If it’s October, it’s practically Halloween and if it’s Halloween, then it’s time for Shudder’s horror-themed found footage anthology, V/H/S, to make its yearly return to the streaming service.
V/H/S Beyond, the fourth entry in as many years, its seventh entry across two decades, and ninth overall (including spin-offs), once again doesn’t disappoint, delivering enough splatter, gore, and grue to fill several entries, let alone a single standalone entry running under two hours.
Across six entries, including the obligatory wraparound segment, V/H/S Beyond retains its emphasis on horror but leans more heavily into science fiction than previous entries, bringing extra-terrestrials to Earth for decidedly unfriendly contact in half the segments, technology gone awry in another, a Doctor Moreau-inspired taxidermist with an unhealthy canine fixation in another, and the abject terrors of outer space in another. All share something else too: an obsessive fascination with Cronenbergian body horror and everything that implies (deformities, disfigurements, and dismemberment).
As usual, of course, the quality among and between segments varies. More recent entries have shown a distinct emphasis on across-the-board quality, meaning even the lesser segments, marred by undercooked ideas or rushed execution, still fall on the upper end.
In short, V/H/S Beyond has something for practically every horror fan, even horror fans turned filmmakers like actor Justin Long and his brother Christian, writer-directors of the “Fur Babies” segment, who consider one of Kevin Smith’s divisive forays into the genre, Tusk, not just a significant entry in the body-horror canon, but one worthy enough to remake in short form.
Directed by Jay Cheel (Cursed Films), the wraparound/frame device, “Abduction/Adduction,” introduces the central themes and ideas from the get-go: modeled after ubiquitous, docu-style programming found on basic cable, several talking heads take the viewers into UFOlogy territory, mock seriously taking stock of the state of UFO studies, the nature and background of UFO encounters dating back to the last century, all the while promising to reveal a disturbing VHS tape found at a garage sale depicting a real-life encounter a now-disappeared man had with a presence in his family home. Teased throughout, the tape finally receives its due in the final moments.
The standalone segments properly start with writer-director Jordan Downey’s “Stork,” a cops vs. zombies entry heavily inspired by Resident Evil and Evil Dead, the former in its approach to visual language and editing, the latter in terms of subject matter and gratuitous displays of gore and violence visited on the puppet-like zombies infesting an abandoned building on the edge of town. Centered on an off-the-books op to recover kidnapped infants, said op goes pear-shaped almost immediately. The cops, including a cop-videographer, bring more than enough weaponry and ammo to resolve the possible alien infestation.
The intriguingly stylish, if too short “Dream Girl," takes the series into uncharted territory: Co-written with Evan Dickson and directed by Virat Pal, “Dream Girl” takes its narrative and visual cues from Bollywood cinema, down to an energetic dance number on a studio soundstage.
It’s also in Hindi, making it the first entry in the entire series set in one of the populous countries in the world. Following a pair of bad-luck paparazzi who sneak onto the set to take behind-the-scenes photos, including pics of a rising superstar, Tara, only to discover that venturing into places where they don’t belong without permission can be detrimental to their longtime health.
Pal passes the baton to Radio Silence’s Justin Martinez for the next, liveliest entry, “Live and Let Die.” A group of thirty-something friends excitedly prepare to tandem jump from a plane to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of the jumpers.
Before long, though, sightings of UFOs, followed by Air Force jets zooming past their twin-engine plane, and an unfortunate mid-air crash leave the survivors on the ground running for their proverbial lives in a maze-like orange groove. Slightly hampered by variable visual effects — understandable given the budget constraints involved — “Live and Let Die” fully embraces the horror side of science-fiction/horror, including several gnarly alien-on-human kills worth the price of admission (or a Shudder subscription).
The aforementioned “Fur Babies” arrives next on screen with a cautionary tale involving the slightly mad owner of a pet-care service, IQ-challenged animal rights activists, and an extremely disturbing denouement that places “Fur Babies” somewhere in the same universe as “Tusk” or universe-adjacent. An entry for some and not all, “Fur Babies” stands out less because of its narrative weaknesses or predictably downbeat ending, but because it’s preceded and followed by two of V/H/S Beyond’s strongest entries, each of which feels more coherent, complete, and ultimately satisfying on a visceral level.
Speaking of viscera, the last entry, “Stowaway,” written by Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, Hush) and directed by Kate Siegel, Flanagan’s partner in life and filmmaking, turns a story of a lifelong UFOlogist, Hailey (Alanah Pearce), whose allowed her obsession to crowd out everything else in her life, including family and friends. A self-funded documentarian, Hailey ventures into the Mojave Desert by herself, video camera always in hand.
She hopes to capture indisputable visual evidence of visitors from another planet. What she finds shouldn’t be spoiled here, but Flanagan and Siegel give new, terrible meaning to the phrase, “Be careful what you wish for.” Like many a seeker, Hailey’s curiosity might prove to be her undoing. Siegel, for one, is here for it (as are we).
The final return to the wraparound segment finally reveals the oft-mentioned VHS tape, but coming as it does after some of the long-running series’ strongest segments, it feels anti-climactic and altogether rushed. While it’s bound to leave viewers with a “Is that all there is?” feeling, it’s only a minor misstep likely to be forgotten moments later when the end credits appear onscreen.
V/H/S Beyond begins streaming today (Friday, October 4), exclusively on Shudder.