V/H/S, the ongoing franchise of found-footage horror shorts, returns this weekend for a ninth iteration. Mixtape features a range of films, united by common themes of music and sound, and framed by a series of skits performed by horror metal band Gwar. It is streaming on Shudder for now; a physical release, assuming this ninth film is like its predecessors, should follow in early 2027.

All things considered, this seems likely to be the least accomplished V/H/S film of the series so far. On the one hand that is a little disappointing, given some of the excellent shorts it has generated over the years. On the other, inevitably a film has to be the lesser of the set by a law of averages more than anything else. The V/H/S format, and the found footage genre of horror cinema, is evergreen. The basic premise is rock-solid. It is the individual shorts that determine whether or not an individual film is worth checking out or not. A tenth V/H/S has already been confirmed for 2027, so the future seems relatively safe for now. As for the ninth, tastes vary and there is a decent chance at least one of the shorts contained within will entertain. As for which short that is, opinions are inevitably going to differ.

The opening short, “Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance”, is likely the film’s best. A television producer (Barbara Crampton) and her assistants arrive at a TV studio to digitally scan the puppets for a CGI reimagining of a once-popular children’s show. The puppets, inevitably, are not as inanimate as first indications might suggest. The participation of the Jim Henson Creature Workshop in realising the puppets gives it a tremendous Sesame Street-like authenticity, and while the film lacks depth it is darkly funny. Renee Zhan directs effectively.

“Another Cabin”, by Flying Lotus, stands out from previous V/H/S releases because it eschews found footage in favour of stop motion animation. While it is visually effective, and features some superb moments of horror, it is much too brief to make a sufficient impact. The same is true of Tobias Forge’s “Premature Burial”, which is a horror-themed music video. While Forge’s own band Ghost are a tremendous musical act, the song here is forgettable and the video for it uninvolving.

David Moreau’s “Heartbeat” follows two urban explorers inside a long-abandoned Soviet research base. It has a strong premise, but fails in the execution. The result feels too superficial and too brief to have the desired effect. It is interesting that Moreau’s film concerns itself not with music or sound, but the lack of both. Of the four main shorts of the film, it is the one whose premise seems to have the most potential. It is shame that potential is so quickly and pointlessly squandered.

Ernest Dickerson (Demon Knight) contributes “The Music of Mr Tze”, which has some decent scriptwriting and direction but tends to outstay its welcome a little too much. The Lovecraftian imagery makes it feel quite similar to many of the shorts in earlier V/H/S anthologies, but it does not quite manage to meet the quality of many of those efforts. It is competently made, but ultimately forgettable.

RZA of Wu-Tang Klan contributes a very assured and confident final short, “Death Tone”, in which an aspiring music producer (Neela Jolene) follows her dead father’s instructions to make a particularly macabre slice of electronica. The concept is decent, and a good fit for the traditional V/H/S style, but events become repetitive too soon and for too long. It is broadly entertaining, but could be much better than it ultimately is.

That really is the over-arching effect of Mixtape: compared to most other examples of the series it seems under-cooked and under-developed. The Gwar interstitials do not help: rather than amusing, they feel particularly irritating – like a comedian whose solution to no one laughing is to perform the same jokes louder. I am still a huge fan of the V/H/S concept and brand, but in this case the results are sub-standard.