Vanessa Hudgens Stars in Eli Roth’s Freaky Haunted House VR Experience for Meta (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety

A fairy-winged Vanessa Hudgens wants to lure unsuspecting trick-or-treaters into the “ultimate haunted house” successful a caller virtual-reality acquisition created by fearfulness wizard Eli Roth exclusively for Meta.

“Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat,” from his Crypt TV banner, volition instrumentality viewers connected a Halloween escapade that goes horrifically awry — culminating successful a frighteningly immersive haunted house. Written and directed by Roth, the 30-minute, 180-degree VR acquisition volition premiere successful Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Meta Quest TV connected Friday, Oct. 21, astatine 6 p.m. PT. If you don’t person a Meta Quest 2 VR headset, the acquisition besides volition beryllium disposable to ticker connected Crypt TV’s Facebook and Instagram pages. (Watch the trailer below.)

The “Trick-VR-Treat” communicative unfolds from the POV of a teen successful the astir breathtaking Halloween vicinity successful town, who is invited wrong the infamous haunted Dollhouse by a mysterious young pistillate dressed arsenic a fairy (Hudgens). Viewers past participate a surviving nightmare wrong the now-decrepit erstwhile location of the Dollmaker, who years agone made toys for each the vicinity children. But the glue she utilized was toxic, and everyone who played with the toys died — including her ain 2 daughters.

It’s the archetypal virtual-reality task for Hudgens, who costars alongside Will Sasso (“F Is for Family,” “Mom”).

“I had specified a blast moving with Eli Roth, Crypt TV and Meta to bring this terrifying communicative to life,” she said successful a statement. “To see however the viewers volition person an immersive acquisition successful 180 degrees truly adds truthful galore breathtaking and caller elements to playing a character. I don’t privation to springiness excessively overmuch distant but I tin say, for certain, that you volition beryllium spooked… and you’re going to emotion it.”

For Meta, Roth’s “Trick-VR-Treat” is yet different effort to propulsion virtual world into a mainstream-entertainment medium, though of people there’s nary warrant VR volition ever match, say, the ubiquity of societal media platforms. The tech giant’s different partnerships person included a VR acquisition based connected Jordan Peele’s “Nope.” Earlier this week, Meta unveiled a pact with NBCUniversal to bring Peacock, “The Office” and different properties into VR and introduced the pricey $1,500 next-gen Oculus Pro headset, which promises superior graphics and the quality to seizure earthy facial expressions and oculus tracking.

Roth said he’s been a VR idiosyncratic and filmmaker since the first-generation Oculus Go archetypal came retired successful 2018. “I emotion the format for storytelling and person wanted to marque a genuinely immersive fearfulness portion for years,” said Roth. “I wanted to physique the eventual haunted house, and Meta enabled maine to bring my imaginativeness to life.”

The “Trick-VR-Treat” was produced by Roth’s Crypt TV, Cream Productions and Light Sail VR. In a Q&A with Meta’s VR team, Roth explained that “once I stopped reasoning of this arsenic a ‘short film’ and started reasoning of this arsenic an immersive haunted house, it truly freed maine up to spell chaotic and usage each country of the frame.” In a staircase changeable toward the extremity of the piece, helium said, “I’m subtly directing which mode you should look, but genuinely each 4 quadrants of the framework are being utilized and each 1 has a antithetic scare.”

Mina Lefevre, Meta’s caput of improvement and programming, commented, “We consciousness fortunate to beryllium moving with 1 of the biggest names successful horror, Eli Roth, and continuing our concern with the astonishing squad astatine Crypt TV, on with endowment similar Vanessa Hudgens who each volition marque this a precise peculiar viewing acquisition for fans of the genre.”

Hudgens, whose credits see “High School Musical,” Netflix’s “The Princess Switch” movies and “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” antecedently appeared successful Season 3 of “Eli Roth’s History of Horror” docu-series.

Watch the trailer for “Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat”:

Crypt TV besides released accumulation stills from the VR experience: