V/H/S/Beyond

Now the undisputed number one platform for horror short films, the V/H/S/ series has now reached its seventh instalment (not including the two spin-off films and the TV series). It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, with some of the anthologies notably stronger than others, but an ongoing effort to be creative and explore different aspects of the genre has paid off well. This time around, there’s a science fiction twist, with the two VHS tapes which comprise most of the footage (presented with a documentary wraparound) supposedly featuring recordings of UFO encounters. The backstory is that they were acquired by an anonymous Redditor at a flea market – good enough, and as usual, suspension of disbelief is easier because of filmmakers’ no fuss approach.

At the outset, we are introduced to the Farrington house, a spacious white neo-Georgian edifice in Toronto which we will later be told was built by Chinese immigrants, one of who later became convinced that it was haunted. This forms an anchor point for the various stories that follow, and provides the film’s slightly underwhelming though admittedly comic denoument. There are five short films linked within this larger storyline. The first is the least coherent but also the most straightforwardly horror, following a bunch of law enforcement operatives (which naturally includes a rookie) as they raid a warehouse in search of kidnapped babies. Much of this zombie shoot-‘em-up stuff and not very interesting, but it culminates with a nicely designed creature, and there’s some entertaining effects work along the way.

The second segment is a lot of fun, taking the franchise into new territory. It weaves in a Bollywood song and dance number in the process of giving an age-old story a modern twist. The core idea could be applied to almost any part of today’s entertainment industry, but the cultural specificity allows for some nice in-jokes. Rohan Joshi manages to bring something surprisingly sweet to a papparazzi character, and Namrata Sheth, as the star with a secret whom he’s sent to spy on, matches this with an innocent quality of her own which enhances the impact of the violence that follows.

Story number three includes the birthday celebrations which have become something of a tradition in the franchise. This time around, everyone is packed into a 12-seater plane for a 30th birthday skydiving challenge, which goes awry when an alien spaceship arrives in the area and is abruptly pursued by military aircraft. There’s not much narrative or character depth but there’s some ambitious stunt work and special effects work which pays off nicely, as does the setting – if you’re going to produce intentionally scrappy-looking work, it’s worth considering alternative ways to add a bit of beauty.

After this adventure, we head to Doggy Dream House, “the happiest place in all the world, if you’re a dog.” Animal rights activists suspect otherwise, appalled by the sight of taxidermied dogs on the mantlepiece, so two of them make an undercover visit to scope it out. Libby Letlow has a great time hamming it up as the kind of self-assured middle class white woman who is all sweetness and light when people follow her script but can turn on a dime when they don’t, and her underhanded remarks are only part of what she has in her arsenal. There is more than one type of puppy play involved here, and parts of the segment are shot on collar cams. It feels somewhat unfinished, as if there were additional ideas which had to be cut back to reduce the running time, but it’s still an effective bit of dark comic relief.

Finally – the wraparound story notwithstanding – we get a drier kind of comedy (in the desert, no less), as a young woman pursues her passion for revealing the truth about aliens despite being confounded by the fact that no reputable journalistic outlet will hire her. After interviewing a child about a hamster, she happens upon something that just might be real, but it quickly emerges that her poor comprehension or probability extends to risk management. One might suspect the influence of Aliens in some of the vulvar imagery here, but the segment has a style of its own and it’s fun to watch, even if it fizzles out a bit at the end.

This isn’t up there with the best of the V/H/S series overall, but it’s entertaining enough, and it seems likely that there will be more to come.