The Blackout Experiments

Director: Rich Fox

Institute History

  • 2016 Sundance Film Festival

Description

You arrive at a secret location at a precise time, prompted by a mysterious email. You must follow the instructions closely. Once inside, disturbing visions begin. Unspeakable acts befall you—often frightening, sometimes sensual, possibly painful—each stimulating your deepest fears. And when it's over, you are changed, abandoned, and left wondering what is real and what was merely a game.

In a culture that has embraced immersive theatre and interactive entertainment, the rise of extreme haunts such as the popular horror experience called Blackout has become essential to an obsessive audience that hungers to test the very limits of the dark unknown. Rich Fox's otherworldly narrative-driven documentary shrewdly seeks out the survivors of some of Blackout's most intense simulations, revealing an underbelly of private rituals and personal paranoia. Obliterating the line between the real and the imagined, this hybrid experiment dares its victims to stare into the hidden pleasures of a waking nightmare, and then it stares right back.

— Landon Zakheim

Screening Details

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]