With seven movies, two spin-offs and one miniseries under its belt, you'd think the V/H/S movies would be running out of steam. But if V/H/S/BEYOND, the latest entry into the found footage franchise, is anything to go by, the Shudder series is only just taking flight, boldly going to places no anthology has gone before.
While prior entries in the V/H/S renaissance era have been themed around the year the tapes were collated (94, 99 and 85 respectively), V/H/S/BEYOND instead uses a genre blend of sci-fi and horror to thematically unite its eclectic shorts. And while the nostalgia factor of past years has served the franchise well so far, it's refreshing to see a V/H/S film in which the majority of the shorts are set in an era of HD cameras. Not being restrained by an era also allows this crop of filmmakers more freedom, unbound by the technological restrictions of the 80s and 90s.
The wraparound segments have never been V/H/S' strongest point, and BEYOND is no different, but Jay Cheel's Abduction/Adduction nails the Netflix true crime/docuseries feel with an assortment of talking heads discussing alien encounters and the debate around intelligent extraterrestrial life -fitting for Cheel's past in documentary filmmaking. The majority of this frame narrative is suitably subdued for a collection of shorts so hyperkinetic and keeps the pacing steady, but the ending ramps up into something creepier akin to Dean Alioto's The McPherson Tape or Jason Eisener's Slumber Party Alien Abduction from V/H/S/2.
Next up is Jordan Downey's Stork, a pulse-pounding action horror that sees a group of cops on a mission to rescue kidnapped babies, one of whom belongs to Officer ET (Vas Provatakis). What they find inside the dilapidated house they've been sent to makes for a better Resident Evil movie than 90% of the Resident Evil movies out there. Fighting off a nest of maniacal zombie-like creatures (with one particularly ingenious use of a chainsaw-mounted camera), the cops make a terrifying discovery and Stork takes a gloriously unhinged swing into monster movie territory with a being (played by Prey's Dane DiLiegro) that could rival Raatma for the V/H/S creature crown.
It's hard to follow Stork but Virat Pal's Dream Girl does an admirable job by giving the V/H/S franchise its first big musical number, with a Bollywood banger from overworked pop princess Tara (Namrata Sheth). Hounded by the paparazzi and under the thumb of her controlling manager, Tara finally snaps revealing her true inhuman nature. A bloody showdown of acidic vomit and melting faces is visually impressive, but it's nothing we haven't seen from a V/H/S segment before. Plus, found footage purists may take umbrage with some of the liberties taken by Dream Girl's format.
Justin Martinez's Live and Let Dive is guaranteed entry into the V/H/S Hall of Fame, ranking alongside David Bruckner's Amateur Night and Timo Tjahjanto's Safe Haven as one of the best entries of the entire series and an instant fan favourite. A birthday skydive goes horribly wrong when Zach (Bobby Slaski) and his crew crash into a rogue UFO and are sent tumbling on a dizzying descent that'll make even the most hardened found footage fan's stomach churn. To nobody's surprise, things don't get any better upon landing. Live and Let Dive features some of the V/H/S franchise's best creature work, with some truly nasty aliens and unforgettable jumpscares.
It's safe to say that Justin Long still harbours some trauma from being trussed up as a walrus-human hybrid in Tusk and that much is evident with Fur Babies, the next segment from Long and his brother and fellow film creative Christian. Libby Letlow (doing her best Annie Wilkes impression) stars as Becky, the appropriately named owner of Doggy Dreamhouse, a canine daycare that's been watched closely by a group of animal rights activists. Their attempts to bring Becky's unorthodox taxidermy techniques down are thwarted when they themselves end up in the doggy crate. While Fur Babies' bizarre body horror climax is undoubtedly sick and twisted (a compliment, to be clear), it leaves a lot to be desired and is disappointingly tame coming from the man who has starred in some of the most outrageous modern horror movies of the era. It also feels jarringly out of place among a series of shorts so resolutely sticking to the sci-fi/alien theme – sure, the Frankenstein themes are there but they are never fully fleshed out enough to make Fur Babies feel like it fully belongs.
In the final full segment, Kate Siegel, in her directorial debut, crafts an existentially terrifying warning for UFO chasers around the world with Stowaway, in which an obsessive UFOlogist Halley (Alanah Pearce) finds herself accidentally spirited away by an alien spacecraft. Siegel's husband and frequent collaborator Mike Flanagan brings his signature emotional core and heavy philosophical themes to Stowaway's script, embuing the entire short with a bittersweet melancholy that's not often prevalent in V/H/S's raucous and riotous punk rock sensibilities. Siegel makes effective use of grain and tape warps to ensure Halley's truly monstrous fate is just concealed enough to keep the mystery of the short alive – something many V/H/S contributors past and present could learn from.
V/H/S/BEYOND had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024 on Friday, September 20. It is now streaming on Shudder.