A fairy-winged Vanessa Hudgens wants to lure unsuspecting trick-or-treaters into the “ultimate haunted house” in a new virtual-reality experience created by horror wizard Eli Roth exclusively for meta.
“Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat,” from his Crypt TV banner, will take viewers on a Halloween adventure that goes horrifically awry — culminating in a frighteningly immersive haunted house. Written and directed by Roth, the 30-minute, 180-degree VR experience will premiere in meta’s Horizon Worlds and meta Quest TV on Friday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. PT. If you don’t have a meta Quest 2 VR headset, the experience also will be available to watch on Crypt TV’s Facebook and Instagram pages. (Watch the trailer below.)
The “Trick-VR-Treat” story unfolds from the POV of a teenager in the most exciting Halloween neighborhood in town, who is invited inside the infamous haunted Dollhouse by a mysterious young woman dressed as a fairy (Hudgens). Viewers then enter a living nightmare inside the now-decrepit former home of the Dollmaker, 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 costars alongside Will Sasso (“F Is for Family,” “Mom”).
“I had such a blast working with Eli Roth, Crypt TV and meta to bring this terrifying tale to life,” she said in a statement. “To consider how the viewers will 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, for certain, that you will be spooked… and you’re going to love it.”
For meta, Roth’s “Trick-VR-Treat” is yet another attempt to push virtual reality into a mainstream-entertainment medium, although of course there’s no guarantee VR will ever match, say, the ubiquity of social media platforms. The tech giant’s other partnerships have included a VR experience based on Jordan Peele’s “Nope.” Earlier this week, meta unveiled a pact with NBCUniversal to bring Peacock, “The Office” and other properties into VR and introduced the pricey $1,500 next-gen Oculus Pro headset, which promises superior graphics and the ability to capture natural facial expressions and eye tracking.
Roth said he’s been a VR user and filmmaker since the first-generation Oculus Go came out in 2018. “I love the format for storytelling and have wanted to make a truly immersive horror piece for years,” said Roth. “I wanted to build the ultimate haunted house, and meta enabled me to bring my vision to life.”
The “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 that “once I stopped thinking of this as a ‘short film’ and started thinking of this as an immersive haunted house, it really freed me up to go wild and use every corner of the frame.” In a staircase shot toward the end of the piece, he said, “I’m subtly directing which way you should look, but truly all four quadrants of the frame are being used and each one has a different scare.”
Mina Lefevre, meta’s head of development and programming, commented, “We feel fortunate to be working with one of the biggest names in horror, Eli Roth, and continuing our partnership with the amazing team at Crypt TV, along with talent like Vanessa Hudgens who all will make this a very special viewing experience for fans of the genre.”
Hudgens, whose credits include “High School Musical,” Netflix’s “The Princess Switch” movies and “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” previously appeared in Season 3 of “Eli Roth’s History of Horror” docu-series.
Watch the trailer for “Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat”:
Crypt TV also released production stills from the VR experience:
