‘V/H/S/85’ – ‘Wrong Turn’ Director Mike P. Nelson Talks Unique Structure of His Segment “No Wake” [Interview]

Director Mike P. Nelson is no stranger to infusing horror with political bite, having previously helmed 2021’s Wrong Turn and 2018’s The Domestics. For V/H/S/85, Nelson gets ambitious in narrative structure and tone with the segment “No Wake.”

V/H/S/85 is set to arrive exclusively on Shudder on October 6, 2023.

Joining the V/H/S team was an easy choice for Nelson when it became clear that the intent was to steer clear of the neon ’80s aesthetic.

“I remember speaking with [producer] Josh Goldbloom and Josh saying, ‘Yeah, so we’re doing ’85, and we’re trying not to do the typical kind of clean, neon thing.'” Nelson recalls. “And I was like, ‘Oh, for the love of God, thank you. Okay, good. I got something. I got something. This is going to be a lot of fun.’ That was such a breath of fresh air.”

Once the neon shackles were removed, Nelson came up with a unique segment structure that plays in halves. Avoiding any plot spoilers, the filmmaker explains the origins behind his segment.

Nelson tells Bloody Disgusting, “This was a discussion when I was able to pitch to the team. I asked, ‘Is it possible to do something like that?’ They were very receptive, you know what I mean? I was like, ‘Because I’d love for this to be on a lake, and I’d love for this to almost feel like its own segment.’ But it’s very, very much the same story. That was really fun. Being able to explore sort of a fun payoff like that was challenging, but it was fun to match those pieces together.”

As for how the filmmaker embraces the period, Nelson recalls the era of taping everything on VHS.

“One of the things that I got really excited about was, and you hear it a little bit in the background where they say, ‘What are you going to do, film? Take a video of a video?’ Because that was another thing people did. If they had a video camera, there was a TV, they would zoom in and film. They’d film the fucking television screen. This image quality and playing with the different mediums, it’s like we’re going to basically watch a little snuff film filmed on a VHS camera, also shot with a VHS camera.”

Not only does this wind up contributing to a highly entertaining segment, but one that’s timely as well.

Nelson notes, “There was just something fun and intriguing about that and how it all tied back and ultimately talked about victims on both sides. You have victims who were the victims of gun violence, and then you have this girl who is a victim of a toxic tradition, and she has a choice in that moment, and she doesn’t take it. She goes the way that you really don’t want her to go.

“I think those are both two very scary things that we are dealing with right now more than ever.”

See how “No Wake” unfolds when V/H/S/85 arrives this Friday on Shudder.

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