Summary
Mike Flanaganhas had so much success of late, it’s not a stretch to consider him anointed as the king of horror. He deserves that title because he’s not someone who ever allows anyone to paint him into one box when it comes to thehorrorgenre. He’s willing to do ghost stories, he’s willing to do very original takes on vampire stories, and he’s willing to even make movies (or at least segments of movies) about alien abduction. And while he doesn’t do it all that often, he’s willing to do body horror if he believes that’s what the recipe calls for to make it right.
There be no greater sign of just how good Flanagan is at this stuff than being entrusted with not one buttwo Stephen King adaptations. But before he really got to work on those, he decided to pitch in to make a segment in the latest installment of the long-runningV/H/Sseries. And he managed to do something so few directors ever do in the segments for the Anthology horror series. He left a main character alive. Granted, it’s likely that the character wasn’t thanking him for the kindness.
Mike Flanagan Shows His Mastery Of The Genre
V/H/S Beyondis the latest moviein the series, and as is usually the case with the title, it’s a hint at what viewers can expect when they watch it. This time around, there’s less ghoulies and ghosts murdering people willy-nilly. This time around, the overarching theme is alien attacks. And each segment seems to get slightly more horrifying than the last.
But because Mike Flanagan is a true genius of pushing just the right buttons, not only is his segment in theanthology horror seriesthe best of the current bunch, it might be the best of the entire franchise. And it might fit that description because he does things that stay in line with the overall goal of the franchise while breaking some unwritten rules.
That is, of course, how Flanagan has long done it. He sticks to some of the rules but breaks the big ones. Andin theV/H/Sseries, one of the biggest rules is that every segment has a body count. And in his latest horror work is one where there’s plenty of scares. Once again, Flanagan shows that he knows how to do horror in a way that few are doing these days when it comes to his segment “Stowaway.”
V/H/S Doesnt Need To Kill To Horrify
In “Stowaway” Alanah Pierce plays a woman who is on the lookout for alien life forms she believes are hiding out in the American desert. Eventually she finds a ship and believes that all her dreams have come true. Of course, because this isV/H/Sand Mike Flanaganhas put the woman in the story, it’s not hard to realize that things are going to go gruesomely wrong in a hurry.
Of course, because this is V/H/S and Mike Flanagan has put the woman in the story, it’s not hard to realize that things are going to go gruesomely wrong in a hurry.
Sure enough they do. Soon after the woman discovers that the aliens are abducting animals from Earth to experiment on their DNA, the unexpected happens and the ship she is still in, takes off.
It turns out that sneaking onto an extraterrestrial spacecraft is not the best idea a person has ever had.Flanagan teaches that lessonwith the same deftness that he once taught that it wasn’t wise to make a deal with Death, no matter how lucrative that deal appeared.
It turns out that one of the most interesting things about this ship is that it has a complex system that uses the DNA in its system to heal injuries. Of course, this system is designed to heal the alien pilots of the ship and doesn’t really recognize the issue with doing the same to a human stowaway. And this is where Flanagan manages to offer up a horror story that does not kill anyone, but shows there arethings worse than dying.
When the aliens are back in their ship, they launch into space. And because their alien planet is quite a ways away, they fire up what is essentially a warp speed drive and because they don’t know she’s there, don’t prepare her for the explosive effects of going faster than light. The speed tears her body apart intrue horror film fashionas she screams in pain.
However, the real terror comes when the machine uses the DNA in its system to keep her alive and to “repair” her. But it’s not human DNA, its the DNA of animals the aliens have been kidnapping. And it’s not just one jump to warp speed. There are several and they rip the woman apart every time. Eventually she doesn’t look remotely human yet still understands thehorrorthat’s being done to hear. Screaming for death when the system won’t let her go.
It’s a brilliant way to send the message that there are truly things worse than dying. It’s also a segment that has people wanting to look away like they normally don’t want to in a V/H/S movie and it’s yet another near-perfectMike Flanaganproduction.
