BLU-RAY REVIEW: V/H/S/BEYOND (2024)

V/H/S/BEYOND

Directed by:   Jordan Downey / Jay Cheel / Christian Long / Justin Long / Justin Martinez / Virat Pal / Kate Siegel

Distributed by:  Acorn Media International /AMC

  If you are a fan of the V/H/S film series, or just horror anthology films in general, you will definitely want to do yourself  a favor and check out the newest entry in the V/H/S series.   This new film is the 7th installment of the V/H/S series, and I am happy to say by the looks of this one, this film series it still going strong!

 

 Like the previous V/H/S films, this one is made up of a series of short films, all directed by different film directors.  Here is a bit about each one and my thoughts on each. 

 The first short is called STORK, and was directed by Jordan Downey.  It tells the story of a group of police sent to a house to investigate a string of baby disappearances.   This was an amazing short film to start the anthology with and delivered non stop action and horror.  I wasn't sure what to expect once the group of police made there way inside the house, but what I got was a first person view of a true haunted house.   The use of the police body cam to give us a first person view really put the viewer directly into the action on screen.   One after one the police are attacked by zombies of some sort, and when they find a meteor that crashed through the roof of the house, they realize these are not your ordinary zombies!   They are alien zombies!  Top that off with a huge alien stork like creature and I think you've found your baby snatcher!   Watch this one with the lights off and sound turned up, this one is truly horrifying and much gorier than I was expecting.   Kudos to Mr. Downey on this one!

  The second short is is called DREAM GIRL, which is about a huge Bollywood star that is not what she seems to be.   While she is beautiful on the outside, when her true inside is revealed, she is not so pretty any more.   What you think is a beautiful women is actually a machine of some sort, who goes on a killing spree and vomits acid on her victims.   As with the other entries in the V/H/S series, the first person perspective (this time through a cameraman filming behind the scenes shots of the Bollywood film being made) really puts you in the action as you try to escape rom this killer creature that is on the loose! 

  I didn't think anything would be able to top the first short film, but director Justin Martinez delivers what I believe to be the best short film of this anthology.   LIVE AND LET DIE is about a group of friends that go on a sky diving trip for one of their birthdays.  While in the plane about to make their jump, they encounter a UFO that causes their plane to crash into it, sending the friends out into the open as they are falling to the earth, including a few unlucky ones whos parachute was ripped off during the crash.   The friends land in an orange orchard and quickly realize there are other beings on the ground in the orchard hunting them down.   This film had great effects and some great gore and was truly terrifying!

 

  The final film in the anthology is FUR BABIES, directed by Christian and Justin Long.   This story is about a group of animal rights activist who go undercover because they have suspicions that a doggy day care center is not an innocent as it appears.   It turns out they are correct, and end up finding a house of horror in the basement of the doggy day care center, complete with human experiments where the lady that runs the day care is keeping humans in cages and literally turning them into dogs!

 All 4 short films are intertwined together in what is supposed to be documentary about aliens and abductions.  The documentary (titled ABDUCTION/ADDUCTION) and some found footage they show (titled STOWAWAY) act as short films themselves.  This movie was a nice mash up of horror and Science Fiction and was an extremely entertaining addition to the V/H/S series.  While with most anthologies I usually like one or two of the segments, while others were bad and felt like "filler", V/H/S/BEYOND is thankfully not like that at all.   Each segment held it's own and it's hard to decide which ones I liked the most.   I felt like they all had their unique qualities and were equally horrifying and entertaining.   

 V/H/S/BEYOND is available now on DVD and BLU-RAY and contains the following Special Features:

*  Pre-visuals on LIVE AND LET DIE

*  Libby Letlow FUR BABIES audition tape

*  Stowaway set timelapse

*  Do you want a selfie? - The Making of DREAM GIRL

*  Behind the Scenes of STORK with IGN

*  Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery of LIVE AND LET DIE, DREAM GIRL, STORK, and STOWAWAY

 

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer

CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD

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