As horror movie premises go, "found footage" tends to possess the most capacity for both pure, stomach-churning terror and woefully laughable shtick. V/H/S (directed piecemeal by LA directing posse Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Chad Villella, Ti West, and Adam Wingard) — the creepy trailer for which hinted at the very stuff of nightmares — at times wavers between the two. It lands most firmly — and most often — on the side of freaky and tense as all hell. A band of ragtag crooks breaks into a rundown old house to steal a video tape of unknown origin or content for which they've been promised ample compensation. To reveal what they find as they rifle through the house's extensive tape collection would be a spoiler of grievous proportions, but let it be said that, when the directors succeed, some of the footage makes The Ring look like a Disney flick.
