Gloomy Eyes 360° 3D Short Film
• 5-star rating
• Apple, Link, PCVR, Quest
• Short Films
• Comfortable, Stationary
This award winning virtual reality film narrated by Colin Farrell features a great story and a spectacularly intricate and joyous animated art style that will have you back for repeat viewings to appreciate all the little details.
Reminiscent of animations like Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, this animated tale of love between a girl and a zombie boy takes place in a land that the sun has forsaken. Unlike many other virtual reality features, this thirty minute film makes excellent use of the medium as the action whisks the viewer's attention naturally from scene to scene as the story unfolds. Despite the theme of darkness, the colorful tiny models are gleefully animated and inventively lit - they look striking as they dance literally before your eyes. You'll feel like you can reach out and touch the tiny models. Repeat viewings are necessary to soak in all the scenery dressing you missed before, and little details like the tracks the characters make in the snow.
We'd rate this as PG due to its dark themes, a small amount of barely visible flesh-eating and a car with squeaky suspension at a drive-in movie theater. The feature is broken into three parts, which we didn't feel was necessary except that it was helpful since the PCVR version didn't include a pause function. There's no controller based turning option available either, which is unfortunate for mobility challenged folk since you'll be making some gradual 360° rotations to keep up with the action. Thankfully a swivel chair kept us comfortable and fully immersed.
Gloomy Eyes: Behind The Scenes on YouTube
The PCVR and Quest versions appear to be close to equal in quality. We tried some side-by-side screenshot comparisons and couldn't spot any significant difference. Also, due to the darkness that prevails in all scenes, there's definitely an advantage to viewing this on the best possible OLED headsets, though we still had a great time with Meta Quest's LED panels.
✅ Excellent visuals, score and dynamic VR transitions
✅ Fun, well-paced emotional storyline
✅ Great replayability for a 30 minute movie
❌ No rotation control (snap turning)
• YouTube: Behind the scenes
• Languages: English, French, German, Mandarin, Spanish
• Oculus Rift depreciated version: $8.99 at Meta PCVR Store
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