V/H/S: Viral

Nacho Vigalondo

Justin Benson

Aaron Scott Moorhead

Todd Lincoln

***V/H/S: Viral*** is a 2014 American anthology horror film from Bloody Disgusting. The third film in the *V/H/S* series, created by Brad Miska, it features a series of found-footage shorts written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Marcel Sarmiento, Gregg Bishop, Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead.

## Shorts

### *Vicious Circles*

* Directed by Marcel Sarmiento
* Written by T.J. Cimfel, David White, and Marcel Sarmiento

In the wrap-around, Kevin, an amateur videographer, constantly shoots footage of his girlfriend Iris, which she claims to enjoy. As we watch these initial images it becomes apparent that Kevin's grandmother is abusive, at one point bloodying his nose off-screen. Later in the evening, a high-speed pursuit near his neighborhood is broadcast on television, and he sees the opportunity to create a viral video. He is too late to shoot footage, as the truck speeds past his house. Kevin sees Iris wander outside in a daze after receiving a mysterious video call, and get abducted. Kevin chases after the truck, egged on by images of Iris broadcast to his cell phone. The truck circles the neighborhood repeatedly, and people receive strange images on their cell phones that cause them to become violently insane. When Kevin finally catches up to the truck he sees body parts strewn on the ground around it. He examines the driver's seat only to find it empty but with a pair of disembodied hands duct taped to the wheel. Upon examining the back of the truck, he finds a number of televisions stacked atop each other as in the first two movies. Iris appears on one of the TV screens and demands that Kevin upload the footage to broadcasters and presumably the internet as well. At first, he refuses but does as she says when Iris begins to brutally mutilate herself. The deed done, he exits the truck as the image of Iris on the screen continues to taunt him. Outside he discovers Iris' dead body slumped against the truck with her cellphone stuck in her mouth. Kevin realizes that he has been manipulated into uploading the videos and that Iris had been dead for some time. He pulls the phone out of her mouth and sees that it's in selfie-mode. He stares in shock at himself on the screen with his nose bleeding, implying he is affected by the videos as well. The closing shot shows a view of the Los Angeles skyline, smoke billowing up, lights flickering on and off and a helicopter circling overhead, revealing the uploaded videos have gone viral and have begun to affect thousands, thus fulfilling the grander threat introduced in the first two films.

### "Dante the Great"

* Directed and written by Gregg Bishop

Dante the Great, an untalented illusionist, discovers the infamous cloak of Houdini that grants him the power to perform real magic. He quickly becomes famous, though he learns that the cloak requires regular sacrifices to work. Dante hires a series of female assistants and videotapes their violent deaths at the hands of the cloak. When Scarlet, his latest assistant, discovers Dante's stash of tapes, she alerts the police. Dante uses his magic powers to escape captivity and kill an entire SWAT team. Scarlet then confronts him, and the two duel over the magic cloak. Though Scarlet is briefly able to take it from him, he overpowers her and recovers it. Before Dante can kill her, Scarlet uses a trick he taught her to immobilize him, and the cloak feeds on him instead. Scarlet burns the cloak, only to find it in her house; the segment ends as arms reach from inside the cloak and grab her, having selected her as the cloak’s new host.

### "Parallel Monsters"

* Directed and written by Nacho Vigalondo

On each side of an interdimensional portal, parallel versions of inventor Alfonso cautiously greet each other. Overcome by curiosity, the two explore each other's worlds. At first, the worlds seem exact mirrored duplicates, but they are revealed to hold divergent dominant religions. As a pornographic snuff film plays in the background, his wife Marta prompts him to perform a ceremony with two men. Disturbed, Alfonso leaves the house and sees a large blimp with an inverted cross. When he attempts to record it, he gets spotted by two Orioles, who chase Alfonso before catching him. Their eyes and mouth turn bright red, and one of the Orioles takes his pants off to reveal his demonic penis. He manages to stab it and flees back to his house, where Marta takes off her robe to reveal her demonic vagina. Terrified, Alfonso punches her and flees back to his world, where the demonic Alfonso has already attacked the normal version of Marta as she slept before he stabs his normal self and returns to his own world. The two versions of Marta each kill their husbands, blaming them for the actions of their double.

### *"Bonestorm"*

* Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead
* Written by Justin Benson

A trio of skateboarders perform various stunts as the videographer they hired pushes them into increasingly dangerous circumstances in the hopes of filming a snuff film. After they become bored, the videographer suggests they continue the film shoot in Tijuana, where they subsequently become lost after buying fireworks. Once they find a suitable place, a flood channel, the videographer encourages them to again perform more stunts. When one of the skateboarders injures himself and bleeds on a large pentagram drawn on the ground, his blood quickly boils despite the apparent normal temperature of the pavement on which the pentagram is drawn. Almost immediately, a group of cloaked cultists attack them. Using pistols and improvised weapons, including their skateboards, the skateboarders kill the cultists, though one of the trio was killed in the fight. The dead cultists then rise as reanimated corpses, and mount a second attack. During the second attack, the skateboarders use the fireworks they bought earlier to destroy several of the skeletons. The surviving skateboarders then flee back toward the border as a monstrous creature appears and presumably eats the videographer along with his camera.

### *"Gorgeous Vortex"*

* Directed by Todd Lincoln
* Written by Todd Lincoln

Follows a sinister, shadowy organization that is tracking a serial killer.

*Note*: This short was cut at the last minute since it did not fit in with the overall theme of the film. (It was mostly cut due to not being a found-footage film). The short is included as an extra on the film's DVD and Blu-ray release, which starts after the credits for the main film end.