Summary
From producersBrad MiskaandJosh Goldbloom, theV/H/Sfranchiseis a horror lover’s dream.
This year, the Fantastic Fest 2024 crowd got the first look atV/H/S/Beyondfor its World Premiere.
Something about the process that you’re excited for more filmmakers to experience with futureV/H/Sfilms?
Image via Shudder
What are you thinking?
I think the chaos of theseV/H/Sfilms is largely because of the lack of oversight, in that sense.
JUSTIN MARTINEZ: I would agree.
The producers, Josh and Brad, and the support that we get inV/H/Sis amazing.
How do we present something new to the audience that they haven’t seen?
CHRISTIAN LONG: It was just such a singular experience for me in my life.
Image via Shudder
It was a brand-new genre.
It was just fast, energetic, and fun.
It’s not always that way, and it very much was that way with this.
Image via Shudder
Christian, your piece ofV/H/Sis completely different from anything you and Justin [Long] have ever done before.
LONG: Oh, yeah!
It was such a great opportunity.
Image via Shudder
We were so, so lucky to get the opportunity.
So, great opportunity.
We would love to do more.
It’s all about timing.
She’s such a gem.
We saw so many tapes and some great auditions.
Image by Adam Martignetti
Some great actors and actresses auditioned, but it was right away with her.
It was such a brilliant audition that it was like it was such a no-brainer.
Couldnothave asked for a better actress.
V/H/S/Beyond explores a series of unsettling and interconnected stories captured on mysterious videotapes. Each segment delves into dark themes and eerie tales, presented through a mixture of found footage and archival film styles. This anthology continues the tradition of blending horror with suspense, challenging viewers’ perceptions of reality.
Did you think that the role of Becky demanded someone who was an actual dog-lover in real life?
LONG: It definitely helped because she is such a sweet person.
She would never mutilate human beings that I know of.
I’massumingshe would never do this.
It was so perfect.
Jordan, I wanted to talk about finding Oleg [Vdovenko]s work.
He does a bunch of series of stories.
Forest God is this incredible little series that he has, as well.
In each frame he would draw, there was some little progression of the story.
He was a big fan ofV/H/S, so that helped a lot.
But then we had to sit down to fill in the gaps, like you said.
We just tried to fill in the gaps and have fun.
It was not good.
I just had minimal notes about the overall shape.
Do nots dont show too much.
That’s the big thing.
Justin,last we spoke, you were walking me through how you created the plane breaking apart.
Now I’m curious to ask a little bit about what happens after.
MARTINEZ: Great question.
The first two shots that you see flying out of the airplane are CGI.
I started doing the CGI, and it looked great to just fall out of the plane.
So I said, I think we can do this.
When we were trying to plan, How are we gonna do this?
How are we gonna pull this off?
He did multiple jumps, and with skydiving, you only get like a minute.
You’ve experienced this, right?
You went skydiving recently.
You don’t get much time before you have to pull that chute to get these elements.
Here’s another big question I really wanted to ask you.
I think you do that exceptionally well here.
I learned fromSouthboundthat it’s really hard to convey realism in daylight.
So, these VFX artists, who will spend days… And so it was just time at the end of the day.
Someone give this guy a green light for a feature!
DOWNEY: This was the most fun I’ve had making anything overall, just the entire experience.
So I’d say day two, actually, when we did this crazy sequence.
I saw doubt in people.
I could just see people being like, Uh-huh.
Yeah, good luck with that.
We’re gonna get half of what you’re saying.
And we got more because everybody worked fast.
That’s very satisfying.
We got into a great rhythm, the cast was just giving a fantastic performance.
Luckily, no one laughed at me, but it was just such a surreal experience.
I’m gonna finish it all today.
And so we did.
We finished everything that day.
The producers and everyone was like, Are you sure you don’t wanna shoot anymore?
I’ve never had a director not want more footage.
I was like, I got everything I want.
I don’t need another thing.
LONG: You’re like Clint Eastwood.
It was a lot to do, and everyone was stressed to get it done.
There was time for actors to play around and improvise.
I didn’t mean to leave with such a negative thing.
It wasn’t a joyless day.
You got to the joy eventually!
LONG: It was hard but joyful.
This anthology continues the tradition of blending horror with suspense, challenging viewers perceptions of reality.
