When the V/H/S franchise started in 2012, it helped kickstart the careers of the Radio Silence team. This franchise mixed anthology horror and found footage in a way that made both feel fresh. This combination made anthologies seem more real and added urgency to found footage.
Since the first film, there have been six more movies of different quality, along with two spin-offs. While some of the recent films have been very good, the formula was beginning to feel tired.
V/H/S/Beyond is now available to stream on Shudder, and it tries something new. It keeps the format you loved but centers on sci-fi stories instead. Slashers and demons are out, and terrifying creatures from other worlds take their place.
As in previous films, many talented filmmakers work on this one, including Justin Long, Mike Flanagan, and Kate Siegel, who makes her directorial debut here. Some segments are excellent, while others feel too familiar.
Even when it doesn’t hit the mark, V/H/S/Beyond remains entertaining and full of tension. Whether you like it or not, the next time you step outside at night, you might look up at the dark sky and wonder if someone is watching you.
What Waits Upstairs in “Stork”?
The first segment of V/H/S/Beyond is called “Stork.” It is written and directed by Jordan Downey, who is known for the horror comedy ThanksKilling. While there are no killer turkey puppets in “Stork,” it does have a unique twist.
The story follows a rookie cop named Segura (played by Phillip Andre Botello) who works for a police unit called W.A.R.D.E.N. Most of the action happens with Segura in the background, filming the police crew with his video camera.
There are also cuts of bodycam footage from the other officers. In “Stork,” the unit discusses how seventeen babies have been kidnapped in the last few months. Now, the police have a lead on where the suspect might be.
This leads W.A.R.D.E.N. to raid a big house at night. They see their suspect, who is wearing a hard hat, run inside the home. The officers quickly follow him inside, where chaos ensues. The cops are immediately attacked by several zombie-like creatures, which have great makeup effects.
These creatures have bandages covering a hole in their foreheads, where their brains once were. After dealing with the zombies, the officers go upstairs, where they find several human babies with beaks. A giant, featherless stork is watching over them, and it attacks the cops before they manage to kill it.
This stork fell from space on a rock, turning people into its mindless followers while it looked after the babies. It is unclear if these babies are the same ones that were abducted or a mix of alien and human.
What Happens When Celebrity Worship Goes Too Far in “Dream Girl”?
“Dream Girl” is the first Bollywood entry in the V/H/S franchise, directed by Virat Pal. The story takes place in Mumbai, India, where two paparazzi photographers, Arnab (played by Sayandeep Sengupta) and Sonu (played by Rohan Joshi), are on a film set.
They are so focused on their work that when Arnab cuts his arm, he ignores it to keep taking photos. The two photographers sneak onto the film set to watch a movie being filmed with a popular young actress named Tara (played by Namrata Sheth). When Tara leaves the set, Arnab follows her and hides in a closet to take photos inside her trailer. He will soon regret this decision.
Tara finds Arnab and pretends he is a supportive fan. However, this act does not fool her, as she suddenly rips off her face, revealing that she is not human but an alien robot. Tara then goes on a killing spree, destroying everyone around her, yet she pauses to take paparazzi photos of herself in her true form.
It seems her manager knew her true nature, but now that she is free, she does not plan to go back. This segment shows how celebrities often seem like robots, not real people, yet we still want to capture that perfect photo of them.
What’s Inside the Spaceship in “Live and Let Dive”?
“Live and Let Dive” is directed by Justin Martinez of Radio Silence and takes horror into the sky. The story starts on a small plane full of skydivers, who are preparing to jump while filming a fun video.
However, they soon see something strange in the distance and almost get hit by a military jet. A UFO appears near the plane, and just as it gets closer, something large jumps onto the plane, causing it to crash.
Some people die in the crash, while others survive, including Jack, who is having what is now the worst birthday ever. “Live and Let Dive” becomes both frustrating and intriguing. The shaky cam style returns as Jack runs from aliens chasing him. The aliens jump at the camera, vanish, and then jump at the screen again.
The alien designs are fascinating. They resemble traditional aliens but are much bigger and spider-like, using laser beams to kill. Jack nearly escapes in a truck but is pulled into the sky and into the alien spaceship. While “Live and Let Dive” is straightforward, it shows that sometimes what we see is more frightening than what we imagine.
Who Is Becky in “Fur Babies”?
“Fur Babies” is the strangest segment in V/H/S/Beyond, written and directed by Justin Long and his brother Christian Long. It follows animal rights activists who want to investigate a woman named Becky Baxter (played by Libby Letlow).
Becky runs a dog daycare called Doggy Dream House from her home and also films videos for her YouTube channel. She is very cheerful and obsessed with dogs. The activists are worried about her videos, which show stuffed dogs. They decide to visit her home, posing as potential customers while hiding a camera.
When they arrive, they find something much worse than taxidermied dogs. Stuart (played by Matthew Layton) and Angela (played by Braedyn Bruner) meet Becky, who gives them a tour of her home. They notice her collection of mounted dogs and ask about a missing one named Gary, but Becky does not provide a clear answer.
She is so overly cheerful that it feels unsettling. When she notices the hidden camera, her face briefly drops, but she quickly regains her cheerful demeanor. Becky takes Stuart and Angela to the basement to show them more of the daycare, but it looks more like a dungeon.
There, the duo is attacked by humans who have been surgically altered to look like dogs. This is the fate that awaits Stuart and Angela, with dog parts, like jaws, sewn onto them. “Fur Babies” highlights how some people love their pets so much that they treat them like people.
Does Halley Survive in “Stowaway”?
“Stowaway” is written by Mike Flanagan, a well-known horror writer, and directed by his wife, Kate Siegel. In this segment, Halley (played by Alanah Pearce) is obsessed with stories of strange lights in the Mojave Desert. Even though her family tries to stop her, she leaves her young daughter behind to show.
She plans to make a short documentary, interviewing residents like in The Blair Witch Project. She is so focused on her work that she accidentally records over her daughter’s birthday party. Her determination pays off when she finally sees the lights herself, getting her “I told you so” moment.
Halley finds an almost living spaceship and steps inside. Things take a turn when she cuts her finger on a sharp string, causing floating microorganisms to heal it quickly. Halley is amazed by the ship, which has a spider inside and an alien sighting.
She is so attracted by it that she fails to leave before the ship takes off. Halley watches Earth shrink outside the window before her body morphs into a disgusting spider-like form. The microorganisms bring her back, leaving her in constant pain. Halley was so focused on life on other planets that she ended up losing her own life repeatedly.
How Does “Abduction/Adduction” Tie Into the Rest of ‘V/H/S/Beyond’?
Most of the V/H/S films have a wraparound story that connects the different segments. However, V/H/S/Beyond does not have that. Instead, Jay Cheel’s segments appear at the beginning, end, and between the other shorts. While they are about aliens, they do not connect to the other stories.
We see parts of a documentary with experts discussing alien life and if it can be proven. They talk about VHS tapes made in a mansion where a Chinese family lived. After the parents died, the oldest son lived there alone until he vanished.
The final scene shows the man being visited at night by an alien and then killed. People watching cannot agree if it is real or not, but that is not the main point.
It is about how the video makes you feel and if it looks real enough to draw you in. As one expert points out, have you noticed that all of these supposed real videos are made with the cheapest VHS cameras?
V/H/S/Beyond is available for streaming now on Shudder.
