A group of video gamers play the latest virtual reality video game only to discover things aren’t quite as simulated as they are led to believe. Check out the new trailer for The Call Up and read on to learn more.
Gaming in movies is slowly becoming the next big thing in cinema, with video game adaptations poised to be the next superhero trend when that bubble bursts. In this burgeoning genre, virtual reality is a hot topic, dating back to 1992’s Lawnmower Man as the kickstarter. Gerard Butler‘s Gamer in 2009 was perhaps the last big budget attempt to give the theme a go, though not to much success. Now we have The Call Up, an indie film that follows a group of young gamers, who are some of the best ‘shooter’ gamers in the world, invited to try the newest state-of-the-art virtual reality game. Donning suits and hi-tech masks and equipped with replica weapons, they are immersed into an ultra-realistic rendering a some very familiar video games levels. It’s truly next gen stuff and the players are blown away. Soon though, that becomes literal.
Written and directed by Charles Barker, in his debut, The Call Up is a low budget entry with a big budget look. It has a fairly obvious plot, but seems to handle it well and has a great look to the production. A nice mix of very convincing visual effects and setting, the success of this will depend on the young, mostly unknown cast.
With virtual reality in gaming becoming the ultimate experience and one many companies are trying to master in the real world, it’s prime time again to have this be the focus of a movie. The action/thriller The Call Up might just be a fun experiment into where the future of the tech could be headed, with a warning of how things could go wrong.
The Call Up is coming soon.
Director:
Charles Barker
Writer:
Charles Barker
Stars:
Morfydd Clark, Chris Obi, Parker Sawyers, Dino Fazzani, Max Deacon, Tom Benedict Knight