‘V/H/S/99’ Is The Most-Watched Film Debut In Shudder’s History
Mary Beth McAndrews
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Shudder Original Film V/H/S/99—the fifth installment in Studio71’s blockbuster V/H/S film franchise—debuted to record numbers in its opening weekend. Through its first four days of release, the film registered 28% more unique viewers than the previous record holder, V/H/S/94, which premiered on Shudder in 2021. V/H/S/99 also accounted for nearly 22% of all on-demand streams on Shudder during the same time period. It was also AMC+’s #1 most-watched movie of the weekend.
In V/H/S/99, a thirsty teenager’s home video leads to a series of horrifying revelations. The film features five new stories from filmmakers Maggie Levin (Into The Dark: My Valentine), Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City), Flying Lotus (Kuso), Tyler MacIntyre (Tragedy Girls) and Joseph & Vanessa Winter (Deadstream). V/H/S/99 harkens back to the final punk rock analog days of VHS while taking one giant leap forward into the hellish new millennium.
But wait! There’s more on the horizon for the franchise.
Shudder recently announced the greenlight of a sixth installment of the found footage anthology, V/H/S/85, with genre filmmakers David Bruckner (Hellraiser, The Night House), Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone, Sinister), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell, Culture Shock), Natasha Kermani (Lucky) and Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn), set to debut in 2023.
“By every metric V/H/S/99 has been a wild success, with subscribers watching in record numbers and debating with each other on social media about which segment of the anthology was their favorite. We are thrilled that the revival of the series continues to be embraced by our audience, and already looking forward to next year’s V/H/S/85,” said Craig Engler, GM of Shudder.
In her review of the film out of TIFF, Dread Central’s Emily Gagne said,
“V/H/S/99 will likely play even better at home when it starts streaming on Shudder later this fall. Like Ghostwatch (1992) or other POV horror flicks from the era, it has the potential to become a slumber party touchstone, the kind of movie you have to beg your horror-hating friend to watch with you at 2 AM. I know I’ll be rewatching it this Halloween with a bottle of Mountain Dew and a hefty handful of Cool Ranch Doritos.”
V/H/S/99 is available now on Shudder.
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