The 10 Best ‘V/H/S’ Found-Footage Horror Shorts

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Found-footage horror will never die—especially as long as the V/H/S anthology series keeps offering evidence there are still creative ways to use the format. Since 2012 we’ve had seven V/H/S entries, with an eighth, V/H/S/Halloween, arriving October 3. The series as a whole has captured a range of repulsive imagery, as its characters stumble into an alarming range of unnatural situations—with recording devices conveniently capturing everything.

It was hard to narrow it down to just 10 standouts, so if we don’t shout out your top V/H/S segment, please sing its praises in the comments! Here are our picks in chronological order.

“10/31/98” – V/H/S (2012)

With future Hollywood heavy-hitters like Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs. Kong) and Ti West (MaXXXine) on the roster of the first V/H/S entry, this pick comes from another talent then on the rise: Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).

The directing team’s V/H/S segment (credited to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, and Chad Villella) foreshadows V/H/S/Halloween; it’s titled “10/31/98” and takes place on you know which holiday. It follows a goofy group of costumed, camera-toting bros (including members of Radio Silence) who stumble into the wrong address, uncovering not a spooky party but a ritual powered by an evil that chases after them as they try to escape.

“10/31/98” is the final segment in V/H/S, bringing a jolt of energy as the credits roll. The running time of V/H/S is a bit overlong—but Radio Silence’s pleasingly freaky capper shouldn’t be overlooked.

“A Ride in the Park” – V/H/S/2 (2013)

The V/H/S series would not exist without 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, which propelled found-footage horror into the mainstream. So it makes sense that a Blair Witch director (Eduardo Sánchez) and producer (Gregg Hale) would be called upon to contribute to the franchise’s first sequel.

A mountain biker wearing a GoPro encounters a hysterical woman on the trail—and realizes too late he’s cycled right into a burgeoning zombie apocalypse. We follow along as he gets chomped and then does his own chomping; the ensuing chaos includes a gory rampage through a random family’s birthday party. It unfolds at a breathless pace and manages to be both ferocious and weirdly poignant.

V/H/S/2 also features “Slumber Party Alien Abduction,” which would make a best-of list if not for the fact that it was expanded into the feature Kids vs. Aliens—a more satisfying take on the story, with an equally self-explanatory title.

“Parallel Monsters” – V/H/S: Viral (2014)

The uneven V/H/S: Viral has one clear winner: the Spanish-language “Parallel Monsters,” written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes, Colossal).

As it begins, we meet a guy who’s finally achieved success with his basement invention: a doorway opening into a parallel universe. To his surprise, once the portal opens, he sees… himself! A fellow nerd whose identical tinkering has produced success at the exact moment of his own!

Excited, the two men decide to swap places for 15 minutes, which is more than enough time to discover that their two worlds are not, in fact, interchangeable. Not in the slightest. The setup is simple; the execution—especially the pacing, the special effects, and the ending—is near-perfect.

“Terror” – V/H/S/94 (2021)

After a seven-year break, the cult-themed V/H/S/94 rebooted the series with the help of horror streamer Shudder—a partnership that worked out so well the platform has backed all the subsequent installments. While the segment “Storm Drain” gave V/H/S its first catchphrase (“Hail Raatma!”), the eeriest tale is Ryan Prows’ “Terror,” a gory exploration of a worst-case scenario wrapped within another worst-case scenario.

A militia of Christian extremists who call themselves “the last decent men of America” and “true patriots” are planning an attack on a government building. We follow them through recon, training, planning, and premature celebration as we come to realize their prized weapon is… an actual vampire, whose blood they’ve been harvesting for its explosive qualities. What could possibly go wrong? How about everything, in the most satisfying ways?

“To Hell and Back” – V/H/S/99 (2022)

Hired by a coven of suburban witches to document their New Year’s Eve possession ritual, a pair of filmmakers accidentally get transported into hell—and must frantically claw their way back to existence before they’re trapped forever. Good thing their first encounter is with a demon who’s ok with helping them rather than devouring them.

Somehow, “To Hell and Back” manages to infuse that horror-made concept with goofy humor, a quality that also emerges in the feature made by directing team Vanessa and Joseph Winter, Deadstream, which released on Shudder just ahead of V/H/S/99.

“No Wake” and “Ambrosia” – V/H/S/85 (2023)

After teetering on the edge of the millennium, V/H/S crept back to the ’80s for what might be its strongest installment to date. We’re grouping these two segments from director Mike P. Nelson (Friday the 13th short Sweet Revenge) into one list entry because—twist!—it turns out their separate stories are actually linked.

You find that out midway through the second segment, and it’s handled more smoothly than connections forged in the frame stories of earlier V/H/S films. There’s some hinting that the lakeside splatterfest “No Wake” is unfinished when it ends with its survivors vowing revenge on the shooter who tried to take their lives, but “Ambrosia,” the tale of a teen undergoing a violent coming-of-age ritual, also works quite well on its own. The reveal just elevates two excellent shorts while also carving out welcome new turf for V/H/S as a whole.

“Dreamkill” – V/H/S/85 (2023)

The Black Phone director Scott Derrickson co-wrote and helmed this memorably unsettling segment, based on a short story from Black Phone author Joe Hill. It also stars The Black Phone‘s James Ransone alongside Six Feet Under‘s Freddy Rodriguez. “Dreamkill” backs up those bona fides with a twisted tale of two cops trying to understand why they’ve been receiving videotapes of brutal murders before they happen.

It’s a high-concept mystery involving psychic abilities and some very ’80s goth fashions. But it comes together seamlessly, making chilling use of first-person POV, not to mention the singularly bizarre Throbbing Gristle song “Hamburger Lady.”

“Live and Let Dive” – V/H/S/Beyond (2024)

V/H/S/Beyond explicitly embraces sci-fi horror, a genre brought crashing down to earth in “Live and Let Dive” from Radio Silence co-founder Justin Martinez. Thanks to this segment, you can now add “aliens” to the things that can go wrong while skydiving. That’s something a plane full of friends, some more enthusiastic about jumping than others, realizes when they spot a UFO just before it’s time to dive.

The terror doesn’t end there, of course; the chaotically wild, viscerally memorable invasion persists in mid-air as well as once everyone hits the ground. But nothing quite tops the shriek-worthy moment when the skydivers start to realize they’re having a close encounter of the worst kind.

“Stowaway” – V/H/S/Beyond (2024)

“Stowaway” boasts more big names behind the camera: director Kate Segal and writer Mike Flanagan. And again the end result doesn’t disappoint. We meet a mentally fragile woman who’s decamped to the desert intent on interviewing UFO witnesses and maybe even spotting one herself, filming her efforts along the way.

When the moment she’s dreamed about arrives, however, the initial sense of wonder devolves into white-hot terror and some of the most haunting body horror V/H/S has ever depicted, which fans of the series know is no small accomplishment.

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