Herman Middleton is the protagonist of the "Phase I Clinical Trials" segment in V/H/S/2.
Biography[]
Herman was a video game developer who lived on his own in a large house. After losing his right eye in a car crash, he went to visit his doctor, Dr. Fleischer, and agreed to have his eye replaced with an experimental ocular implant. Following a successful operation, Dr. Fleischer informs Herman that, since the implant is still in its experimental stage, he may experience some "glitches", and the company who created the eye will be recording everything he sees. Herman is somewhat bothered by the invasion of privacy, and as he leaves the clinic, he notices a young woman staring at him intently.
Returning home, Herman plays video games, then goes to make a cup of tea. He returns from the kitchen to find his game controller far from where he left it, and his teakettle then suddenly crashes to the ground. Later, Herman sees what appears to be the outline of a figure lying under the sheets on his bed, but when he pulls back the sheets, the bed is empty. When he looks up, however, he comes face to face with a bleeding, seemingly undead man, and flees to the bathroom. After phoning his doctor to demand he addresses the problem, Herman emerges from the bathroom and encounters the man again, this time with a young girl who also appears to be dead. Herman runs back to the bathroom and endures a night of banging on the door from the other side. He ends up sleeping in the bathtub overnight.
The next day, the woman from the hospital, named Clarissa, comes to Herman's house, saying she is experiencing a similar situation. Clarissa explains that she was born deaf and had a cochlear implant installed in her ear. The cochlear implant was made by the same company that made Herman's ocular implant, and it gave her the ability to hear new frequencies, including those of ghosts. Herman suggests removing the implant, but Clarissa says that doing so will only keep Herman from seeing the ghosts, not getting rid of them. As Clarissa claims that the ghosts will get stronger and more dangerous the longer one pays attention to them, an overweight, bloodied man in his underwear appears behind her. Herman alerts her to his presence, but Clarissa says she already knows he is there and that he is her uncle, who according to her "wasn't a nice person". Clarissa then has sex with Herman, claiming it will make the ghosts go away.
That night, Herman awakens and sees Clarissa sleeping on the couch. He heads into the bathroom and looks into the mirror, speaking to whomever is watching him through his implant and demanding that he get a copy of the recorded footage. He then finds the young girl in his bed and flees, before witnessing Clarissa being dragged into the pool by an unseen entity. Despite Herman's best efforts to save her, Clarissa drowns.
Death[]
Herman's death.
Running back through the house in an attempt to escape the ghosts, Herman locks himself in his bathroom again and uses a straight razor to cut out the implant. The ghosts of Clarissa and her uncle appear in the bathroom as Herman tries to escape, but he unwittingly runs directly into the ghosts of the young girl and the man, who strangles him. The man grabs the implant, still attached to the razor, and shoves it deep into Herman's throat, killing him.