‘V/H/S/Beyond’ Review – An Extraterrestrially Eerie Anthology

V/H/S/ Beyond is the seventh installment of the found footage horror anthology phenomenon. The film is composed of six segments.  

Abduction/Adduction is the story interspersed between the other segments. It is an alien encounter fake documentary that tells the story of two VHS tapes found at a local flea market. These tapes are like a holy grail to extraterrestrial enthusiasts since they’re regarded as definitive proof that aliens exist and they’re targeting humans. (Written and directed by Jay Cheel, Cursed Films)

Stork is body cam footage as a rookie police officer is brought into a kidnapping investigation. The suspect is abducting infants and has succeeded 17 times in the last three months. Everyone is on edge because one of the officers isn’t thinking straight since his daughter is one of the kids missing. They follow their lead and end up at a rundown house.

After plowing through a horde of freakish individuals they realize that their heads are hollow with no brains inside. They fight their way to the attic where they discover a nest. (Written by Kevin Stewart and Jordan Downey and directed by Downey, ThanksKilling)

Dream Girl sees Arnab (Sayandeep Sengupta) and Sonu (Rohan Joshi) working as paparazzi stalking a Bollywood actress. She has risen to an unthinkable amount of fame in two years. The duo hides in and around her trailer during her most recent movie shoot to get decent footage. After smuggling himself into the closet, Arnab sticks his hand in a weird clear-colored goo. He discovers a candlelit shrine featuring a severed human face in a bowl. (Directed by Virat Pal and written by Pal and Evan Dickson, V/H/S/85)

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Live and Let Dive follows a group of friends as they all go skydiving for their friend Zachary’s birthday. A UFO appears in the sky right before the jump. The plane crashes into it and they land in an orange orchard. Those who survive the freefall are hunted by something that fell with them. Something that isn’t human. (Written by Ben Turner and Justin Martinez and directed by Martinez, V/H/S/)

Fur Babies is about an animal cruelty activist group investigating Becky Baxter (Libby Letlow) and the pet-loving Doggy Dream House empire that she’s built for herself. Becky has turned her home into a dog sanctuary to board, train, and care for dogs. She is the type of person who loves dogs a bit too much. In her basement, it’s revealed that she’s performing a special kind of surgery to keep the memory of her most precious animals alive. (Written and directed by Christian Long and Justin Long)

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Stowaway has a documentary filmmaker named Halley (Alanah Pearce) examining the Mojave Desert since a mysterious series of lights appeared in the sky and there are several eyewitnesses. She accidentally tapes over one of her daughter’s birthdays with the footage but eventually discovers something extraordinary. After getting caught up in her findings, she tackles more than she initially bargained for. (Directed by Kate Siegel and written by Mike Flanagan, Midnight Mass)

Aliens and sci-fi/outer space are the general themes of this installment and the segments are enjoyable overall. Stork was my most anticipated since I’m a big fan of the ThanksKilling films and The Head Hunter. Jordan Downey continues his admiration for killer birds here with a twist on the infected that feels fresh. Stork is worth seeing for the incredible chainsaw perspective alone.

Live and Let Dive is also a ton of fun. The freefall sequence is done so well and the scramble in the orange orchard is as hectic as it is dizzying. The downside is that some CGI and VFX are noticeably lackluster here. Some of this can be attributed to the design of the alien, but there’s a decapitated head scene where the head looks ridiculously fake. These underwhelming moments jolt you back to reality while inadvertently kicking you out of the story.

Fur Babies is interesting because it seems like Justin Long took a ton of inspiration from Kevin Smith when he worked with him on Tusk and applied it here. Becky’s upbeat demeanor gives this segment a cheerful body horror ambiance. Look for the Gary cam sequence where he’s tearing people apart one minute and playing and acting like a dog the next.

Stowaway is the most enticing segment because it feels like something entirely new. Halley finds a living alien ship in the middle of the desert. She finds a way inside and never leaves. The ship has this immune system that acts like nanotechnology. It is capable of tending to wounds but has never encountered a human before. Halley is essentially torn apart and put back together repeatedly until she’s no longer recognizable.

The V/H/S/ franchise hasn’t been this good since the original film. Every segment is watchable and entertaining and there are some great kills and gruesome deaths to satisfy horror fans. With a monstrous take on aliens and a frightening perspective of what else dwells in space, Beyond brings V/H/S/ back to its gloriously vulgar roots while offering a refreshing glimpse of face-mutilating dread.

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