V/H/S/94

• Written and directed by Jennifer Reeder

A white-dressed woman inhales vapor from a white, goopy substance on her hands. Later, the same woman, with her eyes gouged out, counts down from ten in a staticky voice as another woman passes behind her. A SWAT team — consisting of Slater, Oursler, Sprayberry, Spivey, Petro and Nash — raid a warehouse during a drug bust, with cameraman Gary in tow. They find a private jet behind the warehouse. A distorted female voice emanates from the speakers: "All are welcome. All are watching. Finally, followers, tonight is the night you've been waiting for. Track my signal. The signal is the stimulant. The signal is the sedative. The signal is salvation." As the officers charge through the tight corridors, they discover multiple prison cell-like rooms with television sets displaying static. They spot a man sitting in one of the rooms, but as the officers order him to not move, they realize he is dead, with his eyes gouged out and the white goopy substance -- the drug the SWAT team is after -- dripping onto the floor.

Advancing through the warehouse in search of suspects, the team enters the room seen in the VHS tape and encounter more dead cultists. Slater orders to search the upper floor with Blue team while the remaining officers keep going as one of the televisions begins to play a newscast.

• Written and directed by Chloe Okuno
• "The Veggie Masher" commercial directed and edited by Steve Kostanski

Reporter Holly Marciano and her cameraman Jeff are reporting on the legend of the Rat Man who has supposedly been spotted in the city's sewers. They descend into a storm drain, where they find homeless encampments. While filming, they are approached by a man covered in black slime. Holly tries to interview him, but when he begins to spit up black liquid and murmurs "Raatma," they try to flee. Instead they are captured by other residents of the sewer dwellers.

They are taken deeper into the sewers by the dwellers. A minister, who Holly had interviewed earlier, appears and announces that a new order will soon begin. Raatma, a grotesque half-human/half-rat creature, appears. It vomits black liquid, which the minister pours over Jeff's face, burning him to death. Holly is brought to Raatma. It growls its approval as Holly screams.

A news anchor explains that Holly was rescued from the storm drain and is now back to work at the station, though Jeff is still missing. Holly gives her next report, unwittingly substituting random words with "Raatma", confusing her co-anchor. She vomits the black liquid on his face, burning him to death on air. As the newsroom erupts in panic Holly finishes her report with "Hail Raatma."

Meanwhile in 'Holy Hell', the officers go deeper into the building and come across a room set up to look like a church, but with a giant screen at the front and severed mannequins in the seats. The giant screen begins to play video from a funeral home.

• Written and directed by Simon Barrett

At a funeral home, a young woman named Hailey is assigned to host a wake for a man named Andrew Edwards. It has been requested that Andrew's casket be video recorded during the whole night. Her boss, Ronald, and another assistant, Tim, leave the building for the night. Outside a strong thunderstorm begins, causing the power to flicker. When she hears strange noises from the casket, which has moved on the bier, Hailey calls Tim and says that she thinks Andrew is alive in the casket. Tim quells her worries by explaining that his body is most likely releasing gases that are causing the noises. As the storm worsens, the building begins to occasionally lose power. A man does eventually arrive to the wake and after uttering something in Hungarian language abruptly leaves. Hailey then calls her friend Sharon, asking for her to check in the local obituaries for Andrew's name.

Sharon tells Hailey that Andrew committed suicide by leaping from the roof of a church after shouting gibberish. The power cuts out again, plunging the building into darkness as the noises resume from the casket. Trying to leave, Hailey discovers the front doors are chained shut. Returning to the viewing room she finds the casket tipped over and open. She is attacked by Andrew's corpse, but because the top of its head is missing, it cannot see her. Hiding behind the casket, she finds the top of Andrew's head, and its functional eyes lock onto her, allowing the rest of the corpse to find Hailey. As it attacks, a tornado strikes the funeral home, killing both. After it passes, a zombified Hailey rises and climbs through the window.

Meanwhile in 'Holy Hell', the officers discover body parts strewn across the floor, mannequins in the toilet stalls, and upside-down crosses hanging from the ceiling of various rooms. Panicked, they plan to exit the building. As an unknown voice states, "Forever is right now", a television begins to play footage from a bizarre laboratory.

