‘V/H/S Beyond’ review: Dirs. Misc [Fantastic Fest]

It wouldn’t be October without a new V/H/S film arriving on to horror streaming platform, Shudder, and this year is no exception. However, the offering this time around, V/H/S Beyond, forgoes the tried and tested ‘year format’, and shifts focus from straight horror to science-fiction. Horror and sci-fi often go hand-in-hand, and it doesn’t take too much digging into the anthology franchise to find examples of the pairing. Now though, a set of these stories have been rounded up and placed into one collection, creating a tasty morsel for fans of the fusion of sci-fi and horror. 

The V/H/S has a long history of scooping up exciting filmmaking voices and allowing them to share their tales of terror, and V/H/S Beyond continues that trend. The motley crew of directors this time around are Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Christian and Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, and Kate Siegel, the latter directing a script written by husband Mike Flannagan. Each of these talents has their own distinct perspective on the concept of science-fiction and no two segments are remotely like one another, nor anything audiences have seen before. 

When the V/H/S franchise began, the wraparound story that provided the connective tissue for the anthology stories was quite simplistic. Both V/H/S and V/H/S/2 followed people simply finding and watching disturbing video tapes. As the series has progressed, other tactics have been employed, with V/H/S Beyond sticking to the pattern laid out by its predecessor, V/H/S/85. In V/H/S/85, the wraparound took the form of a documentary with the anthology segments seemingly accidentally recorded on top of it, and that is exactly the approach that Jay Cheel takes for his piece, ‘Abduction / Adduction. Set-up like any other documentary into alien phenomena, the segment grabs the audience’s attention early on with the mention of the infamous Grays.

Due to the wraparound segment having to weave its way around the others, it takes a long time to reach the tapes of proof teased during the documentary’s opening minutes. The reward of the pay off isn’t quite as intense as it could be, though is clearly caused by the story having to be the wraparound. Were this to be its own segment or feature, the dread would likely be far more palpably and would have viewers cowering in their seats. As it stands, Cheel’s work provides a solid opening, and fun end, to V/H/S Beyond. 

The other segments fare better. V/H/S Beyond properly kicks off with Jordan Downey’s Stork. Shot from camera angles to maximise the feel of a video game, Stork starts proceedings off with an almighty bang. Typically the first story in a V/H/S film takes a little while to build its momentum, and yet Stork comes out all guns blazing (literally). The premise sees a police unit try to track down the location of several abducted infants. Their hunt takes them to a rundown building and carnage ensues. Once inside, Stork becomes frenetic as all manner of things are thrown at the team. As the action unfolds, there are stabbings, chainsaws and plenty of bloodshed. Stork also features some of the most impressive WTF creature designs in the series since Raatma, and is one of the greatest video games never made. 

Following this action-packed opening is no small task, but in Virat Pal comes a director up to the task. His entry, Dream Girl, follows two paparazzi as they try to get the ultimate shot of a Bollywood princess. Their idea doesn’t go to plan and all Hell is unleashed in another early high carnage instalment. The Bollywood film setting also builds in time for a dance break, and with a song heavily featured during Dream Girl, does that make V/H/S Beyond a secret musical? Like Downey before him, Pal embraces the gore and practical effects that the V/H/S films are known for, and crafts several gruesome methods of dispatch, including melting flesh. 

As the second half of V/H/S Beyond begins, the pace is still charging ahead. Some of the other V/H/S films have started to feel their length, but in starting hard and fast, the viewer is given no opportunity for boredom to set in. Section three, Live and Let Dive, is sure to be a massive crowd pleaser. Directed by Justin Martinez, Live and Let Dive finds a group of friends Birthday skydiving intercepted by aliens. A crash between aircrafts leaves the friends no option but to jump, the point of view footage of them in freefall will do nothing to allay fears of heights. It is nerve-shredding and stressful, but this is only the jumping off point for the segment.

Once on the ground, those unlucky enough to have survived the fall, are pitted against some of the most nightmarish extraterrestrials committed to film. A meshing of the Grays, insectoids, and a transformer, these V/H/S Beyond beings set to haunt the audience’s dreams. What’s more, Live and Let Dive is one of the goriest and grossest segments in V/H/S history. From the freefall in which someone’s body spurts blood from where a limb used to be, to digits hanging on by threads of nerves, it will take a strong stomach to make it through this portion of V/H/S Beyond. 

After Live and Let Dive comes Fur Babies, featuring actor Justin Long on directing duties alongside his brother Christian. Fur Babies sees a group of activists investigate a mild-mannered older lady with an affinity for dogs. Believing her to be corrupt, members of the group infiltrate her house and find themselves in dire straits. Given everything that has already unfolded in V/H/S Beyond, to say that Fur Babies is wild is a massive understatement. The piece appears to have been created as some sort of therapy for Justin Long; the actor clearly is still working through some issues from his time on Tusk. One of the shorter sequences, Fur Babies could perhaps do with an additional scene or two to make it really pop, but is another strong segment of V/H/S Beyond. 

The final standalone story within V/H/S Beyond is that of Kate Siegel’s Stowaway. Written by Mike Flanagan, it comes as no surprise that this closing tale is more weighted in emotion. Starring multi-hyphen content creator Alanah Pearce, Stowaway sees a young woman’s documentary into strange lights in the Mojave desert take an unexpected turn. Although more peaceful, Stowaway has plenty of visual impact, and whilst the gore isn’t overt, there is a dark progression to lead character Halley’s appearance. When first introduced, she is in Newt from Aliens cosplay, right down to the wild mane of hair, but her journey finds her changed. Similarly, the film shifts from colour to almost black and white, which adds an arthouse feel to Stowaway. 

Whereas there has always been at least one entry in previous V/H/S outings that embraces weird technology, alien encounters, or body modifications,V/H/S Beyond still manages to feel fresh. In spotlighting them in their own full collection, new life is injected to the series, the direction opening up plenty of possibilities for the future. In previous entries there was always at least one segment that sang out above the rest, but in V/H/S Beyond the ranking of stories really comes down to splitting hairs. Live and Let Dive, Stork and Stowaway are set to be interchangeable entries at the top of viewer’s ranking lists with both Fur Babies and Dream Girl not far behind. Similarly, Abduction / Adduction is one of the more solid wraparounds, all in all helping to ensure that V/H/S Beyond is one of the strongest in the V/H/S franchise. 

V/H/S Beyond arrives on Shudder on 4th October.