Sundance horror flick V/H/S picked up for $1 million

I'm not sure I have the guts to watch V/H/S, a horror film currently screening at Sundance. In the grand tradition of William Castle, screenings of the film have been accompanied by reports that people were so scared, they fell ill. THR tempers its report by noting that exhaustion, dehydration, and altitude sickness were later indicated as factors, not the movie's disturbing content.

Paying somewhere over $1 million, Magnolia picked up the movie with plans for a premium VOD release followed by a theatrical release. V/H/S has quite a bit going for it. One, it's a found footage movie, which cleaves to horror's trend for mockumentary and realism, as exemplified by the successful Paranormal Activity franchise. Second, it reminds me of The Ring, another movie with "found footage" as a plot element that was the talk of my high school for weeks and weeks after it came out. Finally, it has five found footage-within-found footage segments created by various directors including horror helmers Ti West and David Bruckner.

I can't say I like very scary movies, but V/H/S sounds too creative to pass up. The framing device is a tape of a group of criminals who are hired to break into an attic and steal some videos. Each of the five videos they watch, however, uses an entirely different recording technique. One is a recorded Skype chat, another uses a secret spy camera hidden in a pair of glasses.  There are also looks at a motel security system and some teens in the woods who can only see the monster through the video camera.

Seeing filmmakers embrace new technology is thrilling. So frequently, movies lag behind new technology. For years after people switched to voicemail, answering machines were used as plot devices.  Conversely, horror movies absolutely ran the idea of "No Signal" into the ground (I love this supercut of the trope), in part because they were forced into answering the question their viewers were undoubtedly asking--why don't they just call for help? Sundance films, particularly, often release just a year or so after their conception, so they're better able to take advantage of new technology or pop-culture trends. I may need to take a deep breath and see V/H/S, if only for its embrace of new technology despite its decidedly retro name.