V/H/S/Beyond is a 2024 found footage horror anthology film produced by Bloody Disgusting. The sequel to V/H/S/85 (2023), it is the seventh installment in the V/H/S franchise and features five found footage segments linked together by a sixth frame narrative written and directed by Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Virat Pal, Justin Martinez, Christian and Justin Long, and Kate Siegel. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2024, and was released as a Shudder Original Film through the streaming service Shudder in the United States on October 4, 2024. A sequel, V/H/S/8, is scheduled to be released in 2025.

Plot

The film is presented as an anthology of five short horror films, built into a frame narrative which acts as a documentary, with interviews from ufologists. Each short is linked together with the concept of found footage as each segment is from VHS tapes.

= "Abduction/Adduction" (frame narrative) — Prologue

= Written and directed by Jay Cheel The frame narrative focuses on a pair of video cassettes that were bought by an anonymous Redditor from a flea market, the tapes supposedly containing evidence of an alien encounter. Director Jay Cheel received an anonymous email with the footage from both tapes in digitized form. The footage follows the story of the "Farrington House", a building that is topic of an urban legend in Canada. In the 2000s, a paranormal group led by Mitch Horowitz collected anecdotal evidence of a "gray form"; Horowitz explains that "if we do find proof of extraterrestrial life, then everything we thought we knew would come into question".

= "Stork"

= Directed by Jordan Downey Written by Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart Police unit W.A.R.D.E.N. stumble upon a dilapitated house amidst a string of baby disappearances. Its newest member Segura is tasked to film the entire mission while another member, E.T., is revealed to be the father of a missing baby. The unit spot what appears to be a shambling zombie-like person—dubbed as a "Brooder"—and follow him inside the house. E.T. accidentally hits a wire with several glass bottles dangling from it and the noise attracts several other Brooders, whom the unit shoot dead. After E.T. hears a baby's cries, he charges off on his own. On the second floor, the unit find a cracked-open meteor that crashed through the roof and determine it is the cause of the incident. Segura puts the camera inside a hole in the wall, where he hears E.T. screaming in pain until a human-like creature peeks out. The unit head to the third floor, but their passage is blocked by a barricade. When they use a chainsaw to carve their way through, the Brooders come back to life. Upon killing the Brooders again, the unit gain access to the third floor and find a tall creature singing a lullaby while holding a baby. The creature goes to the attic, where the unit discover several cradles containing the missing babies. Nearby, a large alien stork-like creature is feasting on E.T.'s corpse before regurgitating his brains into the mouth of the closest newborn. The unit shoot the stork, but Segura is attacked by E.T., now turned into a Brooder, and is then pierced by the stork. The unit kill both E.T. and the stork and help an injured Segura to evacuate. It is revealed that W.A.R.D.E.N. have dealt with similar threats in the past and they decide it is better not to explain what happened. Before leaving, Segura notices the stork is still breathing and stomps on its head, killing it. The unit then take a picture with the stork's dead body as the footage ends.

= "Abduction/Adduction" — First interlude

= Back in the frame narrative, it is revealed that a family of Chinese immigrants arrived in Toronto in the 1950s. They were well off, and purchased a house that was built in the late Victorian era. In the 1980s, the parents died, leaving the house to their eldest son, who put it up for sale around a decade later and disappeared shortly thereafter. During his time in the house, the son experienced night terrors and thought that the house was either haunted or had mysterious strangers—never saying it was aliens—, something that is related to how people in the past discovered strange occurrences. To prove that he is not crazy, he sets up two cameras to record what happened.

= "Dream Girl"

= Directed by Virat Pal Written by Virat Pal and Evan Dickson Mumbai native paparazzi Arnab and Sonu are tasked to get footage of the latest Bollywood sensation Tara. They sneak into a filming session of her next film, which ends abruptly when Tara's manager gets infuriated at the amount of takes the director is using, and demands Tara goes on break. Arnab then leaves the set, sneaks into Tara's trailer, and hides in the closet. Tara enters the trailer with her manager, who berates her. When the manager leaves, Arnab accidentally reveals himself after he discovers what appears to be Tara's face in a bowl. Meanwhile, Sonu, who is outside, overhears a conversation Tara's manager is having over the phone. Arnab is empathetic to Tara and tells her that she does not need to be pushed around. Tara, emboldened by his words, reveals herself as an android and rips her face off, saying that she will take Arnab's face and rule as a commoner. As Arnab is chased outside, Tara spits acid on her manager's face, which melts off, and chases everyone into the studio. Tara then rips the director's guts out and slaughters the rest of the film's cast and crew by firing bolts of red electricity from her hands. She finds and kills Sonu by gouging his eyes out, and then tackles Arnab. Tara proceeds to rip both Arnab's arms and face off, placing the latter on her own face. She walks outside the studio to journalists whom she also attacks as the footage ends.

