V/H/S is a horror anthology film that featured different found footage that premiered in 2012. It became a hit and spawned many more films. The latest in the franchise is V/H/S/Beyond, which includes 5 shorts with an overall narrative sprinkled throughout. “Stowaway” is one of the segments and is written by Mike Flanagan (Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House) and directed by Kate Siegel (Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House).

The horror short marks the directorial debut for Siegel and stars Alanah Pearce as Halley, someone who is determined to document evidence of extraterrestrial beings in the Mojave desert. Those who follow Pearce know her from IGN and Rooster Teeth, and she is now working as a video game developer at Santa Monica Studios (God of War).

“When [Siegel] was presented with the opportunity to have her directorial debut, making it effectively a short segment on V/H/S/Beyond, she, I think, wanted to work with someone she knew, which is just a reality of a lot of indie filmmaking or filmmaking in general,” Pearce tells Nerd Reactor. “It’s fun to make something with your friends is the truth there, I think. Especially when it’s indie, people aren’t doing it for the money, they’re doing it for a level of passion, and it’s more comfortable working with people you know.”

Pearce got attached to the project since she was a friend of Siegal, had some acting experience, and was non-union.

“The reality is that although I do have some acting experience, I was one of the only non-union actors that Kate knew and it was a non-union project,” Pearce explained. “So it worked out very well. The character that I play, Halley, is acting as a reporter. I used to be a journalist, so it was a natural, pretty easy role to pull into. It’s like the stars aligned.”

“My first time reading the script, I was like, ‘Oh this was creepy,'” she said. “How on Earth are we going to make this? It’s so creative and hopefully it’ll leave people with a sense of dread.”

About V/H/S/Beyond

Stowaway stars Alanah Pearce, Josh Goldbloom, Boomer Feith, Yuritzi Bojorquez, Ketzali Bjorquez, Theodora Flanagan and Joey Wilson.

V/H/S/Beyond is now available to stream on Shudder.