The V/H/S franchise keeps growing in both scope and popularity, and has cemented itself as the definitive found footage horror movie franchise. The concept of the V/H/S series is a simple but effective one of a collection of VHS cassettes documenting horrifying and unexplained events being discovered, and usually viewed by one or more characters featured in their own framing story. Combining found footage with horror anthology, the V/H/S movies gradually grew into a successful horror movie franchise after the debut of the original V/H/S in 2012, with the series eventually planting its flag on the horror streaming platform Shudder and becoming a yearly Halloween tradition.
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The V/H/S franchise is continuing with its eighth chapter, 2025’s V/H/S/Halloween, which brings aboard a splendid collection of horror directors. While other found footage horror movie franchises have been big hits in the past, such as the [REC] movies, The Blair Witch Project, and Paranormal Activity, the longevity and sustained popularity of V/H/S has made the series into quite arguably the true king of the found footage sub-genre. Here are five key factors explaining how and why the V/H/S franchise has become the definitive found footage horror series.
1) V/H/S Learned the Biggest Lesson of Any Franchise That Goes Dormant
Following the initial popularity of the first two V/H/S movies, the series hit a speed bump with its ill-received third entry, 2014’s V/H/S/Viral, which seemingly marked the end of the V/H/S franchise at the time. However, V/H/S‘s acclaimed return with 2021’s V/H/S/94 not only revived the series, but also made it into the Halloween tradition that it has become on Shudder. All of that came to pass because of, rather than despite, V/H/S going quiet for seven years.
Popular movie franchises run their course all the time, but the ones that return with long-awaited legacy sequels (think Mad Max: Fury Road, Top Gun: Maverick, or even 2025’s Final Destination Bloodlines) reap great benefits from their apparent end to allow audience interest to gradually rebuild and grow over time. The makers of V/H/S clearly understood this, with the franchise returning after just the right amount of time of inactivity to allow its return to be a real event. In all, the return of V/H/S is a shining example of the saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
2) V/H/S Has Kept Its Momentum Consistent Since 2021
Equally essential to V/H/S‘s hibernation being key to its success is the franchise’s consistent Halloween presence from 2021 onward. Shudder and Bloody Disgusting alike clearly knew they had a hit on their hands with the success of V/H/S/94, with both also able to look back on the successes and weak points of the original V/H/S trilogy as a guide. Since V/H/S/94, there has yet to be a single October without a new V/H/S movie debuting on Shudder and subsequently being released on physical media and digital download.
The found footage format of the V/H/S franchise is also to the franchise’s benefit, allowing for that kind of quick turnaround on a fairly low budget without sacrificing quality. Striking while the iron is hot is a crucial principle to remember in business and especially in crafting a popular movie franchise. Since its return in 2021, V/H/S has kept the iron consistently hot to great results.
3) The V/H/S Franchise Assigns a New Theme to Each Movie
While the found footage/horror anthology hybrid is the baseline for each V/H/S movie, the franchise from V/H/S/94 on has also brought in a new novelty of giving each movie a specific theme. V/H/S/94, V/H/S/99, and V/H/S/85 each linked themselves to a specific year, tailoring their stories and cinematography to match the cultural trends, fears, and look of VHS footage from each respective year. It ended up being another of the smartest trends the V/H/S series has partaken in to make each new installment feel fresh and unique.
2024’s V/H/S/Beyond continued that trend by giving each segment a sci-fi theme, with horror and sci-fi known to be a great genre pairing that worked splendidly for V/H/S. With 2025’s V/H/S/Halloween evidently gearing itself and its collection of shorts towards a Halloween theme, that continues V/H/S‘s tradition of giving each movie from V/H/S/94 on a unique and engaging theme, and makes everything from musical-themed to Christmas-themed future V/H/S movies possible.
4) V/H/S Pulls in Many Horror Auteurs With Each Movie
While V/H/S has certainly kicked its popularity into the stratosphere since V/H/S/94, one element that has remained consistent is the series employing well-known horror movie directors to helm each short. The first two V/H/S movies were a major launching pad for Adam Wingard, while each also includes such well-known auteurs of fright as The Blair Witch Project‘s Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale, and Hobo with a Shotgun‘s Jason Eisener, alongย Matt Bettinelli-Olpin,ย Tyler Gillett,ย Chad Villela, and Justin Martinezย of Radio Silence Productions fame.
The subsequent V/H/S franchise has become a who’s who of horror directors crafting each V/H/S horror short, including but not limited to Simon Barrett, Johannes Robert, Flying Lotus, Scott Derrickson, Kate Siegel, and Mike Flanagan. V/H/S/94 also brought back Indonesian action and horror movie maven Timo Tjahjanto for the segment “The Subject,” with Tjahjanto having previously co-directed V/H/S 2‘s “Safe Haven” with The Raid‘s Gareth Evans. With V/H/S/Halloween including Bryan M. Ferguson, Casper Kelly, and Paco Plaza, the V/H/S series is continuing another of its greatest assets of bringing aboard respected and popular filmmakers in the horror movie world to oversee many of its shorts while giving a launching pad to newer horror filmmakers, as well.
5) V/H/S Gives Horror Fans Several Scary Movies for the Price of One
Arguably, the greatest tool in V/H/S‘s toolbox has been its signature combination of found footage and horror anthology into one. The benefit of that combo is the flexibility it grants the viewer in selecting their own favorite scary shorts from each V/H/S movie, which in turn greatly informs their overall impression of their experience with each V/H/S movie. The law of averages alone all but assures that virtually the entire audience of each V/H/S movie will have at least one segment that really scares and resonates with them.
In turn, the diversified nature of V/H/S as an anthology series enables each new installment’s word of mouth to spread in a unique way, with the most popular shorts doing a lot of the heavy lifting of bringing viewers on board with a “You’ve got to see this!” sense of urgency. In essence, the V/H/S franchise delivers not one but as many as half a dozen terrifying found footage thrill rides every year, with a whopping 45 total as of the 2025 release of V/H/S Halloween. No other found footage franchise has given horror fans the kind of bang for their buck that V/H/S has, allowing the V/H/S series to truly plant its flag as the definitive found footage horror movie franchise.
V/H/S/Halloween will be released on Shudder on October 3rd.
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics -
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
