HORROR has a new... accent!

Of course this isn't a new idea. It was done in the 90s, this just utilizes better technology for a more real time feel. My problem with this, is that like a video game, you can only do it one way if you want to get all the way to the end, so the freedom of motion is illusionary. Or like the "Choose your own Adventure" books, ultimately you're heading toward the same plot line no matter what avenue you take. A truly interactive experience is something to anticipate in the future.

William Castle liiiivvveeeeess~

SHOCK! SUSPENSE! HORROR! And cellphones, in a theater? Really?

This looks awful.
Kino-Automat I saw played in at the BFI in London a year or two ago, it was kind of cute.
http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/history/timeline/kinoautomat.html

Hey, it's TEXT ADVENTURE: THE MOVIE!

The basic problem with any experience that depends on audience interaction is how it copes with input that it cannot process. How will the "sophisticated voice recognition software" deal with responses that don't correspond with either of the binary choices?

I've come to an intersection! Should I go up, or down?
>sideways
I don't know that word!
Should I go up, or down?
>pick up sword
I don't know that word!
Should I go up, or down?

et cetera. Could one wiseass with a cellphone create an hourlong loop of our sweaty heroine dithering in the hallway, never actually getting anywhere? Samuel Beckett by way of AI: the mind boggles.

Yeah, I definitely thought you'd like this. So nice to see my complete, long, weird, spanish name written on this blog.

I love how the trailer uses Murnau's Nosferatu the very same way black and white is used in infomercials such as Chef Tony's: "Those old-looking horror pictures don't cut anymore!"; or how it tries to trick you into thinking you'll have a conversation, when it's actually binary decision making (left or right, up or down).

It might almost serve as a corrective for people who feel it's perfectly acceptable to be on the phone in a movie theater...

...and it would function as a corrective in that the jerks who do do that would totally be duped by novelty and leave the rest of us alone.

I also remember an ad for something similar to this when I was a kid, early 90's I think. Instead of a cell phone each chair in the theater would be equipped with a button mechanism and when a decision, like go left or right, would come up everyone in the theater would vote for what the hero should do.

So many great directors are rolling in their graves that the ground is cracking open. And Castle rests soundly, god bless 'em.

And speaking of which why do horror movies all look like this? There's nothing remotely scary about a shot I can barely see.

You know, I actually have zero problem with this. In fact, though I'm an advocate of keeping cell phones out of theaters, this is pretty interesting, only because 1) it's a theater where people KNOW cell phones may be popping out, and 2) you can offer it as a choice to morons who would normally just be on their phones anyway as a way to not care about what's going on without annoying people. I'm also glad it's German. I want to be there for this and will seek it out when I go in the Fall.

I was certain this was a joke. But it just stayed all awkward and not nearly funny enough and I grew impatient, so I checked via The Google if this was serious or not. It was. I immediately lost interest in finishing watching it.

Yikes.

That's pretty funny, actually. "Damn, I need a new phone" works as a nice punchline too.

What makes this whole gimmick even worse is no particular audience member actually controls what the character does; they essentially "vote" on what she does, and it seems to eventually lead to the same outcome either way, without even the suspense of dreading a "Game Over" screen.

Although the choose-your-own-adventure formula still has some issues, I have to admit I'm quite fond of video games such as "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" and "Mass Effect," which actually do let the player make plot-affecting decisions throughout the game. Their thematic artistry and commentary on the human condition are...lacking, but some of them still have more engaging characters and better writing than quite a few movies.

"Forget about choice! Take your top off!"

It seems that all choices are equally meaningless. These decision trees don't allow for enough real control. "Before you go anywhere, find something you can use as a bludgeon. A bludgeon! Bludgeon! Pick up a wooden board or something! Be resourceful! Look, whatever you do, don't walk backwards. The killer will pop up right behind you if you walk backwards. Oh no! Someone's watching you through a shaky camera! It's either the killer or Paul Greengrass!" And since videogames allow for more in-depth decision making, and you can kill bad guys with machine guns and flamethrowers, there's no point.

