Virtual Reality Blu-ray Review

AI-driven Argentine Horror

Cult label Artsploitation Films has shown a discerning eye for picking up subversive foreign-language horror films like director Hernan Findling’s Virtual Reality. Hailing from Argentina, the clever flick is a surreal mind trip about a desperate director using a demonic AI program to finish off his production with bloody results.

If screenwriter Charlie Kaufman penned a horror script, Virtual Reality wouldn’t be that far removed from it. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare would be another obvious antecedent. Taking the movie-within-the-movie premise and running wild, a desperate cast realizes something is very wrong as they screen their movie’s first cut at the director’s home.

Director Hernan Findling’s Virtual Reality is the perfect horror movie for a new generation

What the cast and crew don’t know is their director Matias Ricarsi (Guillermo Berthold) has struck an infernal pact. Given a mysterious AI program by his sinister producer offering everlasting cinematic fame, it assembles the movie’s final cut for Matias and all he has to do is take the credit.

When the horror film they’ve made is screened for the cast and crew, Virtual Reality becomes a choreographed dance of bloodshed and mayhem as the line between reality and cinema blur. The cast flee from a slasher known only as the Celtic, a hulking masked boogeyman they thought only existed in their imaginations and on the screen. As they look on in horror, the actors die when their characters in the movie die.

Having seen a fair number of horror films from Argentina now over the years, there’s something extra special about the tense suspense and mind-bending screenplay in Virtual Reality. Like all great horror, it makes you care just enough about the characters while keeping the sword of Damocles perilously hanging over their heads. Virtual Reality is a smart deconstruction of the filmmaking process, layering the gory special effects with the mundane realities movies go through to hit the screen.

I have to believe there’s a producer in Hollywood who’ll one day catch Virtual Reality and want to remake the gory horror flick with a bigger budget. The premise and execution are fantastic, supported by a strong cast with serviceable special effects. It’s hard finding genre films which are both frightening and clever, Virtual Reality is on that list. Capitalizing on the growing fears of AI running amok, director Hernan Findling’s Virtual Reality is the perfect horror movie for a new generation.

Video

The main feature runs 84 minutes in adequate AVC on a BD-25 with some minor banding baked into the video. Released by Artsploitation Films, I have to believe this mixed-ratio presentation in solid 1080p resolution reflects the director’s intentions. Depending on whether the movie-within-a-movie is playing, the ratio smoothly changes on the fly between 1.85:1 and 2.39:1.

Virtual Reality’s picture quality offers fairly nice digital clarity reflecting modern indie filmmaking. The lighting and cinematography are mildly underwhelming, producing uneven shadow delineation. Otherwise it’s a sharp experience with serviceable black levels and unfiltered detail in close-ups.

Like most indie productions, Virtual Reality’s HD transfer is probably derived from its 2K digital intermediate and largely unprocessed. The color correction is a bit flat and dull, unpolished by Hollywood standards. Moody bursts of darkness alternate with your typical television clarity.

Audio

The Spanish-language audio comes in excellent 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD MA options. It’s an aggressive, pounding surround mix with heavy bass and sparkling-clean dialogue. The loud industrial score from composer Eric Kuschevatzky is placed upfront in almost overpowering dynamics.

Special effects are nicely layered with realistic precision. There are a couple of effective surround placements which heighten Virtual Reality’s frights.

Optional English subtitles play in a white font.

Extras

The disc from Artsploitation Films is locked to Region A.

Virtual Reality Trailer (01:33 in HD)

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The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 37 full resolution, uncompressed HD screen shots ripped directly from the Blu-ray: