The latest entry in the VHS series has a serious focus on aliens, but there’s plenty of great gore gags and fantastic segments overall.
PLOT: Six bloodcurdling tapes unleash horror in a sci-fi inspired hellscape, pushing the boundaries of fear and suspense.
REVIEW: While the last few entries in the V/H/S series have covered specific years like 1999, 1994, and 1985. I’m glad to see the series leaving behind the year-specific branding, and therefore opening the story up to more possibilities. As great as some of those segments were, others felt very constrained by the time. In V/H/S/Beyond, the found VHS tapes claim to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life. But it’s not just aliens, as they take aim at robots and weird taxidermists as well. And it may be my favorite entry yet.
As someone who finds alien stories to be boring and very samey, I wasn’t entirely sold on the concept of Beyond initially. But thankfully there’s enough variety to keep things interesting. The wraparound story does a good job of establishing these mysterious tapes as being the most concrete piece of evidence of alien existence. Being hosted by an actual occult host in Mitch Horowitz certainly helps with the documentary style. And I loved the inclusion of the Corridor Crew to come in and explain fake UFO footage. It’s a fun moment given the irony of those tricks being used in this film.
The first segment “Stork”, is very aesthetically similar to REC (or its American remake Quarantine), with a swat team taking on a building. They’re searching for abducted babies and when they find them, they also find a bunch of zombie-like creatures and a large, Stork-like monster. I loved the visual of the monster, even if the story gets lost in the chaotic visuals. But that’s kind of what I want from an anthology film like this: a story that fits in 20 minutes that would be tough to expand into a feature film.
Another segment follows paparazzi in India; specifically two gentlemen who are trying to get a photo of a famous actress. This had some interesting visuals and mostly just serves to show off some gore gags. Thankfully, that gore is awesome and gets nice and gooey. Sometimes found footage can get a little stale so it’s interesting to see all the different ways that they utilize it here. And I appreciated that most of it made sense. There were past entries where the camera’s presence/editing made no sense but they did a good job of having a steady throughline.
Alanah Pearce is mostly known from the world of video games but she takes center stage in Kate Siegel’s “Stowaway.” Even as a newcomer, Pearce is a natural and delivers a fantastic performance. Written by Mike Flanagan, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is a standout. But it’s what first-time director Siegel decides to show us that brings it together beautifully. This was easily my favorite segment as it’s larger than life while still being intimate and personal.
The digital effects work has really taken a step forward, with nearly everything looking great in-camera. I could never imagine this series pulling off a full skydiving segment but “Live and Let Dive” is absolutely expertly handled. Skydiving is already a terrifying activity not to mention all the ways it can go wrong. But having an alien invasion happen during one is maniacal and fantastic. The gore is absolutely top-notch throughout, but this segment gets to show off how far Independent Film has come with digital effects. If there was any segment that I appreciated the concept but didn’t love the execution, it was probably “Fur Babies.” While it’s cool to see Justin Long getting behind the camera after being so prominent in the horror world, this one didn’t work for me.
Like most in the V/H/S series, not every segment hits, making the film feel a bit overlong. But the few moments that do make an impact make the viewing experience more than worth it. While I still don’t consider myself an anthology fan, nor do I tend to like found footage, but I really enjoyed my time with Beyond. Sure, it’s easy to poke holes in even the good segments, but they work well in their contained stories. V/H/S/Beyond brings an intensity that lasts the entire runtime and consistently delivers thrills and chaos.
V/H/S/BEYOND IS NOW STREAMING ON SHUDDER!
