A Los Angeles-based interactive horror play is becoming a virtual reality series with Skybound Entertainment.
Skybound is the publisher of properties like The Walking Dead and we previously covered Skybound’s collaboration with Samsung on the VR thriller Gone. Now, Skybound has acquired a creative property for a new and thrilling VR horror experience.
Skybound announced a collaboration that will bring into VR a Los Angeles-based horror play known as Delusion: Lies Within. One of our editors had an opportunity to speak at the Sundance Film Festival with Delusion writer/director Jon Braver and Skybound’s Director of Digital Programming Mike Cruz about the new development.
In 2014, horror company Delusion produced a well-received play called Lies Within — an attempt to redefine live theater by including the play’s audience as characters within the unfolding story. The VR version of the story is set in the American south in the 1940s as an episodic feature where a couple fans attempt to find a horror author that has gone missing. Over the 10 chapters (potentially 80 minutes total) visitors can follow those two fans down branching paths, as you realize the author’s fictional creations have come to life.
“It’s a great emotional story; it’s a great horror story,” says Braver. “It’s a great first project to work on together.”
The plan is to build tension using a variety of techniques, like audio that lets you know something is behind you, or a shot where you are reluctantly pulled along even though you might be heading into danger. Skybound’s Cruz explains that, with the 360-degree viewing of VR, when filming you have to put in extra effort to hide things that would normally break immersion. “You have to hide your wires, your lighting, your rigs, your crew, or you have to paint it out.”
The isolated nature of VR headsets can enhance horror elements ten-fold. When asked if the team anticipated people potentially “pooping their pants”, Cruz joked, “That would be great!”
The VR series is expected to start production in Los Angeles this March.
