Plot
Total Copy/frame narrative (prologue)
A narrator presents a documentary on a team of scientists at Stamer University studying a shapeshifting being they name "Rory".
No Wake
- Written & Directed by Mike P. Nelson
Seven friends – Rob, the person recording this segment; Anna, Rob's sister; Jared, Anna's boyfriend; Drew; Robin; Kevin; and Kelly – travel in an RV to camp at a lake. Ignoring signs that warn visitors against swimming, Rob, Drew, Robin, Kevin, and Kelly enter the water on a boat while Anna and Jared stay behind. While water skiing, they are shot and killed by an unseen sniper on the shore. Moments later Rob, Drew, Robin, and Kelly regain consciousness despite their fatal injuries. Returning to shore, they find their RV has the Roman numeral for seven painted on it with blood; they also find Anna and Jared dead. The survivors conclude that the water in the lake has the ability to bring the dead back to life, and since they were the only ones in the group to go into the water, only they were resurrected. They decide to enact their revenge on their attackers as the segment ends.
Total Copy (interlude 1)
The documentary reveals that "Rory" was found on top of a butte and brought to Stamer University to be studied by a team under the supervision of Dr. Spratling. Hoping to educate the being about human culture, Rory is contained in a small room with a TV, which broadcasts (among other things) exercise videos. Spratling is convinced that the team can communicate with Rory.
God of Death
A Mexican news crew is preparing for the morning news at Ahorita TV. A massive earthquake strikes during the broadcast, which kills the entire crew except for the cameraman, Luis. He is helped out of the rubble by a rescue team. They attempt to make their way out of the building, but are blocked from exiting by the rubble. A member of the rescue team, Javier, is mortally wounded in an aftershock; he forces one of his co-workers, Karla, to expedite his death. Karla, Luis, and two other men in the group, Miguel and Eddie, make their way through a crawl space, where they enter a room with walls made of skulls and a statue of an ancient Aztec god named Mictlān. Mictlān possesses Eddie, who then kills Miguel. Mictlān materializes behind the possessed Eddie and kills him by ripping out his heart, which he then proceeds to eat. Karla succumbs to the god's influence and kills Luis, ripping out his heart as an offering. The room eventually collapses. A surviving news reporter broadcasts from outside the building, saying that "Today, September 19th, approximately 7:20 am, will be a day to remember".
Total Copy (interlude 2)
Rory has begun to display the ability to mutate into, and vaguely resemble, a human body. The footage is interspersed with an interview of a scientist, Dr. Greyson, who had quit the team. She says that when Rory's shapeshifting abilities were discovered, Spratling should have exhibited caution.
TKNOGD
A performance artist, Ada Lovelace opens a show for a small audience in a theater. She explains that the world has killed God and replaced him with the "God of Technology". She introduces a video of a demonstration of a virtual reality software device that allows its user to exist simultaneously on the physical and digital plane. Ada adorns herself with a VR headset, gloves, and a full body suit. Another video is projected that shows what Ada is seeing through her headset, depicting an electronic landscape. After Ada performs an incantation to try to awaken the "God of Technology", and taunts it as a "myth", a mysterious figure appears on the screen. Ada tries, but ultimately fails, to remove the headset. She struggles with one of her gloves before taking it off and revealing the hand underneath to be gone. The entity attacks Ada, with her injuries in the virtual world affecting her in real life. She soon succumbs to her injuries, and as the shocked crowd applauds – believing it to be part of the act – the cameraman removes the visor on the helmet, revealing that Ada's now-exposed brain and facial tissue have merged with the helmet.
Total Copy (interlude 3)
Rory is shown sprouting a tentacle with spikes at the end. Later on, it's revealed that the tentacle is called the "feeler".
Ambrosia
- Written & Directed by Mike P. Nelson
The Wrigley family are hosting a celebration in honor of their teenage daughter Ruth, who films the occasion with her cousin James. Ruth's young relative Adam shoots her with a water gun, which he reveals was given to him by "a lady in an RV" that is seen speeding off. That evening, the Wrigleys reveal they are celebrating an old family tradition – the murders of seven people – as a rite of passage that Ruth has completed. She produces a recording of a killing spree in which she murdered seven people at a lake (per "No Wake"). Police sirens are heard as officers surround the family home. The family rushes to fight back, arming themselves with guns. Ruth's mother reminds her to ensure she is not taken alive, lest it bring shame on the family. As the police raid the house and shoot Ruth's family dead, Ruth kills James after he confesses he is too frightened to fight. Ruth is then gunned down by the police. As a coroner examines the bodies, Ruth revives and, in shock, shoots the coroner. Ruth shoots herself in the head but remains alive. She is arrested in great distress. The video then shows Robin, one of Ruth's victims from the lakeside massacre, filling the water gun with water from the lake.
