Horror Movie That Calls for Audience Participation to Hit Theatres

Remember the old Choose Your Own Adventure Series of books? You'd reach a pivotal point in the storyline, and the author would allow you to control what the character does. Turn to page 32 if you want him to agree to the proposed plan, or to page 74 if you want him to say no. Combine this with the interactive nature of today's tech-savvy society, and you'll get this latest innovation in horror flicks.

A horror movie called 13th Street will hit theatres in Germany, and afford audience members, or rather one lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) audience member the chance to interact with the film's main character and change the outcome. Before entering the theatre, each patron gets a flyer that invites him to enter his cell phone number into a database. Then, at a pivotal point in the film, one person will receive the phone call to choose the adventure theatre-goers will partake in. The caller will speak to the on-screen character. "You have to help me!" the scared actress cries out to the patron who's answered her desperate call in the YouTube demo of the film.

The caller hears her heavy breathing as she navigates through a cold, dark basement. "Should I go left or right?," she asks. The movie-watcher dictates his selection (with lots of audience members coaxing him to advise one way or the other), and, via special voice recognition software, the movie continues with the character following his instructions. This, say the producers, results in a different movie every time.

"In regular movies, the viewer's role is always the same," reads the promo video for the flick. "With 13th Street, the horror film becomes an interactive thrill. The viewers play their own part, and are able to communicate with the protagonist."

While it sounds neat, I have a few issues with this. First, it requires that people break one of the cardinal rules of watching a movie in a theatre: turning their cell phones off. Unless everyone is diligent enough to put the devices on vibrate, this could get annoying as other calls come through. Imagine hearing your ringtone go off and excitedly answering the device thinking you're the "chosen one", only to find out that it's mom on the other line wanting to know what time you'll be home for dinner. Whoops, sorry guys. False alarm. Continue on with the film. Third, adding your cell phone number to this database could prove regretful: do you really want to give out your digits to a third-party that may use it for other purposes?

From the theatre's perspective, though, it's smart. Word-of-mouth about the concept could result in more ticket sales as people attend in groups, hoping to be the lucky person that gets to determine the outcome of the film. People may be likely to see the movie more than once as well, in order to see what other possible outcomes there are. What's more, they can't really knock the film once it's over. After all, the audience is the one that controlled the storyline, so the onus is on them to deliver. Right? Finally, collecting all of these valuable customer cell phone numbers? Brilliant.

In theory, the concept is neat, pushing the boundaries of interactivity to a level we've never really seen. We always want to be involved, to feel we have control, and to keep in constant contact with our devices. God forbid we'd have to go 2-hours without pulling out the mobile to check e-mails or answer a text! This way, everyone can keep the gadgets firmly in hand, and have a legitimate excuse for doing so.