= "Abduction/Adduction" — Second interlude

= Horowitz explains that alien concepts traces back to Whitley Strieber's 1987 book Communion, as it popularized the idea of grey aliens. He explains that it led us to think that maybe we are not alone, and that "maybe our company does not wish us well".

= "Live and Let Dive"

= Directed by Justin Martinez Written by Ben Turner and Justin Martinez Numerous acquaintances are celebrating Zach's 30th birthday with his wife Jess and his best friend Logan via skydiving. Just before they are ready to jump out, the group spot a large unidentified flying object and several fighter jets. An alien jumps onto the plane before it collides with the ship, sending everyone falling towards an orange grove, some being injured or dying from the collison. Zach opens his parachute and survives the fall, but learns that Logan, who was strapped onto him, was decapitated when the parachute opened. Zach quickly finds other survivors as he tries to look for Jess, but an alien suddenly attacks the group. The aliens brutally kill Zach's friends before he finds Jess' corpse, having been killed earlier by an alien. Zach escapes from the grove and jumps into a farmer's truck, whom he demands to leave. The farmer threatens him with a gun, but an alien kills him; the gun is fired and blows off two of Zach's fingers on his right hand. He attempts to drive away, but the truck is pulled into the air inside the ship by its tractor beam; the aliens suddenly attack Zach as the footage ends.

= "Abduction/Adduction" — Third interlude

= Horowitz explains his interest in alien sightings, but says that he does not have the expertise to analyze them. The segment then cuts into Niko Pueringer and Sam Gorski of the YouTube channel Corridor Digital, known for analyzing digital effects. They explain that if an alien footage relies on the viewer not being able to clearly see it, then it loses credibility, but they do express their interest.

= "Fur Babies"

= Directed and written by Christian Long and Justin Long An animal rights activist group—Stuart, Angela, Miles, Pat, and Christina—decide to investigate the house of a woman named Becky, who runs a supposed dog daycare center and keeps taxidermies of her past dogs. Stuart and Angela are sent to Becky's house and she explains that the reason she keeps taxidermies is because she does not have the heart to bury her dogs. Stuart and Angela then meet Becky's brother Bo, who takes them to the basement where Becky reveals that other people have come asking her questions. She then captures Stuart and Angela to surgically turn them into half-human, half-dog hybrids. Miles, Pat, and Christina break into the house but are caught by Becky, who has successfully brainwashed Stuart and Angela to maul them to death. Later, a porch pirate attempts to steal packages from Becky's home, only to be killed by one of the hybrids as the footage ends.

= "Abduction/Adduction" — Fourth interlude

= Horowitz explains that, during the Cold War, the public saw aliens as "invaders" due to the popularity of Orson Welles' radio drama The War of the Worlds, which caused mass hysteria. Pueringer and Gorski then talk about their Boston Dynamics parody videos, which featured robots being abused by humans. These videos were so convincing that people sent death threats to Boston Dynamics, thinking that it was real. Horowitz talks about how, even when something is debunked, some believers will not be dissuaded.

= "Stowaway"

= Directed by Kate Siegel Written by Mike Flanagan A woman named Halley, who is implied to have left her husband and child behind, documents her findings of possible extraterrestrial encounters in the Mojave Desert. As night falls, she witnesses a light fall from the sky and goes to investigate it. She finds an alien spaceship and enters to examine its interior; when she accidentally cuts herself, small nanites come out and heal her. Halley quickly learns that this causes minor mutations due to the ship keeping animals in stasis and copying their DNA. After she hides from an alien, Halley realizes that she has no escape. The nanites appear again and heal her injuries as the ship accelerates to light speed, throwing her around and injuring her again. Healed once more by the nanites, Halley begins to suffer more and more gruesome mutations to her body due to the cycles of injury and repair as the footage ends.

