V/H/S/Beyond (2024) Movie Review - 31 Days of Halloween 2024
Welcome to Knockout Horror. There has been a bit of a recent movie theme to our 2024 31 Days of Halloween feature and that’s somewhat deliberate. October is a great month to catch up on all the horror movies you have missed that year. Most will have been out awhile and hit streaming services making them easier to find. And reviews for the movies will have permeated through the collective horror conscience so you will have a good idea what to skip. We are keeping that theme going for day 10 as we take a look at the most recent iteration of the V/H/S horror anthology series V/H/S/Beyond.
You Know the Deal
I am sure you know how these movies play out. A bunch of stories collected together in an anthology format, each one being directed by someone different, and presented as a collection of recovered VHS tapes. V/H/S/Beyond has far more of a science fiction horror leaning than the earlier movies. It’s based around aliens, robots, and mad scientists. Whether that puts you off, or not, is up to you; it really isn’t all that appealing to me. The five segments here are linked together by a joining story called Abduction/Adduction. Which plays out like a documentary discussing the mysterious disappearance of a man.
Story one, Stork directed by Jordan Downey, follows a group of police raiding a house where mysterious creatures are hiding human babies. The second story, Dream Girl directed by Virat Pal, is set in Bollywood and follows a pair of fans attempting to get up close and personal with their favourite actress. Live and Let Die, directed by Justin Martinez, follows a group of friends sky diving for a 30th Birthday party but, unwittingly, finding themselves in a fight for their lives against hideous aliens.
The fourth story, Fur Babies directed by Justin and Christian Long, sees a group of animal rights activists investigating the home of a woman with some incredibly strange taxidermy dogs. And the final story, Stowaway directed by Kate Siegel, follows a woman who is documenting mysterious lights in the sky finding her way onto an alien vessel.
An Annual Horror Tradition?
We reviewed V/H/S/85 earlier this year and quite enjoyed it. There’s a part of me, however, that just fails to get, even remotely, excited about these movies. I loved the first V/H/S on release and thought that the second was pretty decent, too. The following years, however, have just been a mixed bag of fairly unexciting and fairly generic horror. V/H/S/Beyond, for me, simply continues that trend.
There’s just nothing all that exciting here. Sure, a couple of the segments are well done and fairly entertaining. But it is nothing that is going to blow you away. These segments are all produced by well established directors, as well. Meaning there is a distinct feeling of “side project” to each story.
Couple that with a few of the little niggles that are very specific to the V/H/S series and I am starting to see these movies as more of a necessary chore, purely to review, rather than something I want to watch. At this point, I could take them or leave them and it wouldn’t make much difference.
One Good, One Bad, One So-So
I seriously disliked Jordan Downey’s Stork. It feels like the type of short movie a group of teenage boys would make if they had access to fairly decent movie making equipment. It is Call of Duty meets Resident Evil Village with a hint of 80’s action movie cheesiness. The overuse of ridiculous camera effects, a seemingly increased frame rate, and a ton of motion blur give this a very video game feel. The story is dull, the action is predictable and it’s all just a bit cringe inducing.
The following segment, Dream Girl, was slightly better but it really doesn’t have anything to shout about. Again, the action takes centre stage and it just feels very generic. Live and Let Die, by Justin Martinez of Southbound fame, might be the strongest segment. Featuring some excitement, a decent amount of gore and some shocking moments. It is let down by some woefully poor CG aliens. They look horrendous and completely ruin the immersion.
They kind of remind me of that awful 2000’s CG you would see in nature documentaries. You know the ones? They promise to let you “walk with the dinosaurs”. But, in reality, you really walk with poorly rendered, low quality, computer generated crap. It is a fun segment, though, with some very cool moments and a jump scare that got my fiancee good.
One Fantastic Segment
I thought that Fur Babies, by Justin (of Barbarian fame) and Christian Long, was a lot of fun. It features a bit of an Annie Wilkes type character. And a seriously disturbing concept based around taxidermy and preserving the memory of lost pets. It is very tongue in cheek but also quite ruthless and disturbing.
The strongest segment, by far, and the only segment I think could be turned into a full movie was Stowaway by Katie Siegel. This segment really keyed in on the idea that “less is more” and it works tremendously. The concept is absolutely horrifying and the execution is spot on. It’s fairly slow paced but Siegel does a great job illustrating an idea of perpetual suffering.
Alanah Pearce’s delivery is a little over rapid at first but she settles in well later on and presents a nuanced and sympathetic character. The connecting segment is okay, I suppose. It is presented ala Lake Mungo and other mockumentaries. The story isn’t all that interesting but it is better than most other V/H/S connecting stories… Though, that isn’t saying much, to be honest.
Acting is okay, throughout. Nothing special, for the most part, and a lot of overacting from certain characters. But it is about what you would expect for an anthology horror.
The visual effects genuinely pissed me off, here. I get it, this is supposed to be recovered VHS tapes. But the complete overuse of analogue interference and tape damage is nauseatingly frustrating. Couple that with the frequent crackling sound effects and sharp zoom ins for no reason at all. And it all starts to feel like a very amateur production helmed by someone who wanted to use every single feature of his editing program.
Should You Watch V/H/S/Beyond?
I mean, if you really like anthology horror, and enjoyed the other movies, then, yes, you should watch V/H/S/Beyond. It’s just more of the same mid quality horror shorts that you have already seen a million times albeit with a sci-fi theme. You can’t really go wrong. If, however, the V/H/S films have never appealed to you then I doubt this one will change your mind.
All in all, while there are more okay segments than bad. None of them are all that interesting bar Stowaway. I can’t help but be left feeling like “okay, that was a thing that happened”, and not much else. It feels like, every year, more and more of these segments are abandoning creativity to go in a video game-esque, action heavy, style. It’s getting old, fast. The deeper, scarier, stories of the original iterations are gone, replaced with more thrills and a lot more gore. It’s really not for me but if that sounds like your thing then you may love this one.
Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight
Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.
A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.
Disclaimer: Images, posters, and video stills used in this review are the property of their respective copyright holders. They are included here for the purposes of commentary, criticism, and review under fair use. Knockout Horror makes no claim of ownership and encourages readers to support the official release of all films discussed.
