How To Watch Every V/H/S Movie In Order (Chronologically & By Release Date)

The V/H/S franchise returned in 2023 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. However, the timeline of the films isn’t as important as the year-specific titles may make it seem, and the V/H/S movies in chronological or release order makes for a satisfying scare-filled experience.

How To Watch V/H/S In Chronological Order

From V/H/S/85 To V/H/S Viral

When it comes to watching the V/H/S movies in chronological order, viewers should start with V/H/S/85 and end with V/H/S: Viral, as the release order doesn’t match up to the actual timeline (not that the timeline of the series is majorly important). The first V/H/S movie came out in 2012 and was set during the same year (presumably, though it’s not directly stated). Similarly, V/H/S/2 was a sequel both in order of release and the chronological timeline, and 2014’s V/H/S Viral continued this trend, so for the first three V/H/S movies the release order and chronological order match. Things changed with the 2021 release V/H/S/94.

As the title suggests, the narrative of V/H/S/94 was set in 1994, making it a prequel to the first three V/H/S movies. However, it’s also no longer the first movie in the chronological timeline. The next V/H/S movie moved ahead in time to 1999, making it a sequel to V/H/S/94, but still a prequel to the original trio. 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.

How To Watch The V/H/S Movies In Release Date Order

There’s A Decade Of Anthology Horrror For V/H/S Fans To Ingest

The V/H/S movies in release date order covers just over a decade of high-quality anthology horror movies, from 2012 through to 2023. What’s more, they’re just as enjoyable when watching in order of release as they are chronologically, as the timeline of the V/H/S franchise doesn’t really have much bearing on the narratives (somewhat surprisingly, given that specific years appear in the titles of several of the films).

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.

The Best Order To Watch The V/H/S Movies

There’s No Right Or Wrong Order To Watch The V/H/S Franchise (Though There Are Some Considerations To Make)

V/H/S (2012)

Made at the height of the found-footage horror movie craze, 2012’s 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.

While it’s not the first movie in the chronological order, in many ways it’s still better to view V/H/S first. It still serves as the foundational blueprint for the rest of the franchise. Later movies experimented with this format a little, which didn’t always work out well. This means that watching V/H/S first ensures viewers have a proper understanding for general feel of the franchise, and won’t mistakenly believe some of the less-effective tweaks to the formula represent the series as a whole.

SiREN (2016)

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.

V/H/S 2 (2013)

2013’s 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.

Much like V/H/S, it’s in some ways advisable to watch V/H/S 2 before some of the later additions to the franchise. It still follows the purest form of the formula that makes the best V/H/S movies so great, which means it serves as a stronger example of the essence of the series and what makes it so beloved than some of the more experiment installments which followed.

V/H/S: Viral (2014)

The V/H/S franchise reached what is generally viewed as its lowest point in 2014’s V/H/S: Viral, and indeed, the series went dormant for several years after the release of the third installment. Unsurprisingly, it’s not recommended to view V/H/S: Viral first, since it doesn’t stand as the best representative of the franchise.

In general, V/H/S: Viral‘s horror shorts aren’t as strong as V/H/S and V/H/S 2, but its real problem lies in their quantity. With V/H/S: Viral having just three individual segments outside of the wraparound, it never reaches the heights of its predecessors. It simply isn’t fulfilling an experience as the rest of the franchise in a number of different ways. It’s not fair to say it’s a bad anthology horror movie, but it definitely doesn’t live up to what came before, and the V/H/S movies also notably improved again afterward.

V/H/S: 94 (2021)

After seven years without a new installment after 2014’s V/H/S: Viral, 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. All in all, V/H/S/94 is great to watch as a return to form after V/H/S: Viral. It’s also one of the sequels to V/H/S that would make for a serviceable entryway into the franchise, and until the release of V/H/S/99 the following year, V/H/S/94 was the most viewed Shudder premiere of all time.

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V/H/S/99 (2022)

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. The 2022 release remains one of the strongest movies in the V/H/S franchise and, much like V/H/S/94 works as a standalone movie and is a more than suitable entry point for the franchise. V/H/S/99 brings the horror magic yet again with spine-tingling shorts like “Shredding,” “Suicide Bid,” and “The Gawkers.”

A key consideration when it comes to deciding a V/H/S movie viewing order is that V/H/S/99 lacks the wraparound narrative that frames the rest of the segments. It instead relies on stop-motion interludes made with toy soldiers. While these are great to watch, it’s important for viewers watching V/H/S/99 as their first exposure to the series to remember that they don’t represent the standard format. V/H/S/99 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.

Kids vs. Aliens (2023)

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.

V/H/S/85 (2023)

2023’s V/H/S/85 takes the franchise back in time to the ’80s. V/H/S/85 is chronologically the first V/H/S movie, but like the rest of the franchise, it does not directly lead into any other installments. This makes it very open-ended in terms of where to watch it in relation to the rest of the series. V/H/S/85 also returns to the traditional format of having a wraparound narrative to link the rest of the segments.

A solid entry into the franchise, there are some who feel that V/H/S/85 strays from the roots of the series at certain points, leaning a little too far into comedy-horror schtick and losing some of the chilling and harrowing tones of earlier entries (although there are notable exceptions, such as Gigi Saul Guerrero’s God of Death. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that starting any V/H/S viewing order with V/H/S/85 may give a misleading idea about the spirit of the series overall.

How The V/H/S Movies Were Received

The Franchise Highlight Remains V/H/S/94

Ever since the release of V/H/S in 2012 and 2013’s V/H/S 2 establishing the name as a franchise, the anthology horror series has always appealed to a niche market. Those who love V/H/S do so with a passion, whereas those who don’t can, for the most part at least, make an educated guess that they won’t enjoy it based on the premise alone. It’s also a horror franchise with many ups and downs, and knowing which V/H/S movie is best is a factor that impacts decisions around viewing order for many who are new to the series.

Using Rotten Tomatoes as a metric, the most well received V/H/S movie is V/H/S/94, which has considerably higher audience and critic ratings than even the 2012 original. Given that this is also the point the franchise was revitalized and made into a staple product for Shudder after a 7-year gap, V/H/S/94 is the best starting point for those who want their viewing order to begin with the best V/H/S movie.