Eli Roth Steps Into VR with Latest Horror Series The Faceless Lady

Virtual reality has promised to immerse its users into the story in a very real way, and for those who want to live through a horror film, Eli Roth is ready to give you your chance with The Faceless Lady.

Produced in part by Roth, Crypt TV, ShinAwiL, and Meta, the six-episode series is written by Jerome Velinsky and directed by John William Ross and will debut April 4, 2024, in Meta Horizon Worlds.

The story asks the viewer to step inside Kilolc castle, a magnificent stone fortress deep in the Irish countryside and home to the infamous Faceless Lady, a tragic spirit doomed to walk the crumbling manor for eternity. But her story is far from over, as three young couples are about to discover. Drawn to the castle by its mysterious owner, they have come to compete in historic games. The winner shall inherit Kilolc Castle, and all that lies within it… both the living, and the dead.

The storyline is inspired by the real 17th century Irish folklore of Lady Margaret Hodnett, who is said to haunt Cork’s Belvelly Castle by stalking visitors through mirrors and reflective surfaces. The Faceless Lady has been adapted for modern day with a supernatural twist.

“Partnering with Meta on VR originals has been an incredible experience, and I can’t wait for fans to enjoy VR horror in series form with The Faceless Lady. Seeing the reaction to Trick-VR-Treat and Be Mine showed what an appetite genre fans have for this medium and how VR users are experiencing horror through the headset,” Roth said. “A VR horror episodic series will scare viewers in a way this medium has never seen before.”

“We’re calling this XR Television,” Darren Brandl, executive producer for Crypt TV, said. “For the first time ever, we can now produce live-action XR TV shows that look like no live action scripted content before it. Bigger than a movie screen, or even Imax, the canvas is massive, it is head-to-toe, side-to-side, and in 3D, there’s real depth, you can touch the action, the sound is spatial, you are in the scene. This is a big moment for XR. The tech has finally caught up to the promise of the premise and we hope fans will love it.”

“The Faceless Lady redefines the horror genre by allowing viewers to experience the series in stereoscopic VR, creating an unparalleled sense of presence and pushing the boundaries of how we perceive and engage with frightening tales,” Sarah Malkin, director of Metaverse entertainment content at Meta, said. “We’re excited to feature this first-of-its-kind 3D VR horror series from Eli Roth and Crypt TV and can’t wait for audiences to immerse themselves in this chilling narrative and groundbreaking technology.”

It looks like the future of horror entertainment is here, and you can subscribe to the series now.