Virtual Reality (original title Realidad Virtual) is a great horror film with a frankly abysmal title. I wasn't sure what to expect from this Hernán Findling directed Argentinian horror, but what I found was something I found to be both bloody and meta in similar measure.
Matias (Guillermo Berthold) is a horror director who has recently wrapped up filming on his latest slasher movie. Into the occult, and wanting his film to be a success, he enlists the help of a shady producer who provides him with a strange item. He gives the director a memory stick that is said to contain a demonic A.I that has the ability to edit any movie into a masterpiece. Sometime later, at Matias' house, he has arranged a viewing party for his movie, with a select group of cast and crew invited to attend. These include main actress, Guadalupe (Vanesa González) and her teenage brother, Facundo (Federico Bal) who had played the role of the killer in the film, editor Hernán (Francisco González Gil) and a few others. When the movie begins they are all surprised to find out that events that are happening in the film were scenes they didn't shoot, despite them appearing on the screen, even including the crew, who in the movie are also brought into the story. The surprise turns to horror when they realise that any damage that occurs to their counterparts in the film, also occurs to them simultaneously in real life, and soon, one by one, they begin to die as their film versions are dispatched by the slasher. The survivors, unable to stop the movie from playing, decide they must find a way to get in contact with their on screen personas, in order to defeat the slasher and outlast the film's runtime.
Virtual Reality is quite meta and seems to enjoy messing around with the viewer. This can be seen straight away with the prologue. It was a cheesy horror film full of cliche moments and generic sound design, and I feared I was in for a bad time. That is until the scene cuts and its revealed to be part of a fake movie being shot. This meta feeling remains for the rest of the movie, with the viewer watching characters who in turn are watching themselves. Essentially there are two separate movies running concurrently, and while the focus is on the viewing party characters, events are both still going together. It leads to some fun moments, such as a character in the film just about to be killed by the slasher when her real life version manages to pause the film, knowing if it starts to play again she will be dead. The meta feeling bleeds into actual reality when characters comment on how long of the fake movie is left to go, when this actually reflects to the real life movie's remaining runtime as well. At some points characters even directly speak to the camera, and by proxy the viewer. This feeling of people realising they are trapped in some sort of nightmare film brought to mind the fantastic Resolution, with these films both having near enough the same ending to them. Stick around to after the end credits and there is an even more fun scene that plays out, which to say anymore would ruin the surprise.
There is plenty of blood and gore here, with knife and axe attacks, a skewer in a character's eye, a cool looking decapitation, and even someone falling through a glass table. The effects all looked great, appearing to be practical ones, and the blood never failed to look great also. I also appreciated the editing, which went from actual film to fake film effortlessly without making things confusing. I loved the moments that had characters from both films reacting to things at the same time, such as when Guada's brother is thrown in the fake film, and in real life is propelled into a nearby pillar. The actors display believable confusion to what is occuring, my only real complaint being the third act introduction of an antagonist figure of sorts.
I loved Virtual Reality, it had that feeling of watching something really special. I would say after a strong first act the movie never really achieves those heights again, but it still remained very fun to watch, with some darkly humorous moments in places, though mostly played straight and serious. The worst thing about it by far is the bland and forgettable title, something which will put people off from seeing this, especially frustrating as the title doesn't really fit with what is going on. Ignore that terrible title however and you will have a blast watching this. Virtual Reality is out now on VOD and Blu-ray thanks to Artsploitation Films.
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