V/H/S/Beyond (2024)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Tape Seven

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

V/H/S/Beyond, the seventh entry in this horror anthology series, is another solid one; it's mostly about aliens, but even the non-alien stories contribute to the movie's wild, gripping, anything-can-happen vibe.

Mitch Horowitz appears in the wraparound segments to discuss humanity's obsession with the search for signs of alien life. In Stork, an elite squad of police officers — captured on video by rookie Segura (Phillip Andre Botello) — infiltrate a building, on the hunt for kidnapped babies; they encounter what appears to be a gang of rampaging zombies.

In Dream Girl, two paparazzi attempt to get photos of Bollywood superstar Tara (Namrata Sheth) on the set of her new musical; it does not go as planned. In Live and Let Dive, a group of friends celebrate Zach's (Bobby Slaski) birthday by arranging for a skydiving session; their fun is interrupted by the appearance of a flying saucer.

In Fur Babies, a collective of animal activists go undercover to investigate a mysterious woman (Libby Letlow) who runs a doggie-day-care business, only to discover something sinister. And in Stowaway, Halley (Alanah Pearce) investigates patterns of hovering lights in the Mojave desert, and finds more than she bargained for.

Filmmakers turning up for V/H/S/Beyond include Kate Siegel, Mike Flanagan's wife and star of Hush, making her directing debut with a screenplay by Flanagan; Justin Long and his younger brother Christian, who previously co-directed Lady of the Manor; Justin Martinez of the Radio Silence collective, which contributed to the first V/H/S movie; and Virat Pal, who contributes the very first V/H/S segment shot in India.

Segments run the gamut from wildly gory, to darkly funny, to deeply unsettling. (There's even a good chunk of a Bollywood musical number!) The wraparound sequence, which can sometimes feel dashed-off, is here actually thoughtful and even somewhat scholarly! And while settings include creepy, dark houses and basements, and claustrophobic spaces, Martinez's segment takes place literally in the open air (falling from a plane) and then in, of all places, an orange grove; even a cheerful place like that can quickly turn malevolent.

There are some memorable characters here, including Becky the weird dog-lady, the paparazzi who invade Tara's trailer, and Halley (played by Alanah Pearce, a real-life journalist-turned-video-game developer). The handheld camerawork can get a bit frantic, but it's in keeping with the mood. Overall, V/H/S/Beyond is yet another collection of bite-sized horror snackies perfect for Halloween.