V/H/S/Beyond

I am a simple man, if I see found footage horror, I watch... Even though is hard to maintain good quality after so many movies the V/H/S cinematic universe keep driving me there, getting me back and excited to watch them, to see what they are coming up with this time. Maybe its the nostalgia as a 90s kid speaking or how amazed l got the first time l watched The Blair Witch Project (which definetly started my love for the found footage genre) I dont know.

I have to say though, not as good as the last one in the VFX department, and the first "tape" especially the creature looks like an inflatable costume more than a monster and the babies there is no way you can take your mind off of how doll-like they look, but l liked the "Resident Evil-esque" approach. The camera shots were great, I loved them.

The cameo from "VFX artist react" was a quite a surprise really been following their channel for years.

The acting was good enough in general, maybe some over acting sometimes but nothing too "cringe" imo.

The ending was weird and anti-climatic but whatever, you are not watching a Martin Scorsese film anyways.

Once again the V/H/S franchise proves its consistency is in its inconsistency of quality. From the framing tape you would expect that every one of these shorts would be about aliens, but even that isn't consistent as 2 out of the 6 tapes don't follow that theme. I personally don't like whenever the V/H/S franchise focuses on aliens, because due to the microbudget nature of these films, they almost always have to use CGI in order to create aliens/UFOs, which end up looking like trash. Not surprisingly, most of the aliens in this film have that exact same problem where the practical gore effects end up being pretty gnarly and nice, but nearly every time they use CGI it instantly takes me out of the film.

That being said the short "Stowaway", written by Mike Flanagan, actually makes great use out of the alien gimmick, as it is actually shot with a VHS camcorder (something that the V/H/S films are ironically using less and less of), which hides a lot of how amateurish the CGI effects usually can be. It also uses really clever cinematography to never fully reveal what the aliens in the short look like, making great use out of the fear of the unknown.

"Dream Girl" also showcases another major theme of the V/H/S films that foreign filmmakers always outclass their American counterparts. This one isn't about aliens at all, rather a couple of Mumbai native paparazzi who are assigned to get candids of a Bollywood sensation named Tara, who holds a dark secret. It's one of the shorter segments, but it goes pretty hard with some of the best gore in this film.

"Fur Babies" is the other segment that doesn't have any aliens at all, and while it starts off pretty weak, it ends up being pretty middle of the road due to how hilariously they push the concept. "Stork" is also fine, as while the creature design for the alien is pretty gnarly, being based off of the art of Oleg Vdovenko by the same name, it feels more like a video game than an actual horror movie. The gore and action just feel way too floaty and doesn't have the impact that it should.

"Live and Let Dive" is the worst one of the bunch, as it relies too much on the alien gimmick and I quite frankly could not take any of the CGI creatures seriously whenever they come on screen.

The framing tape is ultimately the most frustrating out of the bunch, as throughout we get spoonfed info about how 2 recently discovered video tapes about a missing man might finally prove the existence of aliens. We never really get enough context to actually be excited about what's on the tapes, and when it finally gets revealed at the very end of the movie, it ends up being extremely underwhelming. Yeah, the gore's cool and all, but I've been strung along for nearly 2 hours and this reveal was not worth the wait at all.

If you're already a fan of the V/H/S franchise you'll probably get a kick out of this, and it might provide some amusement if this is your first V/H/S film and you're bored looking for something to watch.

I love the V/H/S franchise with all my heart. Each year I am very excited to see what new AND interesting spooky stories we will get to experience.

Beyond focus on aliens which is new to the serie! The narrative story felt alright to me, i wasn't very much intrigued like the previous entries, but it did manage to laydown properly the fondation of what we were going to see.

Now into the fun spooky stories! Without going into spoilers, for me V/H/S Beyond started with what I can only consider one of the best story of the whole franchise. I can safely say it will remain with me for a while. After this one I was afraid that because it was so good, the remaining ones might be a let down, but I was wrong. The second and third story were also very new and fun! Didn't expect it at all to dive (pun intended) into this direction. I was hooked and couldn't look away!

Sadly, the 4th story is where things fell of for me. It just felt boring and not very spooky. It felt very off beat compare to the other stories. Nothing that will remain in memory for me. The 5th story althought it did feel more inline with the main narrative, felt also a bit boring. Its extremly slow and predictable. It's intended too, but the way this is shot is so dark i kept trying to see what was going on. Sadly, these two last film take about 50minutes and killed any momentum the movie had for me.

