Ut Supra Sic Infra
Oct. 4th, 2025 02:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowhiveSpooky season day 2: Curse Of Frankenstein, Pokémon Stream - Chills And Thrills
So in the last post I covered Curse Of Frankenstein so I’m not gonna do that again. But after the post I watched the Pokémon stream. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they stream Pokémon the series and lately Thursdays have been Johto (aka Gold and Silver) and I’ve been enjoying that cause that’s roughly as far as I saw in the original run.
However instead last night they posted a theme night, ‘Chills and Thrills’. In reality that just meant a bunch of episodes with ghost Pokémon. Only a handful were genuinely spooky, with a bunch of them about Ash’s battle with a ghost gym leader. As such it felt a bit odd, especially since some of them had ghost Pokémon just for one or two scenes.
Today has been a lazy day really. We’d heard a we were gonna get some of a storm and, sure enough, that happened today. So it’s been mostly bundled up, getting Midna cuddles and doing Fortnite, since there’s a bunch of new quests.
Though of course Leia decided to go out in the storm and so we had to chase her around the house to dry her which was… a lot.
I also went down a rabbit hole and now I wanna hunt down a film called Wildhood. I’m gonna track the blu ray down once money goes in cause I wanna see the hot guy from The Long Walk make out with a guy (and maybe more).
But then tonight was also the new VHS, VHS Halloween. Thoughts are under the cut (along with triggers at the start.)
For those that don’t know VHS is a found footage horror anthology. It’s a bunch of short horror stories with a wraparound one intercut between them. The first few were random (with the wrap around more directly linked to the others) but after shudder got them they became a bit more focussed in a few. The first few on shudder were set during individual years, then last weeks one had a general theme, sci-fi. This one’s theme was Halloween, with each story set during (and in some cases just after) Halloween.
An important TW for this one as, while usually these films have gory moments this felt especially so in moments and it’s important to not that the last two explicitly involve kids in that. Which I guess was inevitable with a Halloween theme.
So I’m gonna use the Tv Tropes synopsis for each segment (in italics) cause I feel that’s a good way of doing it. I’ll put the wrap around section at the end.
Coochie Coochie Coo: A group of teenagers going trick or treating find themselves at the home of the “Mommy”, the central figure of an urban legend who kidnaps children on Halloween night.
While that says a group of teenagers, it’s just a pair of them and they’re both on the older side (the opening of them mentions them going to college/uni). This whole thing can be described in one word: unsettling. They go into the house thinking it’s some kind of performance piece and it’s a mix of haunted house/them being stalked by the ‘mommy’. Like I mention it’s very unsettling and it does feel like it’s… a lot of things thrown at it.
Something I should note is that if you’ve seen the trailer for this vhs, the lions share of the content of it is from this first segment.
I’d give it a 7/10, as it does nail the unsettling vibe it’s going for.
Ut Supra Sic Infra: After a massacre left only one person alive, the police work with him to make sense of what happened by going back to the original crime scene.
From the second instalment VHS films have featured one foreign language segment and I’m gonna be so honest, most of them have been bangers, often being the best of their film’s segments. (I think there’s only been one I didn’t really like and even that was well done, I just didn’t really dig the concept.) this one is no exception, it’s easily my fav of the whole bunch.
It’s also unique in that usually the films are one continuous thing (or at least filmed by the same person). Here we have both the recording of the original event, plus the police investigation afterward. The whole thing is just done so well with an intercut of what happened the original night with the police trying to reconstruct the events. I’m not gonna say more but it’s so well done and the reveal at the end both answers things and leaves you guessing.
8.5/10
Fun Size: Four teenagers come across a bowl of candy with a sign that advises them to take only “one per person”. They ignore the sign’s warning to detrimental effects.
Again while this description does call them teenagers they are at the older side. (I’d say 19, though honestly I didn’t peg them as being teens until I saw this). This does feel like a weird one. In some places it’s really well effective in other places it seems unsettling. Like take the scene mentioned in the description. Being grabbed my something in a candy bowl? Creepy! It then pulling you into the candy bowl, so your legs are sticking out? Kinda silly.
That’s the vibe of this thing and it extends to the main section where it feels like part saw trap, part mascot horror. Somehow it kinda works? I really like the design of the entity? Mascot? It is cool looking.
7.5/10
Kidprint: The titular tape recordings can be used to identify children, which can aid police in finding these children should they go missing. However, the video store that produces the Kidprint videos finds itself involved in precisely what it made the videos to prevent.
Ok see those warnings at the start. This is the one that I’m referring to with them. It’s telling that the only segment with no supernatural element is also the most horrific.