• Written and directed by Timo Tjahjanto

A man wakes up to find his body gone and replaced by mechanical spider legs. He falls from his restraints and catches fire, which is soon extinguished by Dr James Suhendra, a deranged but skilled scientist. James desires to create a successful mechanical-human hybrid, using kidnapped humans as guinea pigs. He carries out a lobotomy on a young woman ('Subject 99') using a circular saw, and sedates a restrained young man ('Subject 98') after he wakes up early. Both experiments are successful; Subject 98 becomes a large robot with spring-powered blades for arms, and Subject 99 becomes a functioning cyborg that responds to speech. The rest of the tape is mostly presented from her point of view. James celebrates 99's success, and a news report states that a rash of recent disappearances are driving wedges between the police and the public. James is suspected of kidnapping his patients, and 99's old self is shown onscreen; James remarks on how she still recognises her old appearance.

James attempts to wipe 99's memories; 99 wakes up during the procedure and hits James, before attempting to undo her restraints. James beats 99 repeatedly with a metal tray, and her battery life drops before he is interrupted by a knock at the door; a team of soldiers have arrived to arrest James. James throws a blanket over 99 as the soldiers break in, and the tape cuts to timid cameraman Jono's feed. After the commander confirms that James is their suspect, the police shoot him dead, and begin hunting the lab for survivors. They discover 99, and argue over if she should be killed or kept alive as she is not human anymore, despite technically being a survivor. A sudden blackout occurs in the lab, and Jono witnesses 99 escape, but does not say anything.

Another soldier attempts to shoot the door lock and free the group, but triggers an explosion. As the group come to, an alarm begins to sound and James's contingency plan begins. Over a speaker, James states that his creation is his only, and that those who try to take it from him shall die. Subject 98 awakens and slaughters most of the soldiers; Jono and the commander survive after the commander hurls a grenade at 98. Subject 99 comes to, and flees through the building as she is shot at by the surviving soldiers and chased by 98. She locks herself in a small office room and finds blueprints for her cyborg body and cannon arm, along with the upper half of her head and face preserved in a jar of formaldehyde. She approaches a mirror, and sees her new form for the first time; enraged, she punches the mirror and breaks it. After leaving the room and coming across more of James's failed experiments, 99 fights her way through the building, slaughtering any soldiers she comes across in self-defence. She discovers Jono behind a door, and spares him after he begs for his life and promises to help her out of the lab. Suddenly, the commander appears and shoots 99 before beating her; Jono grabs a gun and shoots the commander dead before being attacked by Subject 98. With her battery critically low, 99 uses the last of her strength to tear out 98's brain, killing it. She collapses next to a heavily injured Jono, and her battery finally dies. The tape cuts to a security camera, which shows 99 standing up and walking off.

Meanwhile in 'Holy Hell', it is shown that Nash and Petro have kidnapped Spivey. As the rest of the team frantically search for him, Nash states "Forever starts right now". In front of a wall of TV screens, Slater pages his missing teammates over his radio, and Petro states that he should try not to lose his head. Slater collapses and enters a trance in front of a screen, and the fourth short ("Terror") begins.

• Written and directed by Ryan Prows

An extremist group known as the First Patriots Movement Militia are plotting to blow up a government building and take back America. It is shown that they live in a well-secured compound in a deserted area of Detroit, Michigan. The compound has a room for security cameras, as well as a heavily protected small room covered in wooden crosses. In the latter room, a man is chained up and kept prisoner. Bob, the group's cameraman, Greg, the group leader, and Chuck, a group member, enter the room. The man pleads for his life, and Greg shoots him at point-blank range. In a propaganda video, Greg explains that the group intends to purge evil from America.

Members of the group set out in a car and drive past the government building which they plan to blow up, surveying the site for security cameras and possible entry points. Later at the compound, Slater shows up and gives guns and ammunition to the group, asking if they have tested the "creature". It is shown that the group regularly shoot the man and siphon his blood, which has explosive properties in sunlight; they plan to use this instead of a bomb. Wanting to test if their plan works, they inject a rabbit with some of the man's blood and cage it; when the sun rises, the rabbit explodes. In celebration that night, the group drink heavily and party. Bob enters the compound and visits Steve, who is sitting in the security camera room. The pair visit the man, and Bob goads Steve into kissing his corpse; the man's head falls forward and showers Steve in blood as Bob laughs.

The next morning, an emergency bell rings and alerts the members of the group. Greg berates Jimmy, who was supposed to be on duty guarding the compound. Jimmy runs towards a body behind the truck, discovering it to be Terry; his neck has been badly gored. Suddenly, crashes come from inside the compound, and the group realizes they are missing Steve. Greg calls for Steve, and a severed head is thrown out of the compound entrance as roars sound from inside. A member begins firing a truck-mounted machinegun on the compound, losing control due to sway and killing some of the group in the process, and is shot in the head by Tom when he is unable to stop. Then, Steve stumbles out of the compound covered in vampire blood and promptly explodes once he steps into the daylight.

