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V/H/S/94 (2021) movie poster

Plot Summary

V/H/S/94 (2021) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language
2021 · 100 min · English
Echo score 65
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Directed by
Timo Tjahjanto, Chloe Okuno, Jennifer Reeder, Ryan Prows, Simon Barrett
Starring
Dax Ravina, Kimmy Choi, Anna Hopkins, Christian Lloyd, Conor Sweeney, Dru Viergever

During a raid on a remote warehouse, a specialized SWAT team discovers a collection of disturbing VHS tapes. As they investigate the tapes' contents, they unwittingly unleash a terrifying supernatural force linked to a dark cult. The team must confront the escalating horror and fight to survive the escalating threat contained within the mysterious recordings.

On this page (6)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 What happens: full plot
  3. 3 Plot questions answered
  4. 4 Movie threads
  5. 5 Movies like V/H/S/94
  6. 6 Every angle
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Full plot summary · contains spoilers

What Happens in V/H/S/94: Full Plot Summary

The whole story of V/H/S/94 (2021) explained, from the opening scene to the final frame: every key event, every twist and what it all adds up to. Read it as a quick recap before the sequel, to check a scene you missed, or to finally understand what really happened.

The movie is structured into multiple segments, presented as a collection of tapes discovered by the members of a SWAT team amidst a chilling backdrop in an abandoned warehouse linked to a ritualistic mass suicide by a cult.

In the frame narrative titled "Holy Hell," penned and helmed by Jennifer Reeder, we are introduced to a mysterious woman clad in white, who inhales a vapor from a gelatinous substance. This eerie scene escalates as she counts down from ten in a disconcerting voice, unsettling viewers as another woman stealthily passes behind her. Meanwhile, the SWAT team – comprised of Slater, Oursler, Sprayberry, Spivey, Petro, Nash, and their cameraman Gary – embarks on what is presumed to be a drug bust, only to find a private jet concealed behind the warehouse. A distorted female voice echoes ominously, proclaiming: > “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 team navigates the tense, narrow corridors, they stumble upon various rooms that resemble prisons, complete with televisions broadcasting static. In one room, they find a man, strangely motionless, only to realize with dread that he is dead, his eyes gouged out, with the same viscous substance the SWAT team is trailing ominously dripping to the floor.

As they venture further, seeking suspects, the officers enter a room already depicted in the tapes and encounter more dead cult members, leading Slater to command a search of the upper floor with a separate unit. A nearby television crackles to life, hinting at foreboding revelations.

Transitioning into the segment "Storm Drain," crafted by Chloe Okuno, we follow Channel 6 News reporter Holly Marciano and her cameraman Jeff as they investigate the legend of the Rat Man lurking in the storm drains of Westerville, Ohio. Their quest leads them underground where they confront homeless inhabitants and a man smeared with a disturbing black slime. When Holly attempts to interview him, she finds herself in grave danger as he spews black liquid and utters the strange word "Raatma." Their attempt to flee fails, and they are captured by the sewer's residents.

Deeper beneath the city, Holly encounters a local church minister who had previously given her an interview. He announces a new order and calls upon the Rat Man, revealing it to be a grotesque creature half human, half rat—dubbed “Raatma”—which the sewer dwellers worship fervently. In a gruesome turn, Raatma vomits black liquid that melts Jeff's face, leading to his tragic demise. Holly is then presented to Raatma, and as the creature growls, her screams echo through the darkness.

A brief interlude showcases Holly's return to the newsroom post-rescue, where she unwittingly substitutes words with "Raatma" during a report, spiraling into chaos as she vomits the fatal black substance on her co-anchor during a live broadcast, culminating in his horrific death while Holly manically signs off with, "Hail Raatma."

The tale continues in "The Empty Wake," brought to life by Simon Barrett, where a young woman named Hailey, tasked with hosting a wake at Jensen Funeral Home, encounters unsettling occurrences linked to the deceased Andrew Edwards. Left alone as the storm rages outside, unsettling noises from the casket disrupt her reading. When a strange relative arrives, chaos ensues as Hailey discovers the casket empty and the corpse ready to attack her.

