In what now seems well established as an annual tradition, horror streamer Shudder returns with another V/H/S feature – an anthology comprising several short films – all presented as found footage, all presented as if recording onto videotape, and each spun off from a particular theme. In the case of 2025’s entry that theme is Halloween, leading to a mostly wonderful collection of short works ranging from the effective to the ludicrous. There is only one film that fails to work here, which we will get to. Otherwise, it’s gleefully fun stuff.

A framing series of vignettes tracks a series of taste tests for a new soft drink, each iteration of which has a spectacularly unexpected result. Written and directed by Bryan M. Ferguson, it works as an amusing means of breaking up each of the other works. There is more than a hint of Halloween III: Season of the Witch about it as well. David Haydn is wonderful as cynical COO Blaine Rothschild.

Anna Zlokovic’s “Coochie Coochie Coo” follows a pair of high school students into a haunted house on Halloween night, only to be menacing by a freakish “mother” who leaves a trail of breast milk and foetuses behind her. It’s a largely effective slice of body horror.

“Ut Supra Sic Infra”, from [REC] creator Paco Plaza, forms the film’s most satisfying instalment. A police investigation into a mass killing turns into a hugely effective supernatural horror. Well-paced, performed, and staged, it condenses an entire feature film into just a few minutes. It is shorts like this that make V/H/S such a great series to return to each year.

“Fun Size” by Casper Kelly is utterly demented. Kelly is perhaps best known for his surreal “Too Many Cooks” short that went viral across the Internet some years ago. At first it seems to be deeply substandard, with amateurish performances and a silly narrative. Before long it becomes clear that the silliness is the point, and “Fun Size” emerges as a great little comedy gem.

Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman’s “Home Haunt” is enjoyable but lacks the impact of the earlier shorts.

Where this V/H/S anthology stumbles is in the penultimate short “Kidprint”. It is genuinely challenging stuff, involving the torture and mutilation of children. While such fare has its place in cinema – indeed, I have watched a fair amount of extreme films myself – in the generally light-hearted context of V/H/S/Halloween it jars badly and feels much more affronting and inappropriate that it is. Director Alex Ross Perry demonstrates creativity and talent here, but it is palpably a case of the wrong film in the wrong place. V/H/S has never been this upsetting or nihilistic before, and the short absolutely does not suit the overall tone of the franchise.

The one short aside, V/H/S/Halloween is one of the more enjoyable of Shudder’s series of V/H/S sequels. The format is a great means of allowing both up-and-coming and established directors to play around with ideas that, while maybe not consequential enough to form a feature, can be played out in a short format. With any luck, the franchise will continue long into the future.