7 VR Movies and Videos To Watch
You can use virtual reality to enhance your gaming, your learning or your job, and you can also kick back and relax with VR, with more short films and experimental videos to watch every year.
While you don’t need a VR headset to enjoy a VR movie—you can usually rig something up with your phone—a headset offers the best experience. If you need help picking a VR headset, check out our guide for finding the best VR headset for you.
What kinds of VR can you watch?
There are two basic kinds of VR for movies and other video. First, there’s VR movies that put you in a virtual theater—that is, instead of putting you in the center of the action, they allow you to inhabit a lobby and watch on a giant screen. Some VR video apps allow you to watch with friends remotely and all be in the same virtual room together.
For the virtual theater, Wired has a great guide on how to watch movies in VR. The short version is: Download a streaming app like Prime Video or Netflix to your headset, then pick a film and watch it, just like you usually do. For streaming services without apps, like HBO Max, you can use a VR browser like Firefox Reality to navigate to the content like you would on a computer. It’s also possible in some cases to download VR movies to your headset, or to your computer and then transfer them.
Second, there’s the intriguