31 Days of Halloween: V/H/S/Beyond: Lovecraftian Night Falls Flat

V/H/S Beyond - 2024

Directors: Jordan Downey ("Stork"), Kevin Stewart ("Stork"), Christian Long ("Fur Babies"), Justin Long ("Fur Babies"), Justin Martinez ("Live and Let Dive"), Virat Pal ("Dream Girl"), Kate Siegel ("Stowaway"), Jay Cheel ("Abduction/Adduction")

 

★★-Day 15 of Nightmare on Film Street 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge.  V/H/S/Beyond. Lovecraftian night. 
 
The latest of the V/H/S anthology series. Made up of six shorts that explore mostly extraterrestrial themes in a found footage style. In one police battle zombies in an abandoned mansion. Another follows a Bollywood popstar doing a dance number that turns into chaos. And so forth. 

Usually have fun with these V/H/S flicks, especially 94, 99, and 85. I usually go to New York in October. Saw those three at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Might have elevated them a little in my mind. Hell, I briefly talked to the Shudder curator, Samuel Zimmerman, on my way out of the theatre following 99, which was hella cool.

Didn't have fun with this one. It was pretty lame, IMO. Framing device (a documentary) veered too far away from all the other films in the franchise. Focus on aliens instead of ghosts and monsters/killers. 
 
There is a very disturbing one where a pair of siblings turn people into dogs called “Fur Babies.” Justin Long and his brother Christian direct the segment, which is a whole lot like Kevin Smith's Tusk, a film that Justin starred in. They claim that it isn’t directly inspired by the film, but the (overrated) body horror cult film was on their minds. I actually liked this better than Tusk, but it wasn’t anything I ever want to see again. 

Mike Flanagan did the writing for the forgettable “Stowaway” about a woman who is abducted by aliens. His wife, the lovely Kate Siegel, did the directing. Flanagan has mostly bangers with Absentia, Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game, and Doctor Sleep, probably my favorite horror film of the 2010s. Also, five killer miniseries on Netflix. My favorite of those was The Midnight Club, which was unfortunately canceled after 10 wonderful episodes. Siegel appears in a lot of his stuff and has been nothing but great in everything I’ve seen her in, notably The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher.
 
Favorite of the pieces was "Live and Let Dive" where a guy goes skydiving with his wife and friends for his birthday. Before they take the plunge, they are attacked by aliens. All hell then breaks loose. It was only alright. 

Again, not really a fan, overall. The segments didn’t hit home for me like ones from previous iterations. Plus, the framing doc format sucked. And it bummed me out I didn't go to NYC. I'm sure I would've liked it more under those circumstances. Next year… I’m sure there will be more of them down the road.