V/H/S/Beyond - New Release Review
Director: Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Virat Pal, Justin Martinez, Justin Long, Christian Long, Kate Siegel
Starring: Philiip Andre Botello, Jolene Anderson Dan DiLiegro, Jerry Campisi, Kevin Bohleber, Rohan Joshi, Alanah Pierce
Written by: Evan Dickson, Jordan Downey, Mike Flanagan, Justin Long, Christian Long, Viral Pat, Kevin Stewart, Justin Martinez, Benjamin A. Turner
Produced by: Josh Goldbloom, James Harris, Brad Miska, Nehal Pal, Brian Robertson, Michael Schreiber
Cinematography by: Tapan Basu, Alexander Chinnici, Mike McLaughlin, Kevin Stewart
Original Score by: Jay Cheel, Nick Soole
Synopsis:
Six bloodcurdling tapes unleash horror in a sci-fi inspired hellscape, pushing the boundaries of fear and suspense.
Thoughts:
The 'V/H/S' series have always been a mixed bag in terms of their quality of storytelling. The segments can often be placed into 3 different types; 1. Long and drawn out, simply for a big jump scare at the end, 2. An impressive short with fun effects, but doesn’t real have an ending and falls flat, or 3. A new film maker coming in with a wild idea and delivering so hard that it outshines the other segments. I don’t mean any of these points in a bad way, it’s just that you’d kind of hope that by the 7th entry, they’d have got the formula right by now. To be fair though, the highs of the series are good enough to bring me back every time and I'm always excited to see what the film makers have for us. Since 'V/H/S/94', the series has had a new theme every time, with this year’s theme being Aliens. While I'm not a great sci-fi horror guy, I do love found footage sci-fi, as it taps into my love for that infamous birthday scene from 'Signs'.
The first segment/wrap around story is 'Abduction' (directed by Jay Cheel) , and out of all the wrap around stories from the 'V/H/S' series, it’s probably the weakest. The segment is made up of talking head pieces talking about Alien appearances in pop culture during the 20th century. They never really say anything of interest and never tie into the surrounding segments, and by the time it gets to the end of the film, you get a look at an impressive practical effect of an Alien but that’s about it. The wrap around doesn’t really take away from the other segments but the last scenes just leave you feeling like “ok...” when it should leave you feeling shocked or wanting more.
The second segment, 'Stork' (directed by Jordan Downey), is a lot of fun but lacks any sort of sci-fi/alien element. The story follows a group of cops who have taken it upon themselves to hunt down a child abductor. This then leads to the cops turning up at a farmhouse and encountering an entire group of mindless zombies, giving us 'Call of Duty' style body cam footage of cops mowing down zombies with giant machine guns and chainsaws. Like I said, the story lacks any sci-fi element but it’s a lot of fun to watch and the script is full of cheesy 80’s action movie lines. The premise almost feels like a pitch for a full-length film and if the film makers can make a 90-minute movie as fun as this short, I'm absolutely up for more.
The third segment, 'Dream Girl' (directed by Virat Pal), had a lot of potential but kind of falls flat in its execution. It’s always interesting to see another country like India on screen and with this short involving a Bollywood film, we’d get to see the side of the film industry that isn’t often represented on screen. Unfortunately, we don’t get more than “Main star has powers and kills cast and crew”. I was hoping for an Indian version of 'Carrie' but instead the story is a bit bland with some decent effects.
The fourth segment, 'Live and Let Dive' (directed by Justin Martinez), is maybe the most ambitious segment the 'V/H/S' series has ever had. A group of skydivers get involved in an alien invasion seconds before they’re about to jump. The build up to the jump really had my heart pumping and the literal fallout from the scene was incredible. Once the short comes down to the ground level, it loses a bit of steam but this is definitely a segment people will be talking about.
The fifth segment, 'Fur Babies' (directed by Christian Long and Justin Long), and it’s very clear that Justin Long was having some 'Tusk' flashbacks here. While this is a fun short and I like the overall idea of body horror here, the whole thing seems half baked. Again, this feels like a feature being tested out to an audience and the segment sticks out like a sore thumb as it has nothing to do with Aliens or Sci-Fi. It’s fun and doesn’t waste time getting to the point but it feels like it was included because of Justin Long’s celebrity status.
The last segment, and the best, 'Stowaway' (directed by Kate Siegel and written by Mike Flanagan) absolutely nails the brief of the 'V/H/S/Beyond' project. This is the only segment to actually use the idea of it being filmed on VHS, using the medium to tell a more human story with the short time it has. Alanah Pearce (who is fantastic here) plays a young woman investigating strange lights appearing in the sky but she soon finds herself on an alien ship that she wishes she could escape. The whole segment is excellently directed by Siegel, as she doesn’t waste a second of screentime to build up to its mind-blowing end.
Like I said at the beginning, the 'V/H/S' series is always a mixed bag and 'Beyond' is no exception. There’s lots of fun to be had here and while the quality does vary, the final segment by Kate Siegel makes this worth a watch.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
-Adam Neeson
'V/H/S/Beyond' is available to stream on Shudder UK on October 4th
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