V/H/S/Beyond

V/H/S/Beyond
Promotional release poster
Directed by	Ellie Seth ("Butcher Night") Simon Rumley ("Pressure") James Newton ("The Way In") ABIA ("Storm Station") Adam Wingard ("Phase 2:Second Trials")
Written by	Jordan Downey ("Stork") Kevin Stewart ("Stork") Christian Long ("Fur Babies") Justin Long ("Fur Babies") Justin Martinez ("Live and Let Dive") Ben Turner ("Live and Let Dive") Virat Pal ("Dream Girl") Evan Dickson ("Dream Girl") Mike Flanagan ("Stowaway") Jay Cheel ("Abduction/Adduction")
Produced by	Josh Goldbloom Brad Miska James Harris Michael Schreiber
Starring	Dane DiLiegro ("Stork") Alanah Pearce ("Stowaway") Mitch Horowitz ("Abduction/Adduction")
Cinematography	Tapan Basu ("Dream Girl") Alexander Chinnici Mike McLaughlin ("Abduction/Adduction") Kevin Stewart
Edited by	Jordan Downey ("Stork") Jay Cheel ("Abduction/Adduction") Tanya Chhabria Thom Newell Benjamin A. Turner
Music by	Nick Soole ("Stork") Jay Cheel ("Abduction/Adduction")
Production companies	Shudder Original Films Bloody Disgusting Cinepocalypse Studio71
Distributed by	Shudder
Release dates	September 20, 2024 (2024-09-20) (Fantastic Fest) October 4, 2024 (2024-10-04) (United States)
Running time	114 minutes
Countries	United States India
Languages	English Hindi

V/H/S/Beyond is a 2024 found footage science fiction horror anthology film, and the seventh installment and ninth overall in the V/H/S franchise. The film features segments from Jordan Downey, Christian and Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, Kate Siegel, and Jay Cheel. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2024, followed by an exclusive release on Shudder on October 4, 2024.

Plot

The film is presented with 5 segments built around a frame narrative in the form of a documentary, with interviews from experts in the field of extraterrestrials and digital effects.

"Abduction/Adduction"/frame narrative (Prologue)

• Directed and written by Jay Cheel

In 2021, an anonymous Redditor claimed to have bought a mysterious pair of video cassettes from a flea market, the tapes supposedly containing video evidence of an alien encounter. The tapes are shown in pictures, each tape being labeled "Proof 1" and "Proof 2" respectively. Jay Cheel received an anonymous email with the footage from the tapes in digitized form. The footage follows the story of the "Farrington House," a site that is the topic of an urban legend in Canada. In the 2000s, a paranormal group collected anecdotal evidence of a "gray form." One of the experts, Mitch Horowitz, says 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

Amidst a string of baby disappearances, a police unit dubbed W.A.R.D.E.N. gathers late at night after having found out the location of the missing infants, as someone followed the guy that took one. They bring in their newest member, Segura, who is tasked with filming throughout the night. Another member, ET, is revealed to be one of the fathers of the missing babies. The unit drives to a dilapidated house and spots what appears to be a shambling zombie-like person wielding a chainsaw. The unit, indifferent to the presence of this supernatural threat, follows the creature inside by busting into the house. ET hits a wire with several glass bottles dangling from it, and the noise attracts several of the creatures, called Brooders. The unit fends off the Brooders and, in a rage, ET charges off on his own upon hearing baby cries. On the second floor, the rest of the team finds a cracked-open meteor that crashed through the roof, determining that whatever came out of it is responsible for the Brooders. The team notices that each Brooder has a bandaid on its forehead, covering a hole on their skulls. Segura points the camera inside one of them, revealing that the Brooders don't have any brains. They notice a hole in the wall and have Segura put the camera inside it. In it, it captures audio of ET screaming in pain. He pulls it out after a human-like creature appears, peeking over. The unit determines that it must be from upstairs. They then head to the third floor, but find their passage blocked by a barricade. They decide to use the chainsaw one of the creatures had, and carve their way through. When they get it, several Brooders come back to life. One of them, Aubert, uses the chainsaw to cut through them. They make it back to the barricade, and they slice through it, gaining access to the third floor. There, they find a tall human-like creature singing a lullaby while holding one of the babies. They watch as the creature takes the baby into one of the rooms. The unit then moves up into the attic, and discovers several cradles containing the missing babies, one of which is revealed to be growing a beak. Nearby, a large alien-like creature resembling a stork is spotted feasting on the brains of ET, before regurgitating into the mouth of the closest newborn. The officers proceed to shoot the stork. Segura is attacked by ET, now turned into a Brooder, and is then pierced by the stork. The others kill ET, as well as seemingly killing the stork. The officers help an injured Segura get back on his feet, as he asks "So this is what it feels like?". They assure him that he's not going to die, but he corrects them, saying "No, to be like you guys. Hunting monsters.", revealing that W.A.R.D.E.N. have dealt with similar threats in the past. They decide its best not to explain what happened that night to the families of the missing babies. Before leaving, one of the officers notices the stork is still breathing, and proceeds to stomp on its head, finally killing it. The officers then take a picture with the stork's dead body as the segment ends.

"Abduction/Adduction" (Interlude 1)

In the 1950s, a family of Chinese immigrants arrived in Toronto. The family were well off, and purchased a house that was built in the late Victorian era. In the 1980s, the father and mother died, leaving the house to the eldest son, who puts it up for sale around a decade later, disappearing shortly thereafter. During his time in the house, he experienced night terrors. He 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 isn't crazy, he sets up two cameras to record the strange occurrences in the building.

