"10/31/98"

"10/31/98" is a short featured in the 2012 anthology horror movie "V/H/S". Directed by the filmmaking collective Radio Silence, who is made up of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella, and written by them alongside Justin Martinez, it is the final short in V/H/S.

The short is set on the title date (Halloween in 1998), follows a group of friends who head out to a party at a friends house, only to end up at the wrong address. However, there is something terrible lurking in the attic of the house, and soon the boys are running for their lives from a powerful, demonic entity.

This short makes heavy use of special effects, and was well-received by many critics. This led to Radio Silences success in the future with films like 2019's horror comedy Ready or Not, and also led the trio to be brought on as producers for the reboot to the series, "V/H/S94".

This short is the final one in "V/H/S" and is preceded by "The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger".

Plot
It's Halloween 1998. Chad, Matt, Tyler, and Paul (dressed in Halloween costumes as the Unabomber, a pirate, a teddy bear implanted with a nanny cam, and a Marine, respectively) head out to a Halloween party at a friend's house, only to end up at the wrong place. Sneaking inside, they begin to experience paranormal phenomena and believe that they are at a realistic haunted house attraction and have fun with it. In the attic, they find several men gathered around a young woman whom they've suspended from the rafters, apparently performing an exorcism. The men are chanting "cast you down", and the boys exuberantly join in. One of the men reacts angrily to their presence and physically assaults the young woman. Some of the men are pulled upwards into the darkness by an unseen force. More violent, overtly threatening paranormal phenomena then begin to occur and the boys initially flee before realizing they should try to rescue the girl. Returning to the attic, the boys work to untie her and get her to safety, as the house itself comes to life with poltergeist phenomena and ghostly arms rising from the walls and the floors to claim the lives of the woman's captors.

Exiting through the basement, the boys pile into their car with the girl and drive away. The car abruptly stops and the girl disappears, reappearing in the street before them and walking away amid a flock of birds before they realize that they've stopped on train tracks. The boys attempt to get out of the car as the train approaches, but they are unable to unlock the doors. The screen starts to flicker with static and the train smashes into the car off-camera, killing all inside.

Alternate Ending
A joke ending was shot in one take by Radio Silence in which the doors are unlocked and the boys get out just before the train smashes into their car. The boys walk away and talk about how much fun they had and what a crazy night it was as the train hits the car and it explodes behind them.

During the end credits, clips from Tape 56 are shown.

Cast

 * Chad Villella as Chad
 * Matt Bettinelli-Olpin as Matt
 * Tyler Gillett as Tyler
 * Paul Natonek as Paul
 * Nicole Erb as The Girl
 * John Walcutt as Cult Leader
 * Eric Curtis as Roommate

Trivia

 * Radio Silence all star in the film, with each character named after themselves
 * Chad, one of the characters, is dressed as infamous terrorist and anarchist Ted Kaczynski, aka "The Unabomber"