| Drezzy | 65 | - Muuuuuuuuuuuch better than the original. The frame story, "Tape 49," finds two private investigators breaking into a house to search for clues as to a college kid's disappearance, deciding to watch his collection of unmarked VHS tapes and a webcam recording he made for clues. "Phase I Clinical Trials" starts us off steady with a great concept (an experimental artificial eye allows the user to see ghosts), and it doesn't disappoint too much. In fact, the only disappointing aspect of it was its length, as this was an idea that could made for a decent feature (and kinda/sorta has with The Eye, though this one adds its own twists to that idea). "A Ride in the Park" actually comes to us from the directors of the original Blair Witch Project, and its basically a first-person take on a man who becomes a zombie and then attacks the living. This was very well done. "Safe Haven" is about an interview crew filming the inner-workings of a Jonestown-like cult, only they're actually right in their beliefs, and shit absolutely hits the fan about halfway through and never relents. The final segment, "Slumber Party Alien Abduction," is actually the only part (besides the frame story) that fails to deliver, as tension is tossed aside for jump scares by people in bad alien costumes and a downer ending. "Tape 49" wraps up as expected if you've seen the original, but that's not exactly a bad thing here, and the fact that three of the four segments are hits makes V/H/S 2 worth seeing.
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