Brace yourself for more tapes, V/H/S fans, as the horror anthology series will return for its fourth movie, with Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto confirmed to direct one of the shorts.
The director — who specializes in genres like horror, action, and everything-bloody-in-between — confirmed his return to the franchise on social media. Created by American film producer and co-founder of horror genre website Bloody Disgusting Brad Miska, the working title of the fourth installment is V/H/S 94.
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The first V/H/S film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2012, and the franchise has since been synonymous with its presentation as an anthology of found footage short films. While the original film was met with mixed reviews from critics, it has since been followed up with two sequels, V/H/S/2 in 2013 and V/H/S: Viral in 2014, as well as a spin off titled Siren and a miniseries on Snapchat’s Snap Originals platform.
Timo, along with The Raid director Gareth Huw Evans, directed a short in V/H/S/2 titled Safe Haven. It tells the story of a news crew that infiltrated an Indonesian cult to make a documentary about their mysterious and bizarre activities, only to meet their doomed end.
V/H/S/94 will be produced by V/H/S alums David Bruckner, whose recent work is 2020 horror/thriller film The Night House, and the filmmaking trio Radio Silence — comprising Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett directed the action horror black comedy flick Ready or Not, which was released last year to generally positive reviews.
Other than Timo, filmmakers who have been confirmed to contribute to the new anthology are producer/screenwriter Simon Barrett, who wrote several hit horror films such as You’re Next and contributed in the first two V/H/S films, and newcomer Chloe Okuno, whose short horror Slut won best student film in Screamfest 2014. As confirmed by Miska himself, the producers are currently in talks with other filmmakers.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that V/H/S/94 is thought to be more of a reboot and will be the first film in the franchise to be presented in a “single, fluid narrative, with each section linked up.”
Timo debuted in 2007 with slasher/black comedy short Dara which he co-directed with Kimo Stamboel, who he met during his film studies in Australia. The duo, nicknamed The Mo Brothers, followed up with the debut feature film titled Rumah Dara (Dara’s House, released internationally as Macabre) in 2009, based on the short film. The Mo Brothers went on to make action flicks Killers in 2014 and Headshot, which premiered in Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, before parting ways in 2018.
Timo’s recent works include Indonesia’s first Netflix original The Night Comes For Us in 2018 and Sebelum Iblis Menjemput (international title: May The Devil Take You) in that same year and its sequel, released earlier this year. He’s set to direct and write the upcoming adaptation of Si Buta Dari Gua Hantu, which is part of the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe (BCU), Indonesia’s own superhero franchise.
His other works include a segment titled L is for Libido in American anthology horror comedy film The ABCs of Death, which was released in 2012.
