V/H/S/Beyond

The V/H/S franchise has had its up and downs like many long running series. It has however kept a step ahead of by being just that bit more imaginative with the wraparound stories and themes. Such as the ones set in specific years, viral and now a Sci-Fi orientated instalment with Beyond.

The six stories in Beyond are wrapped by a pseudo doc about a pair to tapes the purport to show signs of alien invasion, or at least existence. The open-mined talking heads, believers and de-bunkers are all present and correct.

But it’s the stories that carry these films and Beyond kicks off with ‘Stork’. A straight-faced shoot to kill, maim and chop bloodbath as a group of vigilante cops search for a pair of babies. Guided to a warehouse they are attacked by possessed people and gallons of gore ensue. Directed Jordan Downey its basic stuff and a strong start.

This is followed by Dream Girl by Virat Pat which moves over to Bollywood and a couple of video paparazzi are trying to get the lowdown on a star who’s new to the industry and taken it by storm. Sneaking into her trailer one gets to see too much which leads to a bloody attack on the filmset. The gore and violence will be crowd pleasing its just that there looked to be something more interesting brewing in the initial stages.

Next Live and Let Dive is directed by Justin Martinez with a group of friends in a plane preparing for a birthday skydive. The trouble is they fly into the middle of a dogfight between the military and flying saucers. The plane is pulled apart in mid-air leaving the partygoers struggling to open their parachutes, or not. Once on the ground the ordeal continues with some excellent hand-held camera chase scenes through the orange groves. Not a lot of substance here just a lot screaming and violence.

Fur Babies written and directed by Christian and Justin Long, is a more uncomfortable watch. Here animal activists try to infiltrate the house of woman they suspect of dog cruelty. It’s a downbeat segment with some unconvincing make-up effects though suitably nasty.

Stowaway was directed by Kate Siegel, written by Mike Flanagan has a woman investing lights in the Mojave Desert. Getting her bearings from the locals she interviews with her hand-held camera she sees the lights that lead her to the source, and beyond. This one stands out as being the most pensive, if maybe not that engaging.

Apart from the weak wraparound, the stories are consistently solid. It is however far too long at nearly two hours. That’s not to say that the segments themselves are too long, just there’s too many.

V/H/S/Beyond will be available on Shudder on 4 October 2024.