"Dream Girl"

• Directed by Virat Pal
• Written by Virat Pal and Evan Dickson

Mumbai native paparazzi, Arnab and Sonu are given a tip to get footage of the latest Bollywood sensation Tara. Arnab resents celebrities as he had dreams of being famous himself, implying that him becoming a paparazzi hound is his way of getting closer. They sneak into a filming session of her next movie, which ends abruptly when her manager gets infuriated at the amount of takes the director is using, and demands Tara goes on break. After leaving the set, Arnab sneaks into her trailer, and hides in the closet. Tara then enters the trailer with her manager who berates her. Arnab accidentally reveals himself when, while hiding in the closet, discovers what appears to be another face in a bowl. Meanwhile, Sonu, who is outside the trailer, overhears a conversation Tara's manager is having over the phone, saying that she is one nudge away from waking up. Arnab decides to be empathetic to Tara and tells her that she does not need to be pushed around. Tara, emboldened by his words, reveals that she is 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 kills her manager, who's also hinted to be her creator, by spitting acid onto his face, which melts it off, and chases everyone into the studio. She kills the director by ripping his guts out, then begins slaughtering the rest of the film crew by firing bolts of red electricity from her hands. After ripping out someone's heart, Tara kills Sonu by gouging his eyes out, and then tackles Arnab. She then proceeds to rip Arnab's arms off, and then rips his face off. She places it on her face and walks outside to journalists whom she proceeds to attack.

"Abduction/Adduction" (Interlude 2)

Horowitz explains that our concepts of aliens traces back to Whitley Strieber's Communion, as it popularized the idea of grey aliens. He then explains that this concept led us to think that maybe we aren't 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

Zach is celebrating his 30th birthday with his wife Jess, best friend Logan, and numerous other acquaintances, via skydiving. Just before they are ready to jump out, they spot a UFO and several fighter jets. An alien jumps onto the plane before it collides with the UFO, sending everyone falling towards an orange grove, some being injured or dying from the collision. As he's in the air, Zach sees an alien butcher someone. Zach then opens his parachute, and survives the fall, but discovers 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. Zach's friends are killed as he finds Jess's remains, having been killed by an alien earlier. Zach manages to escape the grove and jumps into a farmer's truck demanding that they leave. The farmer threatens him to get out of his truck, but as he fires his gun, an alien attacks him, causing the shot to blow a part of Zach's right hand off. Another alien blasts a light from its head into Zach's face before disappearing. As Zach attempts to drive away, the truck is suddenly sucked into the air, along with him. The trucks enters the UFO, as the aliens attack Zach, but the tape ends abruptly, leaving his fate unknown.

"Abduction/Adduction" (Interlude 3)

As footage of UFOs plays, Horowitz explains his interest in UFO sightings, but says that he doesn't have the expertise to analyze them. The segment then cuts to Niko Pueringer and Sam Gorski of the YouTube channel Corridor Digital, a channel known for analyzing digital effects. They explain that if an alien video relies on the viewer not being able to clearly see it, then it loses credibility, but they do express interest in those type of videos.

"Fur Babies"

• Directed and written by Christian Long and Justin Long

Becky runs a supposed dog daycare center called "Doggy Dream House" and keeps taxidermies of her past dogs. An animals rights activist group decide to investigate her home and sends members Stuart and Angela along with their leader Miles's dog, Pickles. Becky reveals the amenities of her home. She explains that the reason she keeps taxidermies of her past dogs is because she doesn't have the heart to bury them. One of the dogs, Gary, is missing, but Becky explains that she has something special planned for him, as he died protecting her. However, Becky quickly sees through Stuart and Angela's ruse due to Stuart's incompetence. Stuart and Angela then meet Becky's brother Bo, who doesn't talk a lot. Becky then takes them to the basement where she reveals that other people have come asking her questions and she captures them with the intent to surgically turn them into human-dog hybrids. Miles and the rest of the activists decide to break into the house (they refuse to call the cops due to their distrust in them) but are caught by Becky, who has her human-dog hybrids, named Gary and Abraham, that she successfully brainwashed to maul them to death. Later, a porch pirate attempts to steal packages from Becky's home, only to be killed by 'Gary'.

"Abduction/Adduction" (Interlude 4)

As old movie footage is played, Horowitz explained that during the Cold War, the public saw aliens as "invaders", due to the popularity of Orson Welles' radio drama War of the Worlds, which caused mass hysteria. Corridor then talks 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 the videos were real. Horowitz talks about how, even when something is debunked, some believers won't be dissuaded.

"Stowaway"

• Directed by Kate Siegel
• Written by Mike Flanagan

Halley, a woman who is implied to have left her husband and child behind, is documenting her findings of possible extraterrestrial encounters in the Mojave desert. She talks to people who say they saw lights. At night, she witnesses a light fall from the sky. She goes to investigate it, as she finds a spaceship. She enters and examines the interior. When she cuts herself, small nanites come out and heal her, though she quickly learns that it causes minor mutations due to the ship keeping other animals in stasis and copying their DNA. After hiding from an alien, Halley realizes that she has no escape. The nanites appear again and heal her injuries, and the spaceship accelerates to light speed, throwing her around and injuring her again. Healed once more by the nanomachines, Halley begins to suffer more and more mutations to her body as a result of the cycles of injury and repair.

"Abduction/Adduction" (Epilogue)

The footage is then shown to Horowitz, Corridor, and Brian Baker of The Superstitious Times. The filmmakers combined footage from the two angles. While watching the footage, the experts give their reactions, as well as describe what's happening. After giving their thoughts on it, the footage is then shown to us. It is presented without comment, and the filmmakers cannot verify or vouch for its authenticity. It shows the eldest son asleep in bed as an alien enters his bedroom, removes what appear to be eggs from his body, and 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, targetting a 2025 release.

External links

• V/H/S/Beyond at IMDb