Moving into “The Subject”, a segment created by Timo Tjahjanto, we find ourselves immersed in the horrific experiments of a deranged scientist in Indonesia, where kidnapped individuals are transformed into mechanical hybrids in a chaotic setting filled with violence and desperation.

Lastly, the ominous narrative culminates in a segment titled "Terror," directed by Ryan Prows, detailing a white supremacist militia's nefarious plans to detonate a government building using an imprisoned vampire’s blood. As chaos erupts and fatalities mount within the compound, a horror unfolds leading to destruction in their blind quest for power.

Through these visceral segments, the film intertwines threads of cult fanaticism, grotesque transformations, and the depths of human depravity, compelling viewers to delve into the chilling narratives that challenge the bounds of horror. The SWAT team's harrowing exploration sees them grappling with unimaginable horrors lurking within the walls of the warehouse, leading to an increasingly desperate struggle for survival as each chilling story unfolds.

Last updated: November 03, 2024 at 21:30

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Plot questions answered

V/H/S/94 Plot Explained: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask most about V/H/S/94 (2021): what happens in the confusing scenes, why the characters do what they do, the twists, hidden details and what the ending means. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Why does the news reporter start saying 'Raatma' on live TV?

After being rescued from the storm drain, Holly has been infected with the black substance from Raatma. During her live news broadcast, the word 'Raatma' involuntarily replaces other words in her speech, and she eventually vomiting the black liquid on her co-anchor, killing him. This shows the infection has taken over her body and mind.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the black slime was shown to be contagious and fatal when the Rat Man spewed it onto Jeff, melting his face.

  • holly marciano
  • raatma
  • black slime
  • infection
  • news broadcast
  • rat man
Q2

What is the Rat Man in the storm drains?

The Rat Man, called Raatma by the sewer dwellers, is a grotesque half-human half-rat hybrid creature worshipped as a god by the homeless inhabitants of the storm drains. A local church minister reveals it to be part of a new religious order, and the creature's black vomit is lethal, capable of melting human flesh on contact.

Foreshadowing: Holly received a tip about the Rat Man legend, and the mysterious slime appeared on a homeless man before the full creature emerged.

  • rat man
  • raatma
  • storm drain
  • creature
  • hybrid
  • sewer
Q3

Why are the SWAT officers watching the VHS tapes?

The SWAT team raids the warehouse expecting a drug bust but instead discovers a collection of disturbing VHS tapes. As they investigate the building and search for suspects, they inadvertently watch the tapes, which contain the various horror segments. The tapes are linked to a cult that performed a mass suicide in the warehouse, and watching them unleashes the supernatural force.

Foreshadowing: The distorted voice announces 'All are watching' and 'Track my signal' as the team enters, hinting that watching the tapes is part of the cult's plan.

  • swat team
  • vhs tapes
  • cult
  • warehouse
  • signal
  • holy hell
Q4

What is the woman in white doing at the start of the movie?

The woman in white is part of the cult's ritual. She inhales vapor from a gelatinous substance while counting down from ten in a unsettling voice. This scene is part of the 'Holy Hell' frame narrative that establishes the cult's presence in the warehouse and their supernatural practices.

Foreshadowing: This scene directly connects to the cult's mass suicide and the supernatural events that follow.

  • woman in white
  • cult
  • ritual
  • vapor
  • gelatinous substance
  • holy hell
Q5

How does Holly get infected with the black liquid?

Holly becomes infected when Raatma vomits the black liquid directly onto her cameraman Jeff, melting his face in front of her. She is then 'presented' to the creature but manages to escape. The infection lies dormant until she returns to the newsroom, where it manifests during her broadcast.

Foreshadowing: The black slime was introduced earlier when a homeless man smeared with it attacked Holly and Jeff, showing its deadly properties.

  • holly
  • jeff
  • black liquid
  • infection
  • raatma
  • vomiting
Q6

Why does the corpse in the casket come back to life?

In 'The Empty Wake,' Hailey is alone at Jensen Funeral Home during a storm when she hears noises from Andrew Edwards' casket. She discovers the corpse is missing and is attacked by it. The exact cause of the corpse's reanimation is not explained, but it follows the anthology's pattern of supernatural or horror events occurring in isolated settings.

Foreshadowing: The segment is titled 'The Empty Wake,' suggesting something is wrong with the body from the beginning.

