Scott Derricksonlooked to one of David Lynch’s most popular films when crafting hisV/H/S/85segment,Dreamkill. Featuring an anthology of short horror films, theV/H/Sfilms rely on the premise of found footage videos to share disturbing visuals. One particular Lynch film also navigates the world of mysterious recordings. Lynch, who isknown for his dreamlike imagery and dark representations of American life, carried on his Lynchian style with the 1997 surrealist thrillerLost Highway. The film follows musician Fred Madison (Bill Pullman), who begins receiving troubling videotapes featuring him and his wife (Patricia Arquette) at home.
As Derrickson told us:
“I was watching everything I could find that had characters observing something horrific on film.”
Explaining howLost Highwayinspired hisV/H/S/85entry, he continued:
“I learned the way to do it and make it effective by watching ‘Lost Highway’because what happens in ‘Lost Highway’is that when they get the videotape, unlike every other film I had seen where it bifurcates the audience’s experience where you’re cutting off, you’re showing what they’re watching and they’re showing you that reaction, which is how you think that story should be told. And ‘Lost Highway’, they put those tapes in, it goes to the screen full-frame, and you don’t cut back, so you’re having the full experience that the characters are having without cutting… And that was the way I did [my other film]Sinister. And then did the same thing with the dreams here: Once they start, you never cut back and watch anybody watching the tapes until they’re over. And I think that that effectiveness comes strictly by seeing that, particularly being that it gets back to the freedom of these movies, that you have the balls to do that.”
Related:V/H/S/85 Director Scott Derrickson Reveals His Part Is Set in The Black Phone Universe
V/H/S/85 Takes Viewers to the Grim Underbelly of the 1980s
V/H/S/85, the sixth installment in the found footage franchise, follows veteran Detective Wayne Johnson,portrayed by Emmy Award-nominee Freddy Rodriguez, as he investigates gruesome murders while on the trail of a serial killer. Unveiled through a made-for-TV documentary, the film features five tales of found footage horror that takes viewers on a terrifying journey into the grim underbelly of the 1980s. The segments are helmed by Derrickson (Sinister), David Bruckner (theHellraiserreboot), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock),Natasha Kermani (Lucky),and Mike P. Nelson (2021’sWrong Turn).
Fans of Derrickson’s filmography are in for a special treat: during a previous interview, the filmmaker revealed thatDreamkillexists withinThe Black Phoneuniverse.
“Oh, there’s actually a universe crossover in there, which I guess I made it too subtle because nobody’s picking it up. But James Ransone tells Detective Wayne, when he’s behind the glass, he was talking about Gunther. He says, ‘He has these dreams that are prophetic.’ And he says, ‘My sister had the same gift. They drove her crazy, she killed herself.’ And he said, ‘Gunther’s cousin Gwen has the same thing too. I f***ing hate it.’ Well, the sister is Gwen’s mom, and Gwen is Gwen from The Black Phone.”
