Blind bought this after reading mostly positive reviews and having liked 85 and 94 (I absolutely LOATHED 99) and…I liked it. Admittedly, my initial thoughts after watching it last night were that I wasn’t sure if I liked it and was leaning against it but then I kept thinking about the segments and realized that I had fun watching them. Here’s my breakdown of each segment and the wraparound:
The first segment, Stork, was a blast even though I found some of the acting questionable and noticed the use of a musical score and heartbeats at one point which took me out of the “found footage” aspect of it briefly. I didn’t like how it ended at first as
[Show spoiler]I’m used to V/H/S segments ending on a negative note for its characters but in this one, evil was vanquished. It threw me off but it’s a change of pace for the series
. I also felt there could have been more sense of danger for the characters. Still, it was very fun overall and one of those I’d like to see get its own full length movie someday.
The second segment, Dream Girl, was interesting and had some nice visuals but I felt it needed more suspense, kind of like the first segment except from the
[Show spoiler]antagonist’s perspective
. At no point did I
[Show spoiler]feel any of the characters could defeat Tara so it felt like just a body count, foregone conclusion
. Also there was a major gap in logic on how the villain came to be, I’ll leave it at that. Still, I was able to appreciate the visuals and gore effects enough to get some fun out of it to recommend.
The third segment, Live and Let Dive, was the worst of the bunch, IMO. The characters really annoyed me, especially the incessant screaming from the lead character and I kept wishing for him to STFU. The alien CGI effects were also a bit cheesy and I felt they could have done better with the plane/skydiving aspects of the story. This was just a big disappointment considering the director was involved with the Halloween Party segment of the very first V/H/S which I really liked. The ending was nicely done, though so it wasn’t all bad.
The fourth segment, Fur Babies, also didn’t click with me for the most part and it bordered on the goofy humor that completely ruined 99 for me. However, goofiness aside, it was a unique premise that kept me interested and it probably had the most convincing overall acting in this installment (the actress who played Becky was quite good as the insane dog owner!). As in the others, I did feel there was not enough suspense and the conclusion just dragged instead of ending on any kind of surprise. While I can’t say I liked it much, it had some moments worth checking out.
The fifth segment, Stowaway, is the standout. Aside from some goofiness with a Spanish speaking lady and her child being interviewed, it was a trippy, unsettling experience that grabbed my attention throughout. The ship was pretty cool too, just nicely designed and out of the other segments in Beyond, it was shot most effectively in the true V/H/S aesthetic. Very uniquely done and I would love to see this expanded as a standalone movie somehow. Hands down, one of the best segments in the franchise (Safe Haven from V/H/S 2 is still the best IMO). Worth the price of admission alone.
Finally, as for the wraparound, Abduction/Adduction, I found it underwhelming. I see most fans of the series have issues with most of the wraparounds in them but I actually like some of them, including the ones in 94 and 85. In Beyond, I was okay with its UFOs/Aliens documentary approach but it just didn’t work enough for me in its payoff, which wasn’t grand enough to close out the movie and seemed a bit deflating after the excellent previous segment that came before it.
Overall, I think it’s a mixed bag and not as memorable to me as 94 or 85. Although l appreciated the attempt to be more sci-fi centered this time around, I felt there was too much focus on Aliens/UFOs, especially when considering that was already explored well in V/H/S 1 and 2. Like, I would have loved a twisted time travel segment or a futuristic technology gone awry segment. Perhaps those will be explored in a future installment? Nevertheless, the positives are more than enough for me to recommend V/H/S Beyond and I’ll definitely revisit it in the future. Maybe it will even move up in my current rankings in the series? Looking forward to part 8 which is due sometime this year! Below is how I currently rank the series:
V/H/S 2
V/H/S 1
V/H/S 94
V/H/S 85
V/H/S Beyond
V/H/S Viral
V/H/S 99
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V/H/S/Beyond (2024) Blu-ray (Shudder)
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