V/H/S/Beyond (Various, 2024) Review

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“That's why everyone likes filming spooky things with VHS cameras.” A few years ago the terror-fuelled streaming service Shudder took over the portmanteau horror franchise V/H/S, one that has always produced mixed results, from soaring heights of inventive and gore-drenched scares to crushing lows of misplaced fumbling for direction. Now onto their fourth entry in the long-running series, does Shudder's alien-themed V/H/S/Beyond deliver the gruesome, gruelling goods?...

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V/H/S: Viral - a rant/review...

What's it about?
The third instalment in the anthology series in which different writer/director teams conjure up strange tales of horror. This time there's a killer magician, a gateway to a parallel dimension, and skater kids taking on 'Blind Dead' style zombies in Mexico.
Who would I recognise in it?
Erm...
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
V/H/S was decent - but had significant flaws, the biggest being an overlong run time, and some truly unlikable male characters with whom you didn't want to spend any time with whatsoever. The latter aspect was, indeed, rather insulting to the entire male gender, tarring all blokes with the same brush while simultaneously reducing the female characters to sketched-in object/avenger binary codes.

V/H/S/2 was a considerable step up in quality, with a talented range of writer/directors behind the camera, a much more suitable running time, and a range of tales (with interesting characters) that displayed a wealth of invention and creativity - not to mention fun!

The third film? I try not to come down too hard on flicks, particularly in the last few years, and my tolerance for garbage is fairly high (there's usually something to redeem even your shoddiest bit of grindhouse grot) ... but V/H/S: Viral is, and there's no softly-softly way of saying this - dreadful...

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Quadruple Bill Mini Musings: Tapes, Politics, Cars, and Hotels...

V/H/S:
What's it about?
Anthology horror in which a group of burglars search for a specific videotape inside a creepy house where a dead guy sits before a stack of televisions and VCRs. Various gruesome and chilling tales ensue.
Who would I recognise in it?
Erm...
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The biggest problem with VHS is that the majority of the male characters are absolute arseholes at best, and flat-out misogynists at worst - within seconds we have no care whatsoever for the wraparound characters, so why should we give two hoots for their survival? Is the film itself misogynist though? No - while there is a propensity for female nudity, there's a fair amount of naked male flesh to boot, and the female characters tend to be smarter and wittier than their male counterparts.

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