Dir: Various
Starring: Various
While it still suffers from the often problematic anthological premise, “V/H/S/Beyond” boasts the most consistent assortment of shorts the long running franchise has produced to date
If the recent influx of fresh horror movies was not a clear indication that Halloween is around the corner, then the latest annual release in the schlocky “V/H/S” franchise surely serves as a timely reminder that spooky season is well and truly here. After a rocky start, the found footage anthology series has finally established itself as a staple of the modern horror market having found its permanent home on Shudder. The horror streaming platform is responsible from reviving the franchise following its seven year absence as a result of the poorly recieved third instalment “V/H/S: Viral” in 2014. Since 2021, the franchise has embraced its titular V/H/S aesthetic by taking viewers back to to the height of the entertainment medium’s long forgotten history. This started with “V/H/S/94” in 2021, which was swiftly followed by “V/H/S/99” the following year, and then audiences were taking back to the early days of video tape with “V/H/S/85” last year.
The hands off approach by both Shudder and previous distributor Magnolia Pictures has given many up-and-coming filmmakers the freedom to craft a wide variety of short films, spanning the many sub-genres of horror, ranging from body-horror to straight-up slashers. Several of these filmmakers have gone on to become successful horror creators in their own right, these include: Adam Wingard (“The Guest”); Ti West (the “X” trilogy); Radio Silence (“Scream V”, “Scream VI”); Gareth Evans (“The Raid”); Johannes Roberts (“47 Meters Down”); and Scott Derrickson (“Sinister”, “Doctor Strange”). While this creative freedom has provided audiences with some great segments over the years, the overall quality of the franchise has remained inconsistent due to the anthological setup. A narrative structure that has always been problematic as it prevents the audience from investing in characters knowing that their story will be over in a matter of minutes, only to be quickly replaced by a new character with their own story. That being said, the “V/H/S” franchise is not attempting to be more than meets the eye, it simply serves as an entertaining, blood-soaked romp, with a structure that can discard any slow-build character development so we can cut right to the scares and gore.
Unlike the previous entries, which are only very loosely tied together by an ongoing framing device, all the segments in the latest instalment, “V/H/S/Beyond”, are thematically linked by the common fear of the unknown. Largely focusing on threats from another world, predominantly aliens, “V/H/S/Beyond” boasts the most consistent series of shorts the franchise has produced to date, with its other-worldly threats proving to be a more engaging throughline than the standard tedious plot device, often surrounding a group unfortunate individuals stumbling across some increasingly upsetting video tapes.
“V/H/S/Beyond” is presented in five distinct segments, intercut with mockumentary style meta-commentary, entitled “Abduction/Adduction”, with interviews from experts and sceptics in the field of extra-terrestrials and visual effects. In this wrap around segment documentarian Jay Cheel presents two recovered video tapes to religion and metaphysics speaker Mitch Horowitz, as well as Sam Gorski, Niko Pueringer and Wren Weichman from VFX based YouTube Corridor Crew. The tapes shown to Horowitz, Corridor Crew and Brian Baker of the The Superstitious Times, seems to depict an otherworldly humanoid figure extracting eggs from the eldest son of a family of Chinese immigrants who supposedly disappeared in the 1990’s.
“Stork” (Dir: Jordan Downey)
The first full length segment following the prologue follows a police unit dubbed W.A.R.D.E.N. as they arrive at a dilapidated house whilst investigating a string of baby disappearances, with the operation being recorded by new recruit Segura (Phillip Andre Botello). After bursting into the property, unaware of an extra-terrestrial presence, the unit must fend off several hostile zombie-like creatures called “Brooders”, as they traverse their way to the attic in search of the missing babies and to eliminate who or what is responsible for their disappearance.
“Dream Girl” (Dir: Virat Pal)
The second segment follows Mumbai native paparazzi Arnab (Sayandeep Sangupta) and Sonu (Rohan Joshi) as they sneak onto the set of the latest production starring Bollywood sensation Tara (Namrata Sheth). Arnab proceeds to sneak into Tara’s trailer, and whilst hiding in her closet overhears her manager berating her. After accidently revealing himself, Arnab empathises with Tara and tells her she does not deserve to be pushed around. Roused by his words, Tara rips off her face, revealing she is actually a robot and proceeds on a rampage attacking the many members of the crew on set.
“Live and Let Dive” (Dir: Justin Martinez)
The third segment follows Zach (Bobby Slaski), who along with his wife Jess (Hannah McBride) and best friend Logan (Rhett Wellington) decide to go skydiving for his 30th birthday. Just before they are ready to jump out, the group spot a UFO in the distance which abruptly teleports within their vicinity. An alien jumps onto their plane before it collides with the UFO, sending everyone hurtling towards an orange grove. Those who manage survive the crash and the subsequent fall continue to be hunted and picked off one-by-one by the alien life form amongst the seemingly endless rows of orange trees.
