A fairy Vanessa Hudgens aims to lure unsuspecting trick-or-treaters into the “ultimate haunted house” in a new virtual reality experience created exclusively for Meta by horror wizard Eli Roth.
Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick VR Treat from his Crypt TV banner takes viewers on a Halloween adventure that goes horribly wrong – culminating in a terrifyingly captivating haunted house. The 30-minute, 180-degree VR experience, written and directed by Roth, will premiere Friday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m. PT on Metas Horizon Worlds and Meta Quest TV. If you don’t have a Meta Quest 2 VR headset, you can also check out the experience on Crypt TV’s Facebook and Instagram pages. (Check out the trailer below.)
The Trick VR Treat story unfolds from the perspective of a teenager in the city’s most exciting Halloween district, who is invited to the infamous haunted dollhouse by a mysterious young woman disguised as a fairy (Hudgens). Viewers then enter a living nightmare in the now derelict former home of the doll maker who years ago made toys for all the neighborhood children. But the glue she used was toxic, and everyone who played with the toys died — including her own two daughters.
It’s the first virtual reality project for Hudgens, who stars alongside Will Sasso (“F is for Family,” “Mom”).
“I had so much fun working with Eli Roth, Crypt TV and Meta to bring this horrifying story to life,” she said in a statement. “Considering how viewers are going to have an immersive experience in 180 degrees really adds so many exciting and new elements to playing a character. I don’t want to give too much away, but I can say with certainty that you will be terrified… and you will love it.”
For Meta, Roth’s “trick VR treat” is yet another attempt to push virtual reality into a mainstream entertainment medium, though of course there’s no guarantee VR will ever achieve, say, the ubiquity of social media platforms . The tech giant’s other partnerships included a VR experience based on Jordan Peele’s “Nope.” Earlier this week, Meta unveiled a deal with NBCUniversal to bring Peacock, “The Office” and other properties to VR, and unveiled the pricey $1,500 next-gen Oculus Pro headset, the superior graphics and the Ability promises to capture natural facial expressions and eye movements.
Roth said he’s been a VR user and filmmaker since the first generation of Oculus Go came out in 2018. “I love the storytelling format and have wanted to make a truly immersive horror piece for years,” said Roth. “I wanted to build the ultimate haunted house and Meta allowed me to bring my vision to life.”
“Trick-VR-Treat” was produced by Roth’s Crypt TV, Cream Productions and Light Sail VR. In a Q&A with Meta’s VR team, Roth explained, “When I stopped thinking of this as a ‘short film’ and started thinking of it as an immersive haunted house, it really set me free to go wild and explore every corner of the.” frame.” In a stair shot near the end of the piece, he said, “I’m subtly pointing out which direction you should be looking, but really all four quadrants of the frame are used, and each has a different fright.”
Mina Lefevre, Head of Development and Programming at Meta, commented, “We feel fortunate to be working with Eli Roth, one of horror’s biggest names, and to continue our partnership with the amazing team at Crypt TV, along with talent like Vanessa Hudgens, who All of this will make this a very special viewing experience for fans of the genre.”
Hudgens, whose credits include High School Musical, the Netflix films The Princess Switch and Tick, Tick…Boom!, previously appeared in Season 3 of the docu-series Eli Roth’s Horror Story.
Watch the Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick VR Treat trailer:
Crypt TV also released production stills from the VR experience:
Photo: Pief Weymann
Photo: Pief Weymann
Photo: Pief Weymann
Photo: Pief Weymann
