The first thing we see as we enter writer-director Todd Lincoln's ambitious short-film, Gorgeous Vortex is a glitched clips of a women, tied up somewhere and screaming out of agony. This is just the first of many glitched footage of women abandoned or tied up we would later see in this short. Then we cut to a tall white building, where we are introduced to our nameless protagonist, played by Victoria's Secret model Jayden Robison, in her sleep wearing nothing but short lingerie, exposing her bare stomach and legs. Jayden Robison's character (I'm going to refer to her as the protagonist from now on) sees a series of visions, including a dark white house, a doll, a mysterious man, a nightmare-ish creature and more (apparently) victimized women. These are all images that would come to play later in the shorts, but what exactly are these? Are these premonitory visions for what's about to happen? Or are these events that already have occurred, crawling out of the Protagonist's deeply hidden, dark memories? The film leaves it unclear, thus creating a narrative that isn't necessarily linear, a one creating a room for various interpretations.
What follows is a collection of various footages, the correct order of events being unclear. We see the protagonist murdering and burying the mysterious man that she apparently had an intimate relationship with. And her being held captive and being experimented can be seen as the consequence of her action. (Or, her being 'recruited' by the organization.) She finally confronting the creature from the visions can be seen as the final piece in the chronology of events, as the following scene at the mansion features the mysterious man that she previously murdered. Even though a lot is left ambiguous, the picture being painted is about a woman trying to flee or face off the organization relating to the sinister videos and stories of the V/H/S franchise.
In between all these events, the glitchy footages of female victims keep appearing, foreshadowing the fate of the protagonist if she doesn't flee or stand up against the organization.
It is pretty clear why Gorgeous Vortex was left out of <V/H/S> franchises' final film <V/H/S: Viral> ('final' until the franchise came back from the dead 7 years later with 2021's 'V/H/S94'). Both in terms of its structure and presentation, it deviates far from any other shorts in the <V/H/S> catalog. Not only Gorgeous Vortex ditches the found footage format that defines this franchise, it aims to be a mysterious, atmospheric, ambiguous and almost arthouse- like film, unlike other straightforward and jumpscare-filled shorts of V/H/S saga. It makes me wonder, what exactly writer-director Todd Lincoln had in mind pitching this project to the producers of <V/H/S: Viral>, not trying to disrespect him, but as it is not difficult to tell this film would look and feel out of place.
Even with its questionable intentions and confusing nature, you can't deny the fact that Gorgeous Vortex is a fascinating piece of work. It is a short segment that nobody saw, left out of a Horror film which was poorly received, but those conditions make Gorgeous Vortex worthy of the Cult-Classic title, as far as I'm concerned.