You are left with the final snippet of the story narrative and it was weird and a bit dull. Overall, VHS Beyond lacks a bit of charmed but had some memorable stories that still makes the movie worth the time. I would have reorder stories to leave the first one as the last. The last two VHS movies were better, but Beyond is far better than Viral, definitely the worst. Don't expect too much and you should like it!

I have always been a huge fan of the V/H/S/-franchise and I enjoy Anthology-Horror-Movies in general. With the new V/H/S/Beyond having space as the overall theme I was really excited because Space-Horror is another favorite of mine. I personally didn't enjoy V/H/S/85 that much and I was hoping that this movie would bring the franchise back on track.

"Abduction/Adduction" is the Prologue of the movie and is this time made like a documentary-style with short additions coming in between each segment. It's an interesting idea and especially the last bit was quite terrifying, however it still doesn't come close to the first two movies that had really great prologue segments. [5,7/10]

"Stork" is the first real segment and it's about a police raid taking place in the house, where supposedly abducted babies have been brought. Shortly after arriving, chaos ensues and the police unit has to fight for their lives. The segment keeps introducing new little twists and towards the end I sat in front of my TV with my mouth wide open. This segment does what V/H/S/ can do best. It creates absolute carnage and gory footage with an absolute bonkers twist at the end. I really enjoyed it and it definitely is one of my favorite segments in the V/H/S/-franchise. (Safe Haven is the best). However this segment really was a great entry and I thoroughly enjoyed it. [8,3/10]

"Dream Girl" is about a Mumbai native paparazzi that hides in the trailer of the latest Bollywood Sensation "Tara". After he is caught hiding by her, he starts making her compliments which doesn't end well. This segment started off rather slow but once it got going it was an entertaining watch. Like the previous segment this one is equipped with brutal carnage and a gory finale which was enjoyable. [6,4/10]

"Live and Let Dive" it's about multiple people wanting to skydive from a plane, however they spot a UFO which the plane collides with, sending the passengers falling towards the ground. Once our main protagonist is on the ground the real terror begins because the remaining survivors of the plane crash are not alone. It was an amazing segment and the plane crash looked really great on camera. This one was right up my alley and I had great enjoyment watching it unfold. Some of the effects looked a little cheap however that didn't bother me too much with this being another unique and well-made segment. [8,2/10]

"Fur Babies" was directed by Justin Long and his brother Christian, which was definitely interesting. It's about an animal rights activist group that wants to investigate the home of a supposed dog daycare center but what they find won't make them too happy. The idea was definitely fun but I felt like this segment needed a little bit more money because even though it was enjoyable, it looked cheap and unconvincing at times. However it was a nice idea and had a similar approach to another movie Justin Long starred in... [5,9/10]

"Stowaway" was directed by Kate Siegel, which also got me really excited. It's about a woman documenting her findings of possible extraterrestrial encounters in the Mojave desert. One day she sees something falling from the sky and goes to investigate. The segment had a really great approach and I would have loved to see more of it. Sadly I think that the viewer is not shown enough to really enjoy the segment. There are only vague hints at what is going on exactly and it left me feeling a little empty and unsatisfied. [6,1/10]

Overall it's a pretty decent entry in the V/H/S/-franchise with two absolute banger segments which definitely stand out. None of the segments are boring or bad. Obviously the movie has flaws and you could tell there were budgetary limits at points, however I really enjoyed the watch and I think that V/H/S/-Beyond is a good entry for the franchise. Can't wait for the next one. [7,0/10]

The 'V/H/S' movies are always a funny one. They're very inconsistent and there's rarely more than one great segment per film. But you keep watching each one in the hope that a magical segment will come along that will blow everything to pieces and make it all worth it.

My ratings of the 5 segments (skipping the wrap-around one):

Stork: 4/10 Dream Girl: 3/10 Live and Let Dive: 6/10 Fur Babies: 8/10 Stowaway: 4/10

Fur Babies was the pick of the bunch for me, but mostly because it appealed to my tastes more than the others. It had a real 'Tusk' vibe to it.

Stowaway was disappointing considering Mike Flanagan wrote it. I was hoping he would have done something special and they were saving the best for last.

Overall the alien theme didn't really do it for me and I preferred the variety the other films had. A generous 5/10.