‘V/H/S/Beyond’ Review: Found-Footage Franchise Takes a Tentative Step Toward Sci-Fi

Many a horror franchise has been temporarily goosed by an injection of sci-fi — even the slasher at the center of the “Friday the 13th” series went into orbit in the 2001 “Jason X” — but that element doesn’t do a lot to distinguish “V/H/S/Beyond.” This seventh entry in the ersatz found-footage omnibus series should be another reliable draw for genre platform Shudder, where it begins streaming Oct. 4. And the ongoing overall enterprise continues to have value as a launching pad for up-and-coming talents. But despite its new thematic wrinkle, the five segments here feel familiar in ideas and unmemorable in execution. It’s a middling addition to a variably inspired anthology brand that will no doubt trundle on through more installments yet.

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The wraparound device, directed by Canadian documentarian Jay Cheel, mingles interviews with real-life UFO enthusiasts and skeptics, also throwing in passing mentions of highlights in the history of alleged abductions, plus clips from popular representations (including vintage drive-in camp “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”). There’s also a fictive element in discussing a man’s disappearance from his family’s home, leaving behind VHS tapes of a supposed “alien encounter” that we finally see at the film’s end. 

The first three regular sequences are a little too alike, in that they all escalate quickly to frenzied, bloody action confused by the found-footage subgenre’s usual hectic first-person camerawork. In Jordan Downey’s “Stork,” a squad of police raid a dilapidated house amid rampant baby kidnappings. Before finding what they’re looking for, they must battle adults who’ve basically turned into fast-moving zombies. Virit Pal’s “Dream Girl” has two paparazzi (Syandeep Sengupta and Rohan Joshi) sneaking onto a Mumbai film set, then into the trailer of “superstar Tara” (Namrata Sheth) to snap some “candids.” Alas, they discover a little too much about her, leading to another gory melee. Justin Martinez’s “Live and Let Dive” finds skittish Zach (Bobby Slaski) coerced into skydiving with friends to mark his 30th birthday. Unfortunately, their plane gets caught between an alien spaceship and pursuing government aircraft, with the survivors facing related new perils once they’ve crash-landed in an orchard below.

Each is a bit better than the last, but these splattery scenarios nonetheless feel like the same thing in different settings — preliminary jitters, then carnage and monsters — only somewhat alleviated by the novelty of “Stork”’s surreal climactic attic tableau, “Girl”’s Bollywood musical number, or “Dive”’s alarming creature design. 

There is definitely a shift in approach with siblings Christian and Justin Long’s “Fur Babies,” but this more comedic miniature is also the collection’s worst episode. Libby Letlow plays the gratingly chirpy proprietress for “Doggy Dreamhouse,” a canine boarding facility some animal rights activists suspect of being abusive. But when they send members incognito to spy on her, it turns out her harshest “training” is largely reserved for two-legged captives. Though it eventually tips towards silliness of a “Island of Dr. Moreau”-esque stripe, the intended satire here of both simpering pet pamperers and PETA-style fanatics is painfully broad. 

Finally, there’s actor Kate Siegel’s latest collaboration with spouse Mike Flanagan, this one her first as director, while he is the writer. (They previously co-wrote the screenplay for his very good 2016 feature “Hush,” in which she starred.) That definitely ups the expectations for “Stowaway,” a slow burn with Alanah Pearce as Halley, a woman interviewing locals around “known UFO hotspot” the Mohave Desert for a documentary — though whether she’s sincerely interested or secretly ridiculing them, we’re not sure. 

Flanagan’s script offers this “V/H/S” entry’s only stab at character nuance by hinting that our heroine arrived at this isolated place and task by having already burned every other bridge in her life. In any case, camping out one night, she investigates unusual lights in the distance, ultimately entering some kind of alien craft. But just what happens to her there is so murkily visualized (in sharpest contrast to the arguably over-sharp bodycam imagery in “Stork”) that the segment just kind of floats off into fuzzy obscurity. Intriguing and frustrating in the general realm of “Skinamarink”’s twilight-zone dread, it requires patience yet doesn’t quite go anywhere definite enough to reward that effort fully. 

The found-footage format can grow repetitious fast, and too much of “Beyond” degenerates into chaotic chase/attack set-pieces that feel interchangeable in their shaky cams and barely coherent action. The energy is high … but high energy can get monotonous, too. Actors running around screaming aren’t all that effective (or convincing, as supposedly “real” people filming themselves) sans sufficient setup in terms of character involvement, ominous atmosphere or narrative engagement. While the individual conceits here are workable enough — even if two of them really have no connection to the ostensible UFO theme — nearly all head toward variations on the same shrill bloodbath, suggesting future “V/H/S” chapters might do better to re-focus on inventive writing rather than simply providing disparate excuses for gory mayhem. 

That said, this competent if mostly forgettable effort’s strongest elements are in exactly that department. Though their handiwork is often glimpsed too briefly, special makeup effects designer Patrick Magee and VFX supervisor Justin Martinez (both credited for the entire feature) contribute some vividly icky, grotesque images.