Are VR Experiences The Future Of Horror Movies? 'IT' Remake Sets The Bar High With New VR Video

As most of us are aware, horror movies are lacking something to keep us as fans interested. Lately, the decline in the number of people watching horror movies has increased dramatically, proving that they're not as big of a draw as they once were. And while movies in the horror genre aren't lacking anything in quality, it's how fans are experiencing them that's driving them away.

If you're someone like myself, who's seen various horror movies, after a while, you become so accustomed to simply watching a movie that the experience doesn't really click like it used to. The frights are still there, it's just not as thrilling as it once was. This is more important now than ever because a large majority of people who feel the same way, aren't going to keep watching horror movies if it's the same old boring thing they've seen a million times before. Filmmakers can only do so much to make a horror flick unique from everything else out there, but it's not enough. They need something else to put that oomph back into the horror genre, and that's where companion VR experiences come in.

The remake of Stephen King's IT movie will be the first in line to receive its companion VR experience. You can check out the full video of IT: FLOAT, A Cinematic VR Experience below:

As you can see, New Line Cinema, the studio in charge of the IT remake has taken their promotional campaign one step further than most horror movie franchises, by turning their movie into a VR experience, a world that audience members can walk through and experience for themselves. Word to the wise, it's not for the faint of heart.

From the get-go, the VR trip opens to the dark eerie street in Derry where Pennywise first appears to kidnap Georgie, a young boy who gets lured into the storm drain by the maniacal clown. But just as soon as you see Georgie on the screen, he disappears and Pennywise shows up to welcome his next victim in, you. Luckily, he retreats back soon after, and you're left to journey through Derry's maze of sewage tunnels.

Once inside the sewers, Pennywise makes surprise appearances here and there, but that's not the creepiest part about it. The scariest aspect of this VR experience is Georgie's voice echoing through the sewers. And it's not necessarily what he's saying that's terrifying, it's just the notion of an innocent child's voice being used by a supernatural clown to lure people to their deaths is what'll scare the pants off of you.

If you're at all familiar with the initial premise of IT, then you know the little boy isn't down there. He got dragged down into the sewers by Pennywise a long time ago, and was consumed by the mad clown. Georgie's voice being impersonated by Pennywise is a tactic used to get people to lower their guard and attempt to help Georgie. Unfortunately, Georgie is gone (as far as we know), and his voice is the just the echo of the dead, which makes this VR experience all the more terrifying.

Overall, the VR walkthrough isn't as long as one would expect, but we should be prepared for an expansion to be released in the comings months, if it's as big of a hit as New Line thinks IT will be. Assuming the VR experience does well to bring in new fans, they'll be asking what VR experience is going to be attached to a movie title next? Who knows, perhaps IT will open the door for various horror movie monsters to get their own VR worlds.

Honestly, who wouldn't want to feel the thrills and chills of Freddy Krueger chasing them down with his razor tipped fingers. Or, who wouldn't want to run through Camp Crystal Lake as Jason casually stalks them from behind? Both of those worlds would be great in themselves, and that could just be the start. Hopefully, IT does set the bar for horror movie experiences, because we need more innovations like the IT: FLOAT Cinematic VR Experience out there keeping fans interested in the horror genre. Without it, the genre is doomed, and not the horror kind of doomed.