Since it began in 2012, the V/H/S franchise has carved a reputation for being one of the most consistent series in horror. Since Shudder took over its distribution with 2021’s V/H/S/94, there has been a new entry every year framed around different time periods or conceits. This time around, V/H/S/Beyond is all-in on the extraterrestrial.

The two-hour film consists of five separate shorts, tied together by an overarching documentary narrative functioning as bookends to each one. There are some big names behind it, too, with Hill House alum Kate Siegel and Jeepers Creepers‘ Justin Long each contributing to a short. However, the main sentiment you’ll get from V/H/S/Beyond is one of fatigue, with the familiar structure fast wearing thin.

A group of police officers outside a house in V/H/S/Beyond.

Stork

Directed by Jordan Downey, the first short in V/H/S/Beyond feels like something straight out of Resident Evil 2. A plucky squad of specialist police officers, with a rookie in tow, head to a decrepit house to rescue a group of kidnapped children – but instead face waves of zombies.

This segment humbly wears its influences on its sleeve, which is something to commend – especially as a huge Resident Evil fan. The first-person action is nice and gory, and it knows exactly how bombastic its concept is. Fittingly, Stork doesn’t waste too much time, eschewing the setup almost instantly to get straight into the action.

It’s not groundbreaking on a narrative level, but it is fast-paced enough to remain engaging – that is, until its final creature reveal takes it into the territory of parody. The short’s title might give it away, but the ‘big bad’ here isn’t especially menacing.

Two paparazzi in V/H/S/Beyond.

Dream Girl

Dream Girl follows two paparazzi in Mumbai, India as they track down Tara, a young actress taking Bollywood by storm. Out of the five segments here, it’s far and away the most unique, with a concept and setting quite unlike anything from other V/H/S films. There’s even a full, totally indulgent Bollywood musical sequence, complete with bombastic choreography, which is plenty of fun.

While Dream Girl takes a little longer to get to its horror, the reveal here is arguably the most fun of the entire film. Without spoiling it, director Virat Pal revels in its exploration of autonomy and the fight for independence when film stars are treated as robots instead of people. It also makes clever use of diegetic film cameras on the set to frame some shots, which pays off well towards the end.

Debris and people falling in V/H/S/Beyond.

Live and Let Dive

The boldest short of the bunch from a filmmaking standpoint, Live and Let Dive is all about skydivers. The first ten minutes or so take place as one uninterrupted shot as a group of friends prep to jump out of a plane – until all plans go to pot when they spot a UFO on the horizon.

There’s some fairly gnarly mid-air gore sequences, and the sheer thrill of watching a first-person skydive sequence is more than worth the price of admission. It’s also refreshing to see horror in the light of day, forcing director Justin Martinez to do away with murky visuals and generate fear in other ways.

Unfortunately, Live and Let Dive suffers from a similar malaise to other sequences in V/H/S/Beyond in that it very quickly runs out of steam. Once you’ve seen the extraterrestrials responsible for the mayhem, you already know what’s going to happen. The last few minutes end up feeling cumbersome and plodding as a result.

Becky with a dog's jaw in V/H/S/99.

Fur Babies

By the time we reach Fur Babies, a trend begins to emerge: one where each segment starts off promising but runs out of ways to keep you engaged. Directed by Christian and Justin Long, it follows a group of animal rights activists who covertly infiltrate a dog kennel to expose its practices.

This kennel is run by Becky, played by Libby Letlow, who is arguably the most menacing presence in the entire anthology. Her performance evokes memories of Kathy Bates’ Annie from Misery, turning from saccharine charm to cold-faced menace in a heartbeat. While the overall concept never really goes anywhere particularly rewarding, Letlow’s turn is the best in Beyond – and there’s some cool creature design to boot.

A character having fallen over in V/H/S/99.

Stowaway

The final segment of V/H/S/Beyond is easily its weakest – mostly because of how much it leans on ‘classic’ found footage tropes. From heavy panting in the background to stolen glimpses of menacing aliens, Kate Siegel’s short clearly has reverence for Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds and The Blair Witch Project, but there’s simply nothing original here.

From the Giger-inspired UFO design to its slow pacing and shaky handheld camera, there’s nothing outstanding about an alien obsessive being abducted any more. It nicely splices this footage with videos of the protagonist’s child – relics of the bygone era of accidentally taping over something important – but aside from this it’s easily the most rote.

While individually they may all seem distinct, the issue with V/H/S/Beyond is that all of its five main segments fundamentally have the same structure and trajectory. They all start quiet before unleashing their primary monster onto the protagonists, only to run out of steam when it becomes clear that all of this unwitting baddie-fodder is doomed. Without much by way of innovation cross each one, you begin to feel fatigued as they simply go through the motions.

That said, Beyond concludes its interstitial narrative in a much more unsettling way, which actually ends up being the film’s highlight. For that, if anything other than a few strong performances and refreshing settings, it’s worth sticking out and seeing what V/H/S/Beyond has to offer.

★★

V/H/S/Beyond is out now on Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital.

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