Are you one of those assholes who leaves your phone on when you’re in a movie theater? Good news, douche – you could be in control of the next movie you see!
Well, if that movie is LAST CALL. This is a trippy proposition, one that I’m not entirely sure would work, but I won’t pretend it’s not intriguing. The idea came from the German television channel 13 Street, and ad agency Jung von Matt, which apparently wanted to prove that an audience member directing a film’s protagonist – as the film happens – is possible.
It should be noted that it doesn’t seem as though this is a film that will be opening wide, but just a gimmicky promo for the channel. Still, it’s worth chatting about…
Last Call is the first interactive horror movie in the world where the audience is able to communicate with the protagonist. A film controlled by a member of the audience, thus blurring the boundaries between game and film.
Language recognition software transforms the participant’s answers via mobile phone into specific instructions. A specially developed software then processes these commands and launches an appropriate follow-up scene. The dialogue between the movie’s main actress and an audience member leads to a different film – and outcome – every time: sometimes with a happy end, sometimes with a more gruesome one.
To participate in the adventure, audience members submit their mobile phone numbers to a speed dial code when they buy their ticket. The moment the female protagonist takes out her phone to call someone who might be able to help her, the film’s controlling software contacts one of the submitted mobile phone numbers. Once the viewer picks up, he hears the actress’s voice – who tells him she would be lost without him. He has to help her escape by choosing a path through the old, rundown sanatorium. Furthermore, he also decides whether she should help other victims to flee the scene -and every single choice shapes her fate: it’s a matter of life and death.
If you didn’t feel like reading all that, check out the promo trailer below, which explains it just as well. Like I said, if something like this were to really happen, it could be a fun experience. But there’s just too many variables to consider for it to really happen. (For instance, you’d have everyone in the theater answering their phone nonstop.)