Everyone’s favorite Found Footage Horror Anthology is back for another selection of shaky scam scares with V/H/S/Beyond. Celebrating its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024 before its streaming premiere via Shudder on Oct 4th, the annual offering of bite-sized horror stories returns with a new focus that’s more serious and timely than ever. A subject that has occupied the minds of people the world over, and quickly become the #1 key issue in the US Presidential election: UFOs 🛸
Okay, aliens aren’t that important in the news cycle right now but they are back in a big way. For decades believers were laughed at or called crazy but there is more and more compelling evidence every day to suggest that we are not alone. Right now, we only lack concrete video proof. And until that day comes…a kickass collection of hella gory, mind-scrambling short films will have to do!
“…a space-grade bloodbath”
In truth, V/H/S/Beyond isn’t entirely about aliens and space monsters. It’s more scary Sci-Fi than purebred Horror, but still features a rock-solid sampling of freaky alien shenanigans. The wraparound story, directed by Jay Cheel (Shudder’s Cursed Films) is a straight-forward documentary that gradually builds toward the shocking reveal of two VHS Tapes that are assumed to contain irrefutable evidence of an alien encounter. It’s almost indistinguishable from your average Netflix doc (including talking head interviews with Mitch Horowitz), but doesn’t exactly tie the whole feature together very neatly. It’s just a really creepy story split up into chunks, but steadily paced like an IV drip of high strangeness.
As always, it’s hard to give a substantial review of an anthology film without discussing the surprise of each story but V/H/S/Beyond is another Grade A entry in a franchise that just keeps on giving. The stories have a great variety (including a bananas segment from Virat Pal that Bollywood fans will dig), the cinematography is as creative as ever, and in its craziest moments, it’s a space-grade bloodbath. Beyond also marks the directorial debut of Kate Siegel (Midnight Mass) with a segment written by Mike Flanagan for all the Area 51 obsessives out there; As well as a truly unhinged segment from Christian Long & Justin Long (Tusk) that we can talk about in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord after you’ve had a chance to see it for yourself.
“V/H/S/Beyond is another Grade A entry in a franchise that keeps on giving. “
Jordan Downey, who indie fans will no doubt remember from 2018’s surprise hit Head Hunter, directs a deliciously gory and adrenaline-fueled segment. Shot mostly through body cam footage, this story follows a gruff cop squad during a raid that descends into absolute carnage. It’s fast, full of guts, and is easily one of the best segments of the movie, and not only for its Chainsaw POV. It’s a real wild ride with a great payoff.
Justin Martinez’s Live And Let Dive is another standout, with a truly brilliant setup that pretty much got a standing ovation from me before it even kicked off. At the risk of spoiling it’s best-kept secret; A group of adrenaline junkies has their own personal nightmare at 20,000 feet, when they encounter somethi-sSSHsh-Kk-RrRsk–Rk-Sss-
[End of Transmission]