“Fur Babies” (Dir: Justin Long, Christian Long)
The fourth segment introduces us to supposed dog carer Becky (Libby Letlow), who keeps taxidermies of her previous dogs. An animal rights activist group decides to investigate the suspiciously shady “Doggy Dream House”, sending members Stuart (Matthew Layton) and Angela (Braedyn Bruner) to Becky’s home, with a hidden camera on their dog Pickles. Due to their incompetence, Becky quickly sees through the ruse and proceeds to lure the activists into the basement where she reveals her true intentions with her dogs, as well as those who come snooping around her property.
“Stowaway” (Dir: Kate Siegel)
The final segment is a body-horror that follows amateur documentarian Halley (Alanah Pearce), who is researching possible extra-terrestrial encounters in the Mojave desert. Following a series of interviews with the locals who describe mysterious lights they have seen, Halley herself witnesses a light fall from the sky and investigates. Upon arriving at its location , Halley discovers a spaceship with she enters and examines the interior. After hiding from the aliens on board, Halley realises there is no escape and is trapped on the ship which harbours nano-technology that possesses the ability to instantly heal injuries, albeit with minor mutations.
The “V/H/S” franchise has had its ups and downs in its short but prolific twelve-year life span. This latest addition however proves that there is still plenty of life in the franchise that only appears to be getting stronger by the year. While there are still issues surrounding its format, which can be said for almost any anthology film, the strengths of the franchise have never been more apparent than in “V/H/S/Beyond”. There is no rivalling property that offers such a range of absurd originality, where you can be treated to a first-person zombie shooter in the opening segment and horrified by the existential body-horror in the closing one. The wrap around story also offers a compelling meta commentary on both the horror genre and the debunking of home video quality “footage” of UFO and Bigfoot sightings, with the real life experts being taken aback by a work of fiction grounding all the segments with a sense of realism – no matter how outlandish they are.
The franchise may not provide compelling character arcs or thought-provoking messages, but it never fails to deliver the gore and fun synonymous with the horror genre way back in the home video era, particular the video nasty phase of the 1980’s. The first segment “Stork” is a perfect example of this, with only one of the specialist police unit having any sort of background having had his own child kidnapped by the titular galactic visitor. This however, allows the goriest of the movie’s short stories to jump right into the action as we see zombified humans get sliced and diced with a chainsaw in POV, which will appease any hardcore horror aficionado.
The more ambitious second segment is not the first time the franchise has ventured overseas, with two of the previous foreign language instalments “Safe Haven” and “The Subject”, arguably being my favourite of the franchise prior to “Beyond”, having been directed by Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto. The Bollywood setting and focus on paparazzi and their exploitation of fame is a refreshing new direction for the franchise, which still offers its fair share of gore thanks to a bloodbath finale reminiscent of the infamous prom scene from “Carrie”, if the titular telepath was replaced with recent AI sensation “M3gan”.
The found footage format is one that has become tiresome following its revival in 2007 following the success of “Paranormal Activity” and it takes something truly special to stand out amongst an oversaturated market. “Live and Let Dive” showcases the levels of immersion that can be exploited with POV cinematography as we the audience stand in for largely unseen protagonist Zach as he plummets from the sky during his alien encounter. It is a truly horrifying story that throws the viewer head first into a hopelessly perilous situation.
The least fun of the segments is Justin Long’s “Fur Babies”, which proves that the actor-director is still in a pretty messed up mind space following his role in Kevin Smith‘s freakish body deformation horror “Tusk” (2014). While it does boast some great practical effects, the protagonists remain unlikeable and are upstaged by the suspiciously friendly Becky, who is clearly channelling her inner Annie Wilkes.
Conversely, the final segment, written by modern day horror icon Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House”, “Midnight Mass”), is arguably the strongest segment the franchise has ever produced. Former YouTuber and journalist Alanah Pearce is excellent as the clearly troubled and determined Halley, who has seemingly given up everything to pursue her goal of discovering life on other planets. It is a truly unique experience as we follow Halley onboard this foreign vessel that continues to “regenerate” her at will, improving on the previous segment’s body-horror by encompassing a more authentic home video edge.
They may not offer anything deep ore meaningful that will keep you thinking at night, but what the “V/H/S” franchise does offer is old-fashioned horror entertainment. Inevitably, not every segment will be as successful at delivering the gore or frights to fulfil genre buffs, but as a series, there is more than enough on offer for Shudder to keep these rolling out every year – and I am here for it
V/H/S/Beyond is now available to stream on Shudder
Dan Loves Film 
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