The ninth overall entry into the V/H/S franchise, V/H/S/Beyond premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2024, before the exclusive release via Horror streaming platform Shudder on October 4th. Just in time for the Halloween season, this latest installment gives fans of this found footage series what they are accustomed to – action, gore, and a look into the world of unexplained phenomena.
V/H/S/Beyond’s five stories are embedded in Director Jay Cheel’s documentary-style Abduction/Adduction. Starring Mitch Horowitz (Cursed Films series My Animal 2023) as an extraterrestrial expert, he describes videotapes found at Farrington House in rural Canada. The video is purportedly proof of alien life. Each time the documentary is revisited you are given more information about the family and found tapes.
The other films are interspersed throughout this framework. This randomness can be confusing since there are no interconnections between the main documentary and the individual stories. Although the movie is enjoyable for what it is, horror without backstory or resolution, as with any anthology collection, much of what would be explained is lost to the required brevity.
The first story, Stork, directed by Jordan Downey, is in first-person shooter style of a secret police unit, W.A.R.D.E.N., storming a house in search of missing babies. It is action-packed, noisy, bloody, and one of the better FPS videos you have seen. The ending is unexpected and sad, involving one of the most unique creatures encountered in recent memory. The best type of short story, the ‘W.A.R.D.E.N.’ team’s exploits could carry an entire film.
After more Farrington House backstory, you find yourself in Mumbai for Dream Girl, directed by Virat Pal. The story follows Indian paparazzi and actors trying to succeed in Bollywood. The setting in India is unique with the chaotic city itself a character. Until Dream Girl, you have never seen a musical number work in a Horror film, but it is woven into the story and adds to this entry’s foreign flavor. The story culminates in one of the bloodiest scenes you will witness, but due to the short story nature of the film, the creature responsible for the carnage is hard to classify since we never know its true nature or origin.
After additional experts weigh in on the Farrington House video, you become a passenger on a skydiving plane for Live and Let Dive. A cute pun, but irrelevant to the story directed by Justin Martinez. Returning to pure found-footage roots, this film is solely POV. The video is of a group of friends tandem skydiving. Their small airplane is caught up in a dogfight between fighter jets and a UFO, and they are forced to jump. The skydive, and landing, are horrifying and horrific… in that order. The shaky-cam video of running and falling as the survivor searches for his friends is chaotic in the best way. Being only able to see what is directly in front of us, you are left to imagine the horror occurring just out of view.
A commercial for a doggie daycare center opens the next entry, Fur Babies, directed by Christian Long and Justin Long. This film mixes hidden and handheld cameras with third-person video which seems like cheating. To be believable in the found-footage universe, the entire story should seem to be ‘found.’ This story follows a group of animal rights activists who during the commercial noticed several stuffed animals. Believing that taxidermy is cruel even if the animal is already dead, they send in an undercover couple to expose the daycare center. When their cover is ultimately blown, in a twist worthy of 1996’s The Island of Dr Moreau, the activists meet grisly, although not fatal, fates.
Returning for the penultimate interlude, the experts discuss Farrington House and the discovered videos, and you presented with the final film, Stowaway, directed by Kate Siegal. The film is about a woman – for reasons left unexplained – who has left her family to record proof of UFOs in the desert. Through her lens, we watch as she interviews locals and camps in an area known for UFOs landing to collect insects and small animals. During the night she follows a light in the sky that seems to have landed nearby. She finds her way inside a mysterious object where animals are captured inside small enclosures. She becomes injured and then trapped inside when the craft returns to space. Her destiny is seen only through her lens. Although much is left to the imagination, her camera floating in the dark confines of the ship shows us enough to draw some pretty gruesome conclusions.
One of the key thoughts mentioned throughout V/H/S/Beyond is that the validity of proof is in the eye of the beholder. When it fulfills the opening’s promise of evidence of alien life by showing the found video, none of the experts definitively declare it authentic. With all tales entwined within V/H/S/Beyond considered, the exemplary work of Mr. Horowitz should be applauded. When he returns to discuss the found videos and family, he is believable as an extraterrestrial expert, his explanations and theories are given with gravitas and are completely authentic. So, if you are a fan of this franchise, you will enjoy it. However, if you are a purist for found footage to appear truly ‘found,’ some of the entries may not be for you. A good entertaining experience, Cryptic Rock gives V/H/S/Beyond 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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