The V/H/S franchise returned with V/H/S/85, and viewers may have questions about the best way to watch the V/H/S movies in order. The films are a unique horror hybrid, combining a found footage template with a horror anthology storytelling format. In each V/H/S movie, the framing story involves one or more people discovering a collection of V/H/S tapes. Each depicts one of the horror movie shorts of the film, and each presents an unexplained, horrifying event while keeping its context a mystery.
V/H/S does not have a strict franchise continuity per se, due to the anthology approach of the series. However, the handful of spinoffs of V/H/S movies do establish what little continuity the franchise operates on through the stories they tell. Specifically, SiREN and Kids vs. Aliens serve up parallel narratives to the V/H/S franchise, connecting to the segments “Amateur Night” in V/H/S and “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” in V/H/S 99. With that in mind — and with the years specified in some of the V/H/S films’ titles, the V/H/S franchise’s loose continuity can be pieced together.
When it comes to the best chronological order to watch the V/H/S movies in order, this is the order in which the events happen in a timeline, regardless of the release dates. The first V/H/S movie came out in 2012 and the date of the events in the story lined up with the same time, so this movie likely took place in the universe in 2012. Similarly, V/H/S/2 was a sequel both in order of release and the chronological timeline, and V/H/S Viral followed that, keeping the movies in order. Things changed with the 2021 release V/H/S/94.
As the title suggests, this movie’s story was set in 1994, making it a prequel to the first three released V/H/S movies in order but it isn’t the oldest either. The next movie moved ahead in time to 1999, making it a sequel to V/H/S/94, but still a prequel to the original movies. The 2023 release took the entire franchise back to 1985, making it the oldest in the series. While it might not be the best viewing order for new fans to discover the movies, this is the order that the franchise goes for the in-universe timeline.
It is easier to understand the release date order for the V/H/S movies in order. This has nothing to do with what happens chronologically in the movies and is instead the best way to watch the movies if a person wants to see them in the order they were released. The first V/H/S movie hit theaters in October 2012, but its low box office hurt the franchise’s immediate future. The next two films received a VOD release around the same time they hit theaters. SiREN was released by Chiller Films and then sent to DVD a week later.
The movies took five years off before V/H/S/94 started the prequels in 2021. After touring horror-centric film festivals, V/H/S ended up as a Shudder Original Film on streaming services, and that is how the franchise has remained. V/H/S/99, Kids vs Aliens, and V/H/S/85 were all also released on Shudder, and that is how to watch the V/H/S movies in order of release date.
Made at the height of the found-footage horror movie craze, V/H/S gives a nice introduction to the basic template of the series with its collection of spooky horror movie shorts. V/H/S gets the ball rolling effectively, and “Amateur Night” still stands as one of its strongest individual segments. In all, V/H/S is a strong starting point for the series and where viewers should begin their viewing journey.
As a direct spinoff of “Amateur Night,” SiREN is the first chapter of the V/H/S franchise to essentially turn it into a cinematic universe. Following the shocking reveal that Lily (Hannah Fierman) is a bat-winged succubus, SiREN puts the character at the center of her own non-found footage story. With “Amateur Night” being the most acclaimed short of V/H/S, SiREN is great as a direct follow-up.
The 2013 sequel V/H/S 2 steps up the scares and the gore in every way from its predecessor, and it is an overall stronger movie in both its individual shorts and the framing story. While every short of V/H/S 2 fires on all cylinders, “Safe Haven“ is the true centerpiece of the film, hailing from the minds of The Raid‘s Gareth Evans and Tim Tjahjanto of The Night Comes for Us fame. In a nutshell, V/H/S walked so V/H/S 2 could run.
The V/H/S franchise reached what is generally viewed as its nadir in 2014’s V/H/S: Viral, and indeed, the series went dormant for several years after its release. In general, V/H/S: Viral‘s horror shorts aren’t as strong as its two predecessors, but its real problem lies in its quantity. With V/H/S: Viral having just three individual segments, it never reaches the heights of its predecessors. Still, series completionists may want to give it a watch.
After seven years on ice, the V/H/S franchise exploded from the grave with 2021’s V/H/S/94, which made the series into Shudder’s new Halloween horror staple. With one of the strongest wrap-around stories of the series involving a SWAT team, V/H/S/94 delivers one terrifying and thoroughly gory short after another. All the while, its look is specifically designed to match V/H/S tapes from the early ’90s. Timo Tjahjanto returns with the short “The Subject,” which singlehandedly brought V/H/S back to life. As such, V/H/S/94 is great to watch as a return to form after V/H/S: Viral.
While not quite as strong as V/H/S/94, V/H/S/99 proved the V/H/S franchise’s comeback with the former was no fluke. V/H/S/99 brings the horror magic yet again with spine-tingling shorts like “Shredding,” “Suicide Bid,” and “The Gawkers.” It also sets up another spinoff with “Slumber Party Alien Abduction.” After the reinvigoration V/H/S/94 provided, V/H/S/99 makes for a great double feature full of Halloween fun and ’90s camcorder terror.
Like SiREN, Kids vs. Aliens builds from a standout segment in a V/H/S movie and sheds its found footage format for traditional cinematography and storytelling. Unlike SiREN, Kids vs. Aliens directly adapts its original segment, “Slumber Party Abduction,” to show the invasion from the perspective of the partying kids in the short. With “Slumber Party Abduction” providing a nice appetizer, Kids vs. Aliens is a great main course to follow V/H/S/99.
The latest V/H/S movie takes the franchise back in time to the ’80s, just in time for Halloween 2023. Everything we know about V/H/S/85 suggests it’s chronologically the first V/H/S movie, but like the rest of the franchise, it does not directly lead into any other installments. That makes it very open-ended in terms of where to watch it in relation to the rest of the series. However, with the V/H/S franchise being on such a winning streak, V/H/S/85 might best be saved for the end of a V/H/S Halloween marathon.