  • hailey
  • funeral home
  • corpse
  • attack
  • empty wake
  • andrew edwards
Q7

What are the mechanical hybrids in the Indonesian segment?

In 'The Subject,' a deranged scientist in Indonesia kidnaps people and forcibly transforms them into mechanical hybrids, human bodies fused with machinery and weapons. This violent and chaotic segment depicts horrific experiments where victims are turned into living weapons against their will.

Foreshadowing: This segment follows the anthology's theme of human transformation and depravity.

  • indonesia
  • mechanical hybrids
  • scientist
  • experiment
  • science fiction
  • subject
Q8

What is the white supremacist militia planning to do with vampire blood?

In the 'Terror' segment, a white supremacist militia imprisons a vampire and plans to use its blood to detonate a government building. The vampire's blood serves as a weapon or explosive in their terrorist attack, which leads to chaos and fatalities at their compound.

Foreshadowing: The final segment's title 'Terror' indicates a deliberate act of horror using supernatural elements.

  • militia
  • vampire
  • blood
  • terrorist attack
  • government building
  • vampire blood
Q9

What happened at the warehouse before the SWAT team arrived?

The abandoned warehouse is linked to a ritualistic mass suicide performed by a cult. The SWAT team discovers this when they find dead cult members throughout the building, including a man with his eyes gouged out. The cult's distorted voice message about 'salvation' and 'the signal' suggests their beliefs drove them to kill themselves.

Foreshadowing: The opening scene with the woman in white establishes the cult's ritualistic nature.

  • cult
  • mass suicide
  • warehouse
  • dead cult members
  • ritual
  • holy hell
Q10

How does Jeff die in the storm drain?

Jeff is killed when Raatma, the Rat Man creature, vomits a torrent of black liquid directly onto his face. The substance melts his flesh instantly, killing him in a graphic display of body horror while Holly watches in terror.

Foreshadowing: Earlier encounters with the black slime showed it was corrosive and deadly when the homeless man attacked with it.

  • jeff
  • death
  • melting face
  • raatma
  • black liquid
  • storm drain

Movie threads

More Movies Like V/H/S/94, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes V/H/S/94 tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Horror Anthology Movies Like V/H/S/94

Movies that stitch together disparate tales of terror into a larger, unsettling whole. If you liked the segmented terror of V/H/S/94, explore more movies that use an anthology structure. These films present multiple, distinct horror tales linked by a common theme or frame narrative, offering a variety of scares and a complex, often bleak, overarching story.

  • unsettling
  • gruesome
  • sinister
  • fragmented
  • visceral
  • paranoid
  • Tone: dark, sinister
  • Pacing: variable, segmented
Why these movies?

The story pattern: These stories unfold through a series of vignettes or segments, each with its own characters, conflict, and horrific climax. A framing narrative, such as characters discovering tapes or being told stories, connects the segments, usually revealing a sinister pattern or overarching threat by the end.

Why they belong together: Movies are grouped here for their shared structural approach to horror. They provide a varied, complex viewing experience defined by shifting perspectives and escalating dread, appealing to viewers who enjoy a collection of chilling tales bound by a dark, unifying thread.

Gritty Found Footage Horror Movies Like V/H/S/94

First-person perspectives on a brutal, chaotic collapse into inhuman horror. Fans of the raw, visceral style of V/H/S/94 will find more movies that use found footage to plunge viewers into chaos. These films feature a first-person perspective on terrifying events, often involving supernatural forces, body horror, and a desperate fight for survival with a bleak outcome.

  • claustrophobic
  • gritty
  • visceral
  • gruesome
  • paranoid
  • unsettling
  • Tone: dark, gritty
  • Pacing: fast, chaotic
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern is one of discovery and rapid disintegration. Characters, often investigators or documentarians, uncover something they shouldn't, leading to a swift and brutal loss of control. The story is told through their own recordings, creating a sense of immediacy as they confront grotesque threats and a reality unraveling around them.

Why they belong together: These films are united by their immersive, first-person style and a shared focus on visceral, body-centric terror. They prioritize a gritty, realistic feel and an overwhelming sense of dread, grouping movies that are intense, heavy, and leave little room for hope.

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Every angle

V/H/S/94 (2021) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

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