Rarely does horror get more intimately terrifying than in a found footage movie. These are films that use their cast’s point of view to tell the story, placing viewers into the space of whoever is holding the camera to show them the visceral fear each person is going through. Many movies use this method, and a series that stands out within the subgenre is the V/H/S franchise; created by Brad Miska, this anthology series has introduced audiences to some of the scariest found footage horror stories.
These segments span many different kinds of fear, from possessions to serial killers, unnerving the audience with the upsetting situations these videographers are thrust into. And while they’re filled with unique concepts, it’s often the memorable kills that make fans fall in love with these movies… for the most part. The franchise’s most recent installment, V/H/S Beyond, presents a terrifying segment that doesn’t feature one death! In fact, it shows the opposite, focusing on the horror of a person being forced to live through decades of utter torture and making audiences understand their twisted wish for all of it to just stop. The V/H/S series has offered many fantastic shorts, but because of its inventive concept and the team of horror legends behind it, V/H/S Beyond’s “Stowaway” is the most disturbing one this franchise has ever seen. And that shouldn’t be surprising, given that it was created by legendary horror duo Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel.
Siegel and Flanagan Are Horror’s Royal Couple
Many will recognize these names from their Netflix horror series such as The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Midnight Mass, with Flanagan writing and directing and Siegel in a leading role. However, Siegel stepped into the director’s chair for “Stowaway,” with Flanagan penning the script. V/H/S Beyond’s fifth segment follows Halley (Alanah Pierce), an amateur journalist and UFO enthusiast who reports to the audience from the Mojave desert as she tries to find the spaceship and aliens residents have claimed to see.
Eventually, she does, filming over a video of her daughter’s birthday to show her viewers the inside of an intergalactic vehicle and making two huge discoveries: the aliens are abducting animals from Earth for study, and the ship has a complex medical cycle that uses the DNA in its system to heal injuries. These are thrilling finds that Halley cannot wait to show others… but then the alien returns and the ship takes off. And, to the horror of the woman and those watching her, her body is turned into a mangled mess of blood and bone as it’s forced to undergo the explosive effects of warp speed. But it’s okay, though, she’s not dead! As viewers watch, the medical cycle activates, descending on her would-be corpse determined to put her back together — by any means necessary.
‘V/H/S Beyond’s “Stowaway” Shows a Fate Worse Than Death
Most V/H/S segments end with explosive moments as our main characters face whatever has been terrorizing them, usually dying in the process. “Stowaway” takes a different approach, as the medical cycle does the opposite by putting Halley back together with its bank of Earthen DNA — which, as she explained earlier, is only animals. This means that with each jump through space, viewers watch a new version of Halley emerge, one whose flesh is twisted and spliced with animalistic features as she’s broken apart and put back together again more wrong than she was before.
It’s heartwrenching to hear the woman cry (when she still has a mouth) out begging for death, forced to endure the constant pain of being torn apart before being reshaped into something utterly inhuman. It’s a different approach to the typical bloodshed of this franchise by spotlighting endless torment and anguish instead, emphasizing how the quick release of death can be a mercy, one that this likable protagonist will not be allowed. And the worst part is that, with her immense knowledge, Halley had informed her audience how traveling by warp speed like this would take decades. This means, as watchers see this once-determined character be reduced to a throbbing mass of flesh mimicking some monstrous gestalt of person and animal, they know that this is only the beginning.
‘V/H/S Beyond’ Shows the True Terrors of Space
While “Stowaway” excels with its distinct approach to horror, other segments in V/H/S Beyond nail the gory deaths fans have become used to. Whether it’s demonic birds scooping out peoples’ brains or pop stars striking back at evil managers, these deaths only further the legitimate fear of each segment. However, it’s not the fact that there are no deaths that makes “Stowaway” so exceptional; it’s how the segment subverts all expectations. It offers a kind of alien investigation unlike the glamorized, fantastical ones horror fans are used to, focusing on a well-researched individual whose passion resonates with viewers. Then, by combining this with a twisted form of “healing” that uses all of Halley’s knowledge against her, it creates a masterclass in torture more painfully terrifying than anything else in the V/H/S franchise.
V/H/S/Beyond
- Release Date
- September 20, 2024
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
V/H/S Beyond is Available to Stream on Shudder in the U.S.