= "Abduction/Adduction" — Epilogue

= Horowitz, Pueringer, and Gorski reunite with Brian Baker of the YouTube channel The Superstitious Times. The experts then watch the footage from the cameras to give their reactions and describe what is happening. After they give their thought on it, the footage is shown and presented without comment; the experts cannot verify or vouch for its authenticity. The footage shows the eldest son asleep in bed as an alien creature enters his bedroom, removes what appears to be alien eggs from his body, then takes the camera and shoves it down his throat.

Cast

= "Abduction/Adduction"

= Brian Baker Trevor Dow Gerry Eng Sam Gorski Mitch Horowitz Niko Pueringer Wren Weichman

= "Stork"

= Thom Hallum as Broome James C. Burns as Aubert Jolene Andersen as Bennet Tyler Joseph Andrews as Ivy Vas Provatakis as E.T. Phillip Andre Botello as Segura Morgan L. Chancelien as Giant Brooder Dane DiLiegro as Stork Chris Page as Brooder Alan Maxson as Brooder Blaine McGee as Brooder Morgan McGee as Brooder Suzie Usaj as Radio DJ

= "Dream Girl"

= Namrata Sheth as Tara Sayandeep Sangupta as Arnab Rohan Joshi as Sonu Ashwin Mushran as Manager Rikin Saigal as Gippy Farhan Syed as Director Swati Jain as Pari Virat Pal as Boss

= "Live and Let Dive"

= Bobby Slaski as Zach Rhett Wellington as Logan Jerry Campisi as Noah Bix Krieger as Brittney Hannah McBride as Jess Skip Howland as Pilot Skip Jeff Turner as Skip's Nephew Dominique Star as Solo Jumper Jared Trevino as Jess's Instructor Matt Tramel as Injured Instructor Felipe Cortéz Muñoz as Tandem Instructor Nate Shane as Legless Guy Sebastian Redd as Dazed Instructor Mike Ferguson as Farmer

= "Fur Babies"

= Libby Letlow as Becky Matthew Layton as Stuart Braedyn Bruner as Angela Kevin Bohleber as Miles Phillip Lundquist as Bo Trevor Wright as Abraham / Paleman Cameron Krugman as Pat Jenna McCarthy as Christina Sivan Genier as Sam William Granillo as Gary

= "Stowaway"

= Alanah Pearce as Halley Josh Goldbloom as Colorful Local Boomer Feith as Local #1 Yuritzi Bojorquez as Local #2 Ketzali Bjorquez as Daughter Theodora Flanagan as Halley's Daughter Joey Wilson as Alien Figure

Production

In October 2023 at the New York Comic Con, it was announced that a seventh V/H/S was in development. Each of the anthology segments are sci-fi oriented in the vein of other horror franchise sequels set in outer space such as Jason X, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Dracula 3000, and Amityville in Space, for a Shudder exclusive release. Josh Goldbloom, Brad Miska, and James Harris served as producers. The project is a joint-venture production between Shudder Original Films, Bloody Disgusting, Cinepocalypse, and Studio71. In July 2024, Bloody Disgusting announced the film's directors as Jordan Downey, Christian and Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal and Kate Siegel, with Michael Schreiber as an additional producer. Kate Siegel initially planned to do a segment that would have been a musical. After this was shot down, she suggested a short involving the Muppets and even wanted to get Brian Henson involved, but this idea was turned down too. She eventually spoke with Mike Flanagan and settled on the final version seen in the film.

Release

V/H/S/Beyond premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2024, followed by an exclusive release on Shudder on October 4, 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 56 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "The V/H/S series shows no signs of the tape wearing out with this terrifying entry, boasting an assortment of shorts that'll sate the appetite of horror and sci-fi aficionados alike." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Ryan Scott of /Film gave the film a 9/10 rating, writing "pound for pound, segment for segment, death for death, this is everything we could possibly want from a horror anthology." The Fort Worth Report described the series as "out-of-this-world fun," noting that "[e]ach of the six short films is exceptional," and The A.V. Club remarked that, "While other V/H/S installments have sometimes been scattershot, united by format and time period more than anything else, V/H/S/Beyond holds together almost perfectly as a thematic exploration of the things lurking just beyond our understanding." Screen Rant noted that the series "has found quite a bit of success, and it's partly thanks to the huge number of talented actors who contributed to the project." Brian Tellerico of RogerEbert.com gave the film a neutral review, awarding 2.5 stars out of 4.

Sequel

At New York Comic Con 2024, an eighth film in the franchise was announced, titled V/H/S/8, targeting a 2025 release.

References

External links

V/H/S/Beyond at IMDb