Creeptober Day 5: V/H/S/Beyond

With a new October comes a new movie in the V/H/S franchise, V/H/S/Beyond! Watch with us and let us know what you think about it!

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Check the Creeptober announcement article to find out where to stream V/H/S/Beyond.

Day five of Creeptober continues our back-to-back of new horror with V/H/S/Beyond! This was released yesterday, and you can stream it now on Shudder and AMC+. So go watch it if you haven’t already, and come back here to read our thoughts about this latest installment of the V/H/S franchise!

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Read on for our thoughts on V/H/S/Beyond as well as a recap of the movie, and join the conversation on our Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

Reacting to V/H/S/Beyond

A VHS tape as seen in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
VHS tapes containing evidence of an alien encounter is teased throughout the framing segments of V/H/S/Beyond. The frame story was written and directed by Jay Cheel.

Since 2021, the release of a new V/H/S movie has become a yearly October tradition. As a fan of found footage and anthology horror, I look forward to it every year now. Each movie has its ups and down, and V/H/S/Beyond is not an exception to that rule. Overall, my initial reaction is that I’d put this movie somewhere towards the middle if I’m ranking my favorites in the series. It has a couple of segments I really enjoy, and the others are okay. I am a little disappointed that the frame story doesn’t connect to the main story segments, but I suppose that’s not a huge deal.

The "Stork" segment in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
“Stork” was directed by Jordan Downey, and written by Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart.

The first main story, “Stork,” is a nice way to start the movie. It’s action horror with lots of shooting at zombie-like monsters. The monster reveal at the end is fun, though I got the feeling the filmmakers were looking (or hoping) for a couple of things here. First, it feels like they wanted a monster with the cult appeal of something like Raatma (hail Raatma) from the “Storm Drain” segment of V/H/S/94. Not that the creatures look the same, but the designs are both unique and striking. Also, this segment is written in a way that is begging for a spinoff. Would a full movie of this group of monster hunters be good? I don’t know, but this basically felt like a short film created with the intention of selling a series or a movie.

Tara as seen in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
“Dream Girl” was directed by Virat Pal, and written by Virat Pal and Evan Dickson. (pictured: Namrata Sheth)

“Dream Girl” takes place mostly in a film studio where a movie is being made, and it does something that I really don’t like in found footage. While we see the movie being shot from the perspective of a camera on the set, the movie we’re watching then cuts to a fully edited movie sequence with different takes, multiple camera angles, and music. We get a Bollywood music video in the middle of the story. I like Bollywood music videos, but this isn’t the place for it. Breaking the immersion created by found footage is completely contrary to the strengths of the format. That said, I did enjoy the story. I just didn’t like the execution very much.

A plane falls apart in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
“Live and Let Dive” was directed by Justin Martinez, and written by Justin Martinez and Ben Turner.

The third main segment, “Live and Let Dive,” is where I started to truly enjoy V/H/S/Beyond. Experiencing a UFO sighting and an alien attack from the perspective of a skydiver is a tremendous idea. I loved the buildup to the dive, the view from the fall, and the panic when the skydiver lands. I thought the ending to this was really smart as well. This segment is my second favorite in the movie, though it’s a very close second place.

Becky looks at a camera on a dog in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
“Fur Babies” was written and directed by Justin Long and his brother Christian Long. (pictured: Libby Letlow and Braedyn Bruner)

“Fur Babies” took a step back for me. It’s okay, but some of the mechanics of the “found footage” took me out of it—unrealistic motion and interactions with a few of the cameras, unbelievable visual effects to make some of the footage at the beginning look like tape, the crotch-cam at the end which was obviously placed in that position just so we could see the body of the thing wearing it. As for the story, I love the movie Tusk (2014), and this felt like it was inspired by that, but Tusk is great because it has time to develop its characters. This just felt light and goofy in a way I didn’t particularly care for. It is also the segment which has the least to do with science fiction.

Halley sits in the desert in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
“Stowaway” was directed by Kate Siegel, and written by Mike Flanagan. (pictured: Alanah Pearce)

The final main segment, “Stowaway,” is my favorite. For starters, it looks like it was shot on tape (it does appear that VHS-style visual effects were used, but it’s well done). I enjoy that it embraces the found footage format with the awkward framing of shots when it makes sense, and the fact that important pieces of the story are missed by the camera. As it goes on, it’s difficult to get a good look at a lot of what is happening, and that makes it feel more realistic. The one question I have is this: how in the world did someone find this footage so it could be released? It’s an interesting question to ponder, because any answer makes it even more creepy.

As for the frame story, “Abduction/Adduction,” there isn’t much to it. The monster reveal is nice, but it’s a lot of buildup for not much payoff.

V/H/S/Beyond – A Recap

A man's face is attacked in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
V/H/S/Beyond has a good amount of gore and violence. Not every segment goes in that direction, but most of them do.

V/H/S/Beyond is the latest installment of the long-running V/H/S franchise of found-footage anthology horror movies. It is the seventh main entry in the series excluding spinoffs. V/H/S/Beyond contains five main story segments and a wraparound frame story. The overall theme as promoted in the marketing is sci-fi horror, and it mostly sticks to that idea. It might be a stretch to include one of the stories under the science fiction umbrella, but you can make it fit if you try hard enough.

A dark moment in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
I don’t want to give too many of the fun reveals throughout the movie, so this is as close as I’ll get to a major spoiler.

The frame story is a pseudo-documentary about a pair of VHS tapes that are purported to contain actual footage of an encounter with an alien. Real experts in fields related to investigating supposed supernatural and extraterrestrial evidence take part in these segments of the movie which lends a sense of realism to it. The experts include Mitch Horowitz of the show Alien Encounters: Fact or Fiction, writer Brian Baker who created The Superstitious Times, and The Corridor Crew who share their expertise in visual effects (and debunking faked footage) on YouTube. By the end of the movie, each expert weighs in on the footage contained on the VHS tapes.

Alanah Pearce as Halley in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
Kate Siegel and Mike Flanagan’s segment “Stowaway,” which stars Alanah Pearce, feels the most like a classic-style sci-fi horror movie.

In between the segments of the frame story are the five main story segments, each created by a different film crew. Here’s a brief description of the setup for each story:

  • “Stork” – A team of armed officers encounter zombie-like creatures while investigating a series of infant abductions.
  • “Dream Girl” – A Bollywood star goes through a dramatic transformation while making a new movie.
  • “Live and Let Dive” – A group of friends go skydiving, but they have an up-close encounter with a UFO and its inhabitants.
  • “Fur Babies” – Activists investigate a woman and her dog-sitting business for animal cruelty, but they don’t realize just how cruel she can be.
  • “Stowaway” – A woman investigates UFO sightings in the Mojave Desert. She finds something huge and strange and decides to go inside.
W.A.R.D.E.N. prepares to enter a foreboding house in V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
I wouldn’t be surprised if “Stork” gets spun off into its own feature film.

Since V/H/S/Beyond is so new, I won’t spoil any of the endings. The only thing I’ll say is that every segment includes some sort of monster, and each monster is unique. Unlike some of the earlier films in the franchise, the story segments in V/H/S/Beyond are not connected to the frame story in any way other than thematically. And even thematically it is a loose connection at times.

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Meet The Author

Chris has a degree in film studies at Temple University’s campus in Tokyo, Japan. He is a renowned expert on horror cinema.