Two brilliant research scientists have invented a device capable of recording and playing back sensory experiences only to have devastating results when one of them records their own death.
Practical Effects
Trumbull's sensory experience sequences — 35 years before VR headsets.
Acting
Louise Fletcher's desperate, tragic turn as the dying scientist.
Production
Natalie Wood's unfinished scenes completed with body doubles and shadow.
Director
Douglas Trumbull
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Douglas Trumbull invented the Showscan process (70mm at 60fps) for this film, but studios balked at the cost — so he shot standard 35mm and the hyper-real 'experience' footage was achieved through optical effects and editing tricks.
Natalie Wood died during a production break in November 1981; the studio nearly scrapped the film, but Trumbull fought to complete it using Wood's sister as a body double and rewriting around her absence. The resulting film became a ghost story in more ways than one.
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