I was reading recently about some other movie released to DVD which allowed for greater variety, more possible permutations, and a structure that shaped the main character's personality based on the choices the viewer made. It's definitely not for me, but then I don't like having that kind of pressure. "What? I don't know which way! Ask somebody else!"

Gary Wallace knows how horror films work.

Wow, dumb in any langauge.

The Tingler! Eeeeeeeeeek! We are horrified that we are terribly old enough to remember The Tingler!

Catt likes to play the laptop games that do this. But it's the very reason I can take only a few pages of even the greats like Grisham or Clancy: oh, the plot will go this, this, this or that way. If it can go that many different directions, I don't care. I want to be unable to guess the only direction it could possibly go.

Um....

And maybe it's just me and how I tend to think, but what if you prefer to think outside the box? What if you say "neither" when asked a question which essentially presents you with an option?

Up? Down?
Left? Right?
Over? Under?

"Neither. I've got a better idea..."

It's not a movie it's a glorified video game. And a boring one at that.

Zzzzz.

William Castle must be digging this from the grave.

Please say this is only for Germany.

Ebert made a good point on twitter. What happens if someone doesn't respond?

Crap! I don't know any German! Uh uh SIEG HEIL! JUST DO SOMETHING! GET OUT OF THERE GIRLFRIEND!

Does it do the classic phone tree response of "I think you said "yes"—do I have that right?

But I really LOVE the idea of the whole audience keeping their cell phones on during the screening. Awesome!

So, the advices before the movie that ask the audience to turn off mobiles, will be deprecated?

Great way to collect phone #s for sale to marketers.

Actually, there is no full-length movie. The 'interactive' "Last Call" is merely a gimmicky ten-minute ad for the - not very suscessful - German horror and sci-fi pay-TV station "13th Street". I wonder why they did an English version, though, and with a thick German accent to boot ...

I would enjoy this on DVD. There's gotta be a clever way to incorporate it into home theater. The impact could really be terrifying. It could open up films to multiple storylines. What about a great mystery film where you help solve it? There are so many possibilities. Voice recognition technology has become sophisticated enough for someone to really take this far. Imagine wearing a headset, and guiding yourself through a world you've never imagined.

I think the uncharitable comments are missing the point; the company isn't suggesting it's creating a system that gives viewers real agency or allows them to control the plot. Anyone who knows anything about film knows that not only would that be impossible, it would defeat the point of having a film in the first place. It's offering interactivity, which is a lower standard. It's a gimmick, and as a gimmick it offers entertainment. You're not going to see these instead of seeing real movies, or good movies, any more than you go to an amusement park instead of watching a DVD.

And as to the implementation problems, these have all been solved already in the realm of videogames and they're no real problem here. If the audience member doesn't respond, or responds with unrecognisable input, you trigger a default response, where the character says, "Damn it, that's no help," or suchlike, and then either takes one of the two routes anyway or enters a third state triggered by the bad response (such as them freaking out about not getting help over the phone but then spotting some vital clue that effectively replaces the audience input). It's less important here that the film delivers a high-quality experience in the cinema than that it delivers an experience you can talk about AFTER the cinema.

Almost all movies depend on the illusion that you're experiencing something real, and horror movies probably more so. The problem with this is that it doesn't heighten the illusion; it dispells it. It's so painfully obvious that you're being asked for a canned, binary answer, that it disrupts the illusion of the heroinne in peril instead of drawing you into it.

But maybe I'm taking the whole thing to seriously. I tend to think that the point of horror movies is to be scared, but the target audience for these films may be looking for a different experience--more ironic and detached, such as the kids who laugh at Jason and taunt the stupid teenager whom he stalks. So maybe that audience would like this kind of film. Maybe they should be giving advice to the killer instead of the victim.

Return to The House on Haunted Hill on HD DVD had this sort of thing except you used the remote to make your choices for the characters.