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Vanessa Hudgens made her first foray into virtual reality by starring as a Halloween partygoer dressed as a fairy who lures unsuspecting revelers to a deadly haunted house in a new video directed by horror author Eli Roth.
The 33-year-old Spring Breakers star directs Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat for the filmmaker’s short film site Crypt TV, Variety reported on Friday.
Written and directed by Roth, the 30-minute short film was made exclusively for Meta, Facebook’s widely derided virtual reality universe.
Creepy Season: Vanessa Hudgens, 33, made her first foray into virtual reality by starring as a Halloween partygoer dressed as a fairy who lures partygoers to a deadly haunted house in a new video directed by Eli Roth
The short film featuring Hudgens has a 180-degree virtual reality instead of a full 360-degree.
Viewers with access to Meta’s Horizon Worlds or Meta Quest TV can watch the spooky haunted house tour on Friday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m. PT.
However, viewers who don’t have a VR headset jack can still get a more traditional presentation of the short on Crypt TV’s Facebook and Instagram pages, both of which are part of parent company Meta.
The haunted house video was shot from the point of view of one of the teens expecting a night of fun on Halloween.
Hudgens stars in the video as a woman who suddenly joins the party of trick or treaters who travel to a neighborhood where the best decorations and haunted houses can be found.
Creepy: Hudgens trick the group of Halloween revelers into entering a haunted house, where things quickly get sinister. “I don’t want to give too much away, but I can say with certainty that you will be shocked … and that you will love it,” she said in a statement.
Bad Blood: The group discovers that the house once belonged to a woman known as the ‘Dollmaker’, who made dolls with poisonous glue for all the children in the area, causing them all to die, even her two daughters
“Okay, you just have to go in! Best haunted house ever!’ she gushes to the group.
But her overly cheerful demeanor begins to slip when she rings the bell at the haunted house and turns to the camera to say, “Trick or treat.”
The hapless Halloween-goers discover that the house once belonged to a woman known as the “Dollmaker,” who made dolls for all the children in the neighborhood.
However, the dolls were made with poisonous glue and all the children who handled them were poisoned and died, even her own two daughters.
In a statement, Hudgens gushed about her first VR project.
“I’ve loved working with Eli Roth, Crypt TV and Meta to bring this terrifying story to life,” she said. “Considering how the viewers will have an immersive 180-degree experience 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 sure that you will be shocked… and that you will love it.’
VR: The 30-minute, 180-degree short film, which was written and directed by Roth, was made exclusively for Meta, Facebook’s widely derided virtual reality universe
Dream Come True: “I love the storytelling format and have wanted to create a really compelling horror piece for years,” Roth said. ‘I wanted to build the ultimate haunted house and with Meta I was able to bring my vision to life’
The project is a good fit for Hudgens, who goes all out for Halloween every year and shows off her elaborate costumes to her fans.
She has also recently been announced as the star of a documentary charting her explorations of witchcraft.
Roth also shared his enthusiasm for VR filmmaking with the publication.
“I love the storytelling format and have wanted to create a really compelling horror piece for years,” he explained. ‘I wanted to build the ultimate haunted house and Meta was able to bring my vision to life.’
The hostel director explained in a Q&A with the Meta VR stream that ‘when I stopped seeing this as a ‘short film’ and started seeing this as an immersive haunted house, it really freed me up to go wild and every corner of the list.”
Leading the way: “I subtly direct which direction to look in, but really all four quadrants of the frame are used and each has a different scare,” Roth explained.
The director delved into how he guides viewers’ eyes when they have the option to look wherever they want, taking the example of a shot of a staircase at the end of the experience.
“I subtly direct which way to face, but really all four quadrants of the frame are used and each has a different specter,” he said.
Mina Lefevre, Head of Development and Programming at Meta, added: “We feel privileged to partner with one of the biggest names in horror, Eli Roth, and continue our partnership with the amazing team at Crypt TV, along with talent like Vanessa Hudgens who will all make it a very special viewing experience for fans of the genre.’
In addition to Hudgens, the short film stars former MADtv star Will Sasso.
Coming Soon: Viewers with access to Meta’s Horizon Worlds or Meta Quest TV can watch the spooky haunted house tour on Friday, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. PT, or on Crypt TV’s Facebook or Instagram pages