V/H/S/Beyond Review (2024)

Synopsis

Six segments unleashing horror with a sci-fi twist and each bringing a different unique tale to life.

My Thoughts

When I heard V/H/S/Beyond was releasing on Shudder, it went straight onto my must watch straight away list.

Even though I am a fan of the V/H/S franchise, especially the very first V/H/S film released in 2012, they are also quite inconsistent, with some better than the others, so even though I wanted to watch this straight away, I went in with pretty meddling expectations.

V/H/S/Beyond comes with six entries, and is sci-fi ready.

I enjoyed most of what I watched, it’s definitely one of the best V/H/S entries in the franchise for me, and here is what I thought of each segment.

Stork

Stork is about a group of cops fighting some strange creatures hunting down a baby snatcher and is pretty action packed and features some good gore and overall is pretty intense and is probably my favorite out of them all.

You feel like you’re in a video game with the first person POV and is also has a brilliant ending.

It’s silly but it shines.

Stork is directed by Jordan Downey and written by Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart.

Dream Girl

Dream Girl brings Bollywood to the franchise tells the story about two of the Mumbai paparazzi stalking a Bollywood star and this one turns quite quickly and has a decent twist thrown in as well.

I Wasn’t a fan of the musical segment though and it let it down a bit for me. But it was OK I suppose.

Dream Girl is directed by Virat Pal and written by Virat Pal and Evan Dickson.

Live and Let Dive

Live and Let Dive is also a very strong entry, and my 2nd favorite, about some friends skydiving during an alien invasion.

Much like Stork, this is full on and intense and I did enjoy how well executed this segment was and found it a pretty exciting watch, but I wasn’t a big fan of the characters in this one but overall it was pretty entertaining.

Live and Let Die is directed by Justin Martinez and written by Justin Martinez and Ben Turner.

Fur Babies

Fur Babies is the strangest and weirdest out of them all that follows activists investigating a dodgy taxidermist and decide to sneak into their house to find evidence of possible crimes.

I found this a bit too weird for my tastes personally and was probably my least favorite but it did have some mildly amusing moments.

Plenty will enjoy it though I am sure but I thought it was the weakest effort out of all the segments.

Fur Babies is written and directed by Justin Long and Christian Long.

Stowaway

Stowaway follows a documentarian who finds an alien spaceship, and this one is all about the visuals which can be a bit confusing towards the end, but it has the most going for it in terms of content and some depth I think, and is one I definitely need to re-watch.

Alanah Pearce also puts in an excellent performance.

Stowaway is directed by Kate Siegel and written by Mike Flanagan.

Abduction/Adduction

Abduction/Adduction is the wraparound that is woven between other segments and is a fake documentary about an alien encounter, centered around two VHS tapes found at a flea market.

These tapes are seen as the ultimate evidence by UFO fans, who believe they prove that aliens are real and are targeting us mortal humans.

This one has a lot of conversation and discussion regarding whether aliens are real or not but I wasn’t a huge fan.

The start of it was quite intriguing but it went downhill as it veered towards the ending, which was pretty poor.

I am also not a fan of the wraparound style it has to be said.

Abduction/Adduction is directed by Jay Cheel.

Good Points

Sci-Fi Twist: I loved the sc-fi theme and it added something fresh to the franchise.

Consistent Quality of Segments: Unlike some of the previous entries, most of the short films in V/H/S/Beyond are pretty solid.

Good Variety: Each short felt unique in its own way and for the most part offers something different each time.

Bad Points

Inconsistent Use of Found Footage: Some segments strayed too far from the core concept of found footage, and some just abandoned it entirely.

Predictability in Some Segments: A few of the segments follow some familiar tired old horror tropes.

Limited Character Development: As is typical in anthologies, there’s little time to develop characters, which makes it hard to care at points when you should really care.

Is It Worth Watching?

Yes.

V/H/S/Beyond is one of the strongest entries in the franchise as mentioned above, and is well worth a watch.

If you’re a seasoned veteran of the franchise, it is of course a no brainer, but even if you have never swayed into the world of the V/H/S franchise, you should still check it out, and this is overall a strong entry despite some annoyances.

It’s one of the best found footage franchises on Shudder.

And don’t forget, the V/H/S franchise will be getting a new entry in 2025 with V/H/S/Halloween.

V/H/S/Beyond on IMDB

Where To Watch

Shudder