Horror movies

It's incredibly hard to keep a franchise fresh when it's been around for more than a decade headed into its seventh installment. But a couple of missteps aside, the "V/H/S" franchise has done a remarkable job of keeping things fresh over the years. I'm pleased as punch to report that "V/H/S/Beyond" isn't just taking the ball and running with it — it may well have set a new high bar for the series.

The seventh installment overall and the follow-up to last year's "V/H/S/85," this new entry takes things "Beyond" by giving every one of the six segments a sci-fi hook. Marrying sci-fi and horror has often yielded very satisfying results. Some of the all-time greats in the genre, such as John Carpenter's "The Thing" or Ridley Scott's "Alien," look to the horrors of science fiction to bring us something thrilling. Similarly, all of the filmmakers involved here wandered through very different corners of the science fiction sphere to deliver viewers something horrific, weird, and/or a bloody good time.

While it may sound like a bold statement, this is very arguably the strongest overall collection of tales in "V/H/S" history. Defenders of "V/H/S/2" and "V/H/S/94" will either roll their eyes at what could easily be a hyperbolic statement from a guy walking out of a world premiere at a film festival aimed squarely at genre lovers. I'm here to tell you that the festival goggles are off. My mind is clear. This movie delivers the goods...