V/H/S 2

This sequel to the 2012 found-footage horror anthology V/H/S features a weak framing device in which a private detective looking for a missing college student discovers a stack of videos documenting horrific episodes, all of which are shot from a first-person perspective. The opener in this quartet is filmmaker Adam Wingard's “Clinical Trials,” about an experimental device planted within the artificial eye of a man (Wingard) injured in a car crash, which enables him to see menacing ghosts. Amping up the inventiveness, Gregg Hale and Eduardo Sanchez's “A Ride in the Park” is shown via a camera on the helmet of a bicyclist (Jay Saunders), who is turned into a zombie and goes on a rampage. The third and longest, Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto's “Safe Haven,” is shot by the cameraman of a TV crew that has the misfortune of reporting a story from the inside of a doomsday cult just as its leader (Epy Kusnandar) declares the arrival of the apocalypse. And the last, Jason Eisener's “Slumber Party Alien Abduction,” takes the narrative conceit to an absurd height by installing the camera on the back of a dog when the family home—site of a raucous slumber party and gathering of rowdy neighborhood tykes—becomes the target of extraterrestrials. In each case, the premise is initially amusing, but quickly turns violent and drags on for too long, while the shaky camerawork, fuzzy images, and use of blackouts grow tiresome. Fans of gore cinema will likely feast on this, but few others will find much to savor here. Optional. (F. Swietek)