The Gore-Soaked V/H/S/Beyond Trailer Teases The Best Entry In The Long-Running Horror Franchise

In my opinion, the "V/H/S" franchise has been consistently worthwhile ever since the first installment dropped in 2012. A horror anthology loosely based around the idea of found footage captured and/or broadcast on analog devices, the series eventually abandoned its attempts at building a sense of mythology and lore and focused on the real appeal of the franchise, which is acting as a showcase for a mixture of up-and-coming as well as established filmmakers in the indie horror world. Sure, its nature as an anthology means that not every segment is going to be everyone's bucket o' blood, and some installments have more duds than bangers. Yet I've found at least one segment in each "V/H/S" film to adore, and in most cases have found several.

Ever since producers Josh Goldbloom and Brad Miska brought back the series with 2021's "V/H/S 94" after a seven year break, they've released a new "V/H/S" film each October with a revolving door of first-time and veteran directors. "94" began a trilogy of films that shared a loose theme about a particular time period, and was followed up by "V/H/S 99" and "V/H/S 85." Now, this year's entry entitled "V/H/S/Beyond" is themed not around a year but around a genre, with its six short films connected via the idea that all are sci-fi oriented. Although this initially seemed like another experimental gamble for the franchise, it appears to have paid off, as this new trailer, which you can watch above, promises a gore-soaked, absolutely raucous time at the movies, with its sci-fi trappings clearly not meaning that it skimps on the horror quotient.

I feel like I'm in the minority in my consistent enthusiasm for the "V/H/S" franchise, as thus far, while these movies have been generally enjoyed, that enjoyment seemed to come very intermittently and with lots of caveats. This is all par for the course when it comes to an anthology. While the producers do their utmost, there's no real way to ensure consistency with a format and structure like this. Looked at that way, the fact that any of the "V/H/S" films might be seen as great from start to finish is a minor miracle in and of itself!

So it's very encouraging to see such a slam-bang trailer followed up by /Film's Ryan Scott writing a glowing 9 out of 10 review of the movie. The buzz on "V/H/S/Beyond" has been great so far, with numerous people praising it after its premiere at Fantastic Fest. Perhaps it's not that surprising; after all, the lineup of filmmakers for "Beyond" includes Jordan Downey, Christian and Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, Kate Siegel, and Jay Cheel, all of whom have bonafides in the indie filmmaking and horror world. Yet our review, at least, isn't mincing words, calling "Beyond" not just good but "very arguably the strongest overall collection of tales in 'V/H/S' history." For us "V/H/S" lovers, that's high praise! If "Beyond" is as good as everyone says it is, this may be the boost the series needs in order to become not just a yearly tradition, but one that's looked forward to by more than us weirdo diehard freaks. Who knows what the future may hold for "V/H/S" if this hits as big as it might; could we perhaps see some horror heavy hitters make a return to the series, or even a first appearance?

While the future cannot be predicted, we fortunately won't have very long to wait in order to see this new batch of short film gems for ourselves, as "V/H/S/Beyond" drops on Shudder on October 4, 2024.