It is well done though. Like you can tell from the start that you’re going to find out what’s happening to these kids and that it’s definitely connected to this service. The first half of it has this creeping tension, where you don’t know if the person filming is directly involved or not.
The end of it is honestly heartbreaking but yeah I feel this is the one that is going to definitely gonna be the one that will get people.
7.5/10
Home Haunt: A family’s yearly Halloween tradition of creating a haunted house experience in their home goes south when a cursed LP brings the experience’s monsters to life.
While the first one had assuming a house was a performance piece, this was an intentional attraction, albeit because of the aforementioned LP it actually becomes haunted. Like you have to admit watching that this is a big thing for a dad to have set up on his own for the town? Community? Whatever, it’s a big thing which is impressive.
As a segment it kinda works? Like I do think it’s a good concept it just felt like it could have been a few minutes longer, though it is understandable that the second part is a rush of the group trying to get out (honestly realistic for once!)
7.5/10.
Diet Phantasma: The frame narrative, this segment focuses on a company’s taste trial for the titular drink so they can document its side effects.
Framing narratives can be either really good or… not. This one was definitely in the not it felt similar to the framing device from 85, but that did it much better. I just wasn’t sold on this one at all.
I think it’s cause the motives of the company aren’t really explained. Like this drink causes horrible side effects. Is this what the company wants? If so why? They clearly know these horrible things will happen and it just feels that the company is either incompetent for still pushing it or openly evil.
On the plus side it’s the first segment set in the uk though, which made me cheer a bit.
4/10 (and I feel that might be generous)
Overall it was decent, with the segments mostly well done and there was one obvious standout. I’m not sure if it’s one I’ll watch again any time soon though which does feel a bit of a shame. I think that’s partly cause the first and third segments start in essentially the same way ‘old teens trick or treating’ with both even having adults saying ‘aren’t you too old to be trick or treating’. But it’s also part due to how intense parts of Kidprint was. I’m curious if the next vhs will keep with a singular concept like this or switch it up again.
I might watch one of the others during the Halloween season. (Probably Beyond or 85, since I missed 85 in last years full series rewatch).
Now it’s almost 4 oop. Tomorrow I’m gonna be watching Murder She Wrote, Strictly and Nine Bodies In Th Mexican Morgue. I’m not sure what tomorrow’s spooky thing might be. Maybe it’ll be something lighter, or just reading the Fantastic Four comic.
So in the last post I covered Curse Of Frankenstein so I’m not gonna do that again. But after the post I watched the Pokémon stream. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they stream Pokémon the series and lately Thursdays have been Johto (aka Gold and Silver) and I’ve been enjoying that cause that’s roughly as far as I saw in the original run.
However instead last night they posted a theme night, ‘Chills and Thrills’. In reality that just meant a bunch of episodes with ghost Pokémon. Only a handful were genuinely spooky, with a bunch of them about Ash’s battle with a ghost gym leader. As such it felt a bit odd, especially since some of them had ghost Pokémon just for one or two scenes.
Today has been a lazy day really. We’d heard a we were gonna get some of a storm and, sure enough, that happened today. So it’s been mostly bundled up, getting Midna cuddles and doing Fortnite, since there’s a bunch of new quests.
Though of course Leia decided to go out in the storm and so we had to chase her around the house to dry her which was… a lot.
I also went down a rabbit hole and now I wanna hunt down a film called Wildhood. I’m gonna track the blu ray down once money goes in cause I wanna see the hot guy from The Long Walk make out with a guy (and maybe more).
But then tonight was also the new VHS, VHS Halloween. Thoughts are under the cut (along with triggers at the start.)
For those that don’t know VHS is a found footage horror anthology. It’s a bunch of short horror stories with a wraparound one intercut between them. The first few were random (with the wrap around more directly linked to the others) but after shudder got them they became a bit more focussed in a few. The first few on shudder were set during individual years, then last weeks one had a general theme, sci-fi. This one’s theme was Halloween, with each story set during (and in some cases just after) Halloween.
An important TW for this one as, while usually these films have gory moments this felt especially so in moments and it’s important to not that the last two explicitly involve kids in that. Which I guess was inevitable with a Halloween theme.
So I’m gonna use the Tv Tropes synopsis for each segment (in italics) cause I feel that’s a good way of doing it. I’ll put the wrap around section at the end.
Coochie Coochie Coo: A group of teenagers going trick or treating find themselves at the home of the “Mommy”, the central figure of an urban legend who kidnaps children on Halloween night.
