V/H/S/Beyond

With humankind's never-ending need to find signs of alien life in mind, inspired filmmakers with vivid imaginations and low budgets offer a new collection of otherworldly nightmares after V/H/S/85 (2023). Using Jay Cheel's "Abduction/Adduction" as a wraparound story, the anthology starts with Jordan Downey's "Stork", where a spate of unsolved infant abductions lures a heavily armed police unit into a hell-house--and certain doom. The following episode, Virat Pal's "Dream Girl", portrays that art goes hand in hand with sacrifice. Then, in Justin Martinez's "Live and Let Dive", daredevil skydiver Zach and his friends pay with their lives when they discover the aliens are not coming--they are already here. Next up, in Justin Long and Christian Long's "Fur Babies", animal rights activists bent on exposing doggy daycare owner Becky's shady business come face-to-face with a four-legged terror beyond comprehension. Finally, in Kate Siegel's "Stowaway", glowing lights in a UFO hotspot on the Mojave Desert provide ambitious documentarian Halley with the ultimate proof: we were never alone in this blue dot called Earth.