Aarcflick

A Halloween-themed installment of the fading "V/H/S" franchise is obvious to the point of redundancy: Both have become annual celebrations of horror-related kitsch, "scary" as a form of self-categorization, but increasingly confident, even comforting, in their execution. Likewise, both offer a selection of disposable candy wrapped in the promise of an unforgettable night, but only one has given me a good excuse to dress up my three-year-old son as the woodchipper from "Fargo" (my wife, then pregnant, dressed up as Marge Gunderson; it was a huge success). The "V/H/S" omnibuses became an institution because the first two were sinister enough to sell the false curse of their found-footage concept, and the decision to build the eighth volume of the series around strange candy and cursed decorations makes it difficult for "V/H/S/Halloween" to recapture the menace, ambition, or formal skill of its best segments. Directors: Bryan M. Ferguson, ...