If you are a fan of V/H/S than I am sorry for you. V/H/S is a horror anthology series known for, in my opinion, looking low budget, using striking real effects, and avoiding cliches in short films connected by some crazy storyline.
Like, V/H/S went from a reporter reporting on homeless encampments and then finding a terrifying raatma cult, which was an actor in a sick ass costume, to an elite police unit hiring a rookie with only a camera so that at the big climax, instead of showing the alien fight through all their bodycams, they can just show a static floor shot from the dead rookie’s camera. That was literally his whole purpose.
Well, that and maybe that one cinematic shot before they entered the house. But why is an elite, secretive cop squad hiring an unarmed cameraman?
The best way to describe V/H/S Beyond is that it went Hollywood. You know what I mean – big budgets spent on expensive equipment so that they can fix everything in post, but then they don’t hire anyone to actually fix it in post because it cuts into their profits. Overlaying annoying effects to make something looks VHS instead of buying a cheap VHS camera. Using CGI when a physical actor in a costume would have been so much cooler.
And that sucks because alien horror is a wicked as fuck genre of film. We should have more alien horror. Aliens are scary and there’s so many cool things you can do with them. Like, you can mold an actual costume for an actor as opposed to having half assed CGI.
And if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll be sad to hear there’s no overarching, weird as fuck story. There’s no tapes that kill you. There’s no otherwordly police chases. There’s nothing.
If you’re scared of aliens, or of your shadow, you’ll probably be scared. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll be sad.
And it goes without saying that Mike Flanagan had the best segment.
