. And who does he turn to for help? Only the Shogun of Harlem, Sho Nuff (Julius Carry), that’s who. He’s the meanest, prettiest, baddest mofo low down around this town and he has serious issues with Leroy who has turned down his attempts to battle in the past. In this situation he sees the opportunity to once and for all decide who is the master. Using Laura and Leroy’s little brother Richie (Leo O’Brien) as bait, Sho Nuff and Leroy finally come to blows and the ending is incendiary.

I loved this film as a kid, all of 10 when it was released in the spring of ’85. It had some funny parts (mostly courtesy of the character Johnny Yu played by Glen Eaton), it had the beautiful Vanity (Denise Matthews is her given name) and had some badass kungfu in it. What was there not to like, right? And I still love the film. I will say that it hasn’t necessarily held up that well over time. Taimak, while an asskicker in the martial arts department, is no actor. He is awkward and his performance is quite stilted, but his presence was there for one reason – to kung fu the hell out of his role. The charisma just isn’t there. I love that Christopher Murney is the heavy in this film. His turn as Hanrahan, the insane goalie, in my favorite movie, Slap Shot is as good as it gets and he brings that same energy to this film. And he looks the part of a crazy bastard, too.

Barry Gordy‘s participation in the film is one of the most interesting aspects. Gordy is the founder of Motown Records and it’s strange to see his name so prominently displayed on every piece of marketing for this film. You don’t see Michael Schultz‘s name hardly mentioned and when the final credits roll in the film, it’s Gordy‘s name as producer that is mentioned first (really, Schultz’ name is absent from the end credits). This film was used in large part to launch musicians, especially DeBarge, whose megahit single, ‘Rhythm of the Night‘, is played in its entirety in the film, appears on the soundtrack and was nominated for a Golden Globe for best song. The soundtrack is actually an awesome time capsule of pure 80s sound with Dwight David‘s theme song, Vanity‘s awful ‘7th Heaven’, Willie Hutch‘s awesome ‘The Glow’ and cuts by Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Gordy‘s son, Rockwell.

Rewatching this film gave me two shocks – first was seeing William H. Macy as Laura Charles’ lackey and Chazz Palminteri as one of Arkadian’s goons who is dispatched by Leroy. The Last Dragon is quite representative of the 80s – style over substance. One thing I will give to this film is that racial stereotypes that were so prevalent up to and beyond this time are largely absent so deserving credit to the filmmakers for that. While The Last Dragon doesn’t really hold up, it’s a fun film to revisit from time to time for all the things I’ve mentioned above.

There have been rumblings that the Wu Tang Clan’s own RZA is in talks to remake this film, which I think would be quite interesting. His martial arts homage Man with the Iron Fists received mixed reviews (I actually liked it, but I think I’m in small company). I’m almost exclusively against remakes of any kind, but it would be interesting to see the envelope pushed a little more with the martial arts and the removal of the advertising for Motown recording artists in this film. I guess we’ll see if that actually happens or not.

So if you haven’t seen it before or have forgotten about it and want to revisit it, here’s the trailer:

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V/H/S/MIXTAPE (2026) Mayhem and music to my ears

V/H/S/MIXTAPE

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