This Argentine horror movie delivers some thought-provoking stuff as you debate what’s real and what’s not. Here’s our Virtual Reality review.
The director of a horror film invites the cast and crew to watch the first cut; things take a dark turn as they begin to notice some scenes that were never filmed. What happens on screen has consequences in the real world.
Imagine you watch a film and all of a sudden you see yourself on the big screen, you’re being hunted, and the next you’re being hurt. Suddenly your body is tensing up and feeling exactly what your virtual self is experiencing on screen. Welcome to the premise of Virtual Reality.
This film within a film concept starts off looking absolutely phenomenal as we are introduced to a movie being shot by a film crew. The movie looks beautifully shot as a game of hide and seek ensues with some deadly consequences. The director yells cut and we realise it’s just a scene and no one is hurt for real, yet.
What puzzled me is that the quality of the opening movie sequence was Hollywood horror movie quality, the second the director yells cut the film changes cinematic tone and looks a little cheap and dull in comparison. The rest of the movie is more than watchable and is actually very impressive for an independent film but that introduction was superb, it really was. The lighting, the composition, the shots, perfection.
After a director has made a shady deal to evoke the help of a spirit to make his movie a hit he gets more than he bargained for when his cast is being killed off one by one on-screen simultaneously in the real world too.
I eerily get flashbacks of the Virtual Reality episode of Black Mirror where a young man playtests a beta version of a game and what happens in the game, happens to him in real life as he meets his unfortunate demise.
For me, the second the cast started being killed off I lost interest. After this point, it all just feels like it’s acting for the sake of acting with the story just fading away after an impressive introductory build-up. It just doesn’t work and the reflection of what is happening on a screen isn’t really a situation I can invest in as a viewer. I feel quite detached and by the midway point of the movie, quite bored.
The premise is a really interesting and intriguing one but sadly the execution is more of a distraction from what I as a viewer would have liked to have seen. The build-up works nicely but the payoff fades immediately.
A few twists and turns certainly keep my eyes on the screen but sadly by this point, I’m rooting for the killer to finish off the cast in a brutal fashion.
Virtual Reality is entertaining to a degree but I can’t see this hitting the horror fans too hard, the idea is nothing new, the execution is poor and the most gripping and enthralling part of the entire movie is the opening sequence of the feature.
As a story, it’s close, as a movie it’s no cigar.
Virtual Reality Review by Sean Evans
Our Rating
Summary
Virtual Reality starts off in mind-blowing fashion despite its low budget but whilst the premise is there with a few inventive kills sadly the film falls flat on its face by the time the third act comes around. Close but no cigar.