Total Copy (interlude 4)
Gary, one of the scientists, becomes disturbed when Rory takes on his appearance, as Gary is the only one in the group that has never had a face-to-face with Rory. Dr. Greyson calls for an emergency meeting. She says that Gary has never been in the chamber, then deduces that Rory can see through the one-way mirror that divides its containment and the study room. While Greyson expresses concern, Spratling sees it as a miracle, arguing Rory is breaching beyond its restraints to make contact. Greyson explains in an interview that Spratling did not deserve what happened to him, but that he brought it on himself, and that she primarily sympathizes with the people Spratling "took with him".
Dreamkill
A home invasion is seen from the point of view of the killer. The woman inside can be heard on the phone with a 911 operator. The killer eventually finds her, and proceeds to tie her up with duct tape, slit her throat with an electric meat carver, and slice her eyes open with a straight razor. After the police arrive at the house, the lead detective, Wayne, comments to his partner Bobby on how the murder scene looks familiar to a videotape he received at the station a few weeks prior that showed a woman being murdered the same way. Another video from the killer's POV shows him making his way into another home and, after fighting the man inside and cutting off his fingers, the killer murders him, peeling off a piece of his leg and cutting his chest open.
Police arrive at the home and, again, Wayne explains to Bobby that he had already seen footage of this murder in a tape he received days ago. Wayne tracks the source of the tapes and captures the person responsible for sending them: Gunther, Bobby's son. When Gunther is interrogated about the tapes, he claims that he saw the murders take place in his dreams, and his dreams were being manifested into the tapes. He sent the tapes to the station as a way to warn the police. Wayne does not believe the story, but Bobby explains that their family has a psychic gift that lets them see the future. His sister committed suicide after being driven crazy from seeing them, and Gunther's cousin, Gwen, had the same psychic dreams when her brother was kidnapped.
A final tape is found, which reveals a third murder with the victim having been dismembered and decapitated. Bobby and Wayne recognize the home in the tape and go to investigate. Outside the home, Wayne confronts Bobby about having known his connections to the murders: the women murdered in the first tape and the last tape both accused Bobby of sexual assault and stalking, and the man in the second tape was an attorney representing them. Wayne also tells Bobby that he learned how Bobby had to turn in his badge after the women accused him of sexual assault and stalking. As Wayne pleads for Bobby to tell the truth, he shoots Wayne in the head, killing him instantly. Bobby then heads into the house to commit the murder from Gunther's dream. While at the police station, Gunther looks into the visor of the camera in the interrogation room and learns that it's playing back his dream.
Bobby arrives back at the station and finds Gunther, who realizes that his father is the killer. Gunther reveals that he already knows how this ends, having just seen it in a dream. As Bobby attempts to kill Gunther, police officers arrive and open fire at him. Bobby fights back and kills them, but is then killed by Gunther.
Total Copy (epilogue)
Rory is unresponsive to stimuli, which Spratling interprets as it being sick. Dr. Greyson disagrees, saying that if Rory is as intelligent as Spratling says it is, then Rory could be manipulating him. Later on that evening, Greyson abandons the study. She tries to convince others to follow her, but is unsuccessful. The documentary narrator reveals that while authorities have shared footage of what happened at Stamer University, the documentary will not show it due to the disturbing nature of the images and a concern for the well-being of the viewers. The tape cuts to a black screen revealing that the following footage is property of Stamer University, leased to the show with no intention of distribution.
After Greyson leaves the group, Spratling sends Gary into Rory's room to give him an adrenaline shot, but before he can do so, Rory exposes its "feeler" and wraps it around Gary's arm. While Spratling and Porter are able to get Gary out of the room, Rory sprouts another "feeler" that it uses to drag Gary into its room to kill him; Porter suffers the same fate. Spratling and the cameraman run to escape, but due to the blood on Spratling's hand, the door scanner cannot read his handprint. Rory's "feeler" extends to the hallway and kills them both. Rory then pulls the cameraman's corpse back to its room, where it has assumed an alien form and is manipulating the corpses to mimic the exercise videos shown on the TV screen.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 74% of 47 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "One of the franchise's stronger entries, V/H/S/85 largely avoids the quality control issues common to anthologies, with consistently creepy results."[13]
Jacob Hall of Slashfilm stated that "this is the first film in the series where it feels like every director is actively shooting for the moon," rating it 7 out of 10.[14] Mary McAndrews of Dread Central wrote that "V/H/S/85 is perhaps the series' most consistent entry," praising the focus on cosmic horror and "the shifting cultural consciousness of the 80s," rating it 4 out of 5.[15]
Emily Von Seele of Daily Dead deemed the film "an exceptionally strong entry" in the franchise, highlighting the consistent quality between segments with "no obvious weak link," rating it 5 out of 5.[16] In a positive review for The Daily Texan, Ryan Ranc commented that "'V/H/S/85' stands out as one of the best in the long running franchise," pointing out the "very satisfying payoff" of the main wraparound story and rating the film 3.5 out of 5.[17]
Kat Hughes of The Hollywood News praised the film as one of the best in the franchise, specifying Nelson's segment as "by far the bloodiest, messiest, and goriest of all the stories shown" and rating the film 4 out of 5.[18]