While that says a group of teenagers, it’s just a pair of them and they’re both on the older side (the opening of them mentions them going to college/uni). This whole thing can be described in one word: unsettling. They go into the house thinking it’s some kind of performance piece and it’s a mix of haunted house/them being stalked by the ‘mommy’. Like I mention it’s very unsettling and it does feel like it’s… a lot of things thrown at it.
Something I should note is that if you’ve seen the trailer for this vhs, the lions share of the content of it is from this first segment.
I’d give it a 7/10, as it does nail the unsettling vibe it’s going for.
Ut Supra Sic Infra: After a massacre left only one person alive, the police work with him to make sense of what happened by going back to the original crime scene.
From the second instalment VHS films have featured one foreign language segment and I’m gonna be so honest, most of them have been bangers, often being the best of their film’s segments. (I think there’s only been one I didn’t really like and even that was well done, I just didn’t really dig the concept.) this one is no exception, it’s easily my fav of the whole bunch.
It’s also unique in that usually the films are one continuous thing (or at least filmed by the same person). Here we have both the recording of the original event, plus the police investigation afterward. The whole thing is just done so well with an intercut of what happened the original night with the police trying to reconstruct the events. I’m not gonna say more but it’s so well done and the reveal at the end both answers things and leaves you guessing.
8.5/10
Fun Size: Four teenagers come across a bowl of candy with a sign that advises them to take only “one per person”. They ignore the sign’s warning to detrimental effects.
Again while this description does call them teenagers they are at the older side. (I’d say 19, though honestly I didn’t peg them as being teens until I saw this). This does feel like a weird one. In some places it’s really well effective in other places it seems unsettling. Like take the scene mentioned in the description. Being grabbed my something in a candy bowl? Creepy! It then pulling you into the candy bowl, so your legs are sticking out? Kinda silly.
That’s the vibe of this thing and it extends to the main section where it feels like part saw trap, part mascot horror. Somehow it kinda works? I really like the design of the entity? Mascot? It is cool looking.
7.5/10
Kidprint: The titular tape recordings can be used to identify children, which can aid police in finding these children should they go missing. However, the video store that produces the Kidprint videos finds itself involved in precisely what it made the videos to prevent.
Ok see those warnings at the start. This is the one that I’m referring to with them. It’s telling that the only segment with no supernatural element is also the most horrific.
It is well done though. Like you can tell from the start that you’re going to find out what’s happening to these kids and that it’s definitely connected to this service. The first half of it has this creeping tension, where you don’t know if the person filming is directly involved or not.
The end of it is honestly heartbreaking but yeah I feel this is the one that is going to definitely gonna be the one that will get people.
7.5/10
Home Haunt: A family’s yearly Halloween tradition of creating a haunted house experience in their home goes south when a cursed LP brings the experience’s monsters to life.
While the first one had assuming a house was a performance piece, this was an intentional attraction, albeit because of the aforementioned LP it actually becomes haunted. Like you have to admit watching that this is a big thing for a dad to have set up on his own for the town? Community? Whatever, it’s a big thing which is impressive.
As a segment it kinda works? Like I do think it’s a good concept it just felt like it could have been a few minutes longer, though it is understandable that the second part is a rush of the group trying to get out (honestly realistic for once!)
7.5/10.
Diet Phantasma: The frame narrative, this segment focuses on a company’s taste trial for the titular drink so they can document its side effects.
Framing narratives can be either really good or… not. This one was definitely in the not it felt similar to the framing device from 85, but that did it much better. I just wasn’t sold on this one at all.
I think it’s cause the motives of the company aren’t really explained. Like this drink causes horrible side effects. Is this what the company wants? If so why? They clearly know these horrible things will happen and it just feels that the company is either incompetent for still pushing it or openly evil.
On the plus side it’s the first segment set in the uk though, which made me cheer a bit.
4/10 (and I feel that might be generous)
Overall it was decent, with the segments mostly well done and there was one obvious standout. I’m not sure if it’s one I’ll watch again any time soon though which does feel a bit of a shame. I think that’s partly cause the first and third segments start in essentially the same way ‘old teens trick or treating’ with both even having adults saying ‘aren’t you too old to be trick or treating’. But it’s also part due to how intense parts of Kidprint was. I’m curious if the next vhs will keep with a singular concept like this or switch it up again.
I might watch one of the others during the Halloween season. (Probably Beyond or 85, since I missed 85 in last years full series rewatch).
Now it’s almost 4 oop. Tomorrow I’m gonna be watching Murder She Wrote, Strictly and Nine Bodies In Th Mexican Morgue. I’m not sure what tomorrow’s spooky thing might be. Maybe it’ll be something lighter, or just reading the Fantastic Four comic.
