Netflix dives into virtual reality with ‘Stranger Things’
VR video mimics a frightening scene from the hit thriller TV show about a missing boy
Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Stranger Things has gone 360 degrees. Netflix launched a virtual reality scene from its hit series this week, its first VR version of its original content.
The nearly two-minute clip, based on what’s considered to be the show’s scariest scene, places you inside the home of the missing Will Byers as if you were his mother, Joyce Byers, played by Winona Ryder.
The home is dark, dimly lit by colourful Christmas lights. You hear Joyce trying to communicate with Will.
“I don’t know where my boy is: he’s gone,” Byers says as she walks through her living room. “Will, can you tell me where you are? Are you alive?”
There are sounds of crashing and glass breaking. A hanging lamp swings.
A phone starts ringing. You’re led to the glowing yellow phone at the end of a hallway. You/she pick it up and hear Will’s voice. “He’s here, inside the house. Turn around, behind you!”
And you can turn around, either using the arrows on your computer screen or Google Cardboard on your phone, but you might not want to depending on your tolerance for scares.
We’ll leave you to discover what you’ll see when you do.
The scene had actress Millie Brown, who plays Eleven in the show, terrified in a YouTube video showing the cast trying out the virtual reality experience.
“I don’t want to do this!” she screams at the scene’s climax, falling to the floor. Co-stars Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) and Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) help her up, saying, “You did a good job.”
Netflix’s previous main foray into virtual reality has been through an app that immerses you in a cosy living room in a cabin. Another this spring as part of the company’s Hack Day involved a virtual reality video store developed by HTC Vive where you could choose movies the old-fashioned way, by “picking up” VHS tapes.
While other streaming services like Hulu and Amazon are exploring virtual reality and 360 video, Netflix has remained cautious.
“The problem with VR is that there’s not enough people on the platform to support the investment in that kind of content,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in May, according to VentureBeat.