The remaining members of the group - Greg, Tom, Bob and Jimmy - vow to kill the vampire. They enter the compound and discover the creature hiding in the attic; it tears Tom's face off and Greg shoots wildly at it. In the attic, the vampire kills Jimmy by slamming his head on the floor repeatedly, and Bob shoots at it, missing and shooting Greg in the leg. Bob is attacked by the vampire, dying after his face is bitten off. Greg, repeating the phrase "Christ is king" is killed by the vampire as it drags him into the cage and then opens the attic window and letting in sunlight, causing the vampire to explode and the compound to be destroyed.

The majority of the SWAT team are now dead with their eyes gouged out. Slater is tied to a chair by Petro and Nash, who accuse him of being a traitor to the militia in the previous video. The women explain that they create and distribute videotapes depicting animal cruelty, cannibalism and other shocking acts of violence. Slater will be their final kill for this video. Petro beats Slater to death with a video camera. She and Nash believe this will be their best tape yet and wonder what to call it.

In June 2020, it was announced that a reboot of the V/H/S franchise was in development, with a fourth installment titled V/H/S/94, written by David Bruckner. The film was said to take the franchise in a different direction, with each anthology short film converging for the first time into a unified narrative. The title refers to the year in which the film takes place, 1994.[1][4] The project was a joint-venture production between Bloody Disgusting Films, Radio Silence Productions, Cinepocalypse Productions, Studio71, Raven Banner Entertainment, and Shudder Original Films.[3]

Bruckner, who directed fan favorite segment "Amateur Night" in the original V/H/S, was set to direct the wraparound but dropped out due to commitments on the upcoming Hellraiser reboot. Likewise, filmmaking collective Radio Silence (who also directed a short in the original film, "10/31/98") was set to direct a segment, but also stepped down to focus on the upcoming Scream sequel.[5] Unlike the previous entries in the franchise, where each segment was shot simultaneously with different crews, the filming for V/H/S/94 was largelly sequential, with four out of the five shorts (save for "The Subject") having been shot in Toronto, Canada with overlapping crews. Writers David Bruckner and Simon Barrett had prepared preliminary scripts for the wraparound plot, but those stories were ultimately cut in favor of Jennifer Reeder's script.

In August 2021, it was announced that Greg Anderson of experimental drone metal band Sunn O))) would be the composer for the film score.[3]

Principal photography was completed during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. According to producer Josh Goldbloom, the production teams built sets in hotels and conference rooms, and "in the spirit of the series punk rock roots [they] even ventured underground into a sewer."[6]

During a Comic-Con@Home discussion panel on the film, Goldbloom added that the filmmakers had gone "very era-authentic with this iteration of V/H/S", utilizing older video equipment, physical tape transfers and digital effects to make each segment look like amateur video from the 1990s. The directors also detailed some of their influences on making each short film, citing the events and video footage of the Waco siege, O.J. Simpson's Bronco chase, the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding assault and the Heaven's Gate religious group. Directors Jennifer Reeder and Timo Tjahjanto mentioned David Cronenberg's Videodrome and infamous mondo shockumentary Faces of Death as inspirations, respectively. Tjahjanto concluded that "ironically, the latest V/H/S will probably be the grungiest looking."

In an interview for the The Daily Texan, Goldbloom and the filmmakers explained how some of the segments achieved the deteriorated VHS look. The filmmakers shot their segments at 29.97 frames per second to emulate the shot-on-video aesthetic. According to director Chloe Okuno, the segment "Storm Drain" — inspired by horror film [REC] and documentary Dark Days — was shot digitally and then converted to tape and played over multiple times to purposedly degrade the footage. Director Simon Barrett explained how his short was inspired by the 1967 Soviet horror film Viy and his desire to direct a film with the premise of someone having to watch over a corpse.[7]

An "exclusive first look" of V/H/S/94 was uploaded to YouTube on the official Comic-Con International channel on June 27, 2021 after a roundtable interview with the producers and directors.[8] The short clip featured a portion of the segment "Storm Drain" by Chloe Okuno.

The first official still image of the film was released via Bloody Disgusting on September 9, 2021 to promote its announced world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2021.[9] A week later, IGN premiered an exclusive official trailer for the film, which was then shared by Shudder and Bloody Disgusting on their respective outlets.[10] That same month, film critics and horror film influencers were sent a care package from Shudder celebrating its "61 Days of Halloween" programming. Included in the package was a promotional faux VHS cover for V/H/S/94, with a fake cassette containing Halloween-themed candy.

On October 4, 2021 Shudder released a small promotional clip from the segment "Storm Drain" in anticipation for the film's release.[11]