We all love a little bit of a scare, scream and adrenaline rush. Virtual reality (VR) is particularly good at making viral videos when we see our friends and family members tremble, scream or fall off chairs. Be prepared to go through those same emotions in these latest experiences in VR and augmented reality (AR).
Dark Corner Studios are releasing international exclusives for horror fans to enjoy. All four of the films are available now through the Dark Corner app which you can get on Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Daydream headsets.
- Tag Along – A blood-spattered haunted house story from Taiwan, director Pu-Yuan Cheng and producer Shin-Chi Chen have created a short horror experience that expands the mythology of this hit Taiwanese franchise. Get ready to enter the haunted home of the demon Mosien, if you dare…
- Oh Deer – The first foray into VR for Swedish director Peter Pontikis, Oh Deer is a stark, minimalist POV experience. It’s an exercise in suspense and divided attention, placing the viewer in the perspective of a wounded animal as hunters close in from all sides.
- Horomaru – An indie haunted house story from South Korea by director Jae-gyun Hong. Three young ghost hunters with plans to upload their 360 footage for viral internet views go exploring in an abandoned mansion. What they don’t realize is that the house used to host grisly sacrificial rites; “Horomaru” refers to “the ritual of sacrificing a living human to a ghost or demon.”
- The Office – A popular horror short from the prolific European VR studio Inside360, directed by Miguel Temme. The viewer takes the POV of an office worker about to head home for the day…when suddenly mysterious things start to happen all around you.
WITHIN also has some premieres for their Fright Fest Collection with eight experiences, including five app premieres. These premieres will include:
- The Caretaker – created by Jacob Wasserman, Adam Donald, and Ant Gentile of Hidden Content. This follows the mysterious occurrences at a strange hotel when a couple arrives to wait for a mechanic after their car breaks down on a cold winter night.
- An Obituary – created by Jean Yoon, Kuk-seok Yang, and Jin-hee Kim. The experience charts the unsettling course of a funeral when the man attending realizes he is the sole mourner alongside the deceased’s grieving mother. Why is there nobody else in the village?
- 11:57 – is a first-person POV nightmare in which you are strapped to a chair in a dark cave. The experience revolves around your every move, but may leave you cowering under your bed.
Also available will be Dinner Party, the pilot episode of a new anthology series called, The Incident. Focused on actual supernatural events the first installment is based on the story of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple who reported the first nationally known story of a UFO abduction in 1961.From WITHIN’s archives the Fright Fest Collection will include Greg Nicotero’s The Walking Dead, AMC’s The Terror, and Sergeant James.
It’s not all about VR this season, AR app Noovie ARcade app have also been busy preparing audiences in cinema theatres with pre-show creepiness. Twenty minutes before a screening, audiences can download the Noovie ARcade app on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Then, they will be shown a slew of spooky imagery, such as a silhouette of a child on a swing, clutching a teddy bear. Strange, zombie-like creatures who move with a jerky, unnatural motion appear as ominous writing appears on a billboard, pleasing ‘Save Me!’. Alternatively you can also play AR games on the cinema screen like Cinevaders, Emoji Escape and Kernal Cannon.
The horror experience will be available at selected theatres from 6th October until 31st October, with over 20,800 movie screens taking part, including big chains such as AMC, Cinemark, Regal Entertainment Group along with 55 regional and local cinemas and exhibitors.
If cinema or movies just aren’t immersive enough for you, and you’re looking for a little bit more interaction with your content. You can always head over to Viveport where they’re doing a 90% off massive Halloween sale. There’s a lot on offer, there’s even a ‘Free Frights’ category, you can select from various categories, with my personal favourite category “AHHH!”
If you’re looking for something that sits between a film and videogame you can always try Kobold. This experience is coming to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Designed as a trans-media experience. Before entering VR you watch a short film which serves as an introduction into the world and characters and tells the backstory of a missing boy and his family.
In the VR experience you play an urban explorer investigating the mysterious case of the missing boy. With your torch in hand you look to discover the secrets of an abandoned villa in the middle of a dark forest in Germany. Featuring real locations that have been scanned for authenticity, KOBOLD offers players a fully interactive universe where they can pick up clues, solve a mystery and come face to face with an ancient evil.
Continue reading VRFocus to get the latest scares.
Whilst VR was certainly a topic during 2014 and 2015 it was in 2016 that we first saw things begin to take off and VR became not just a talking point but became a feature of film festivals. Now in 2017 discussion about VR is common place and having it at said festivals is an expected part of its make-up. Be it 
Made by RYOT in conjunction with both Skybound Entertainment and Telexist, Dinner Party also acts for the pilot for a new series of VR shorts called The Incident, which charts true to life stories of strange occurrences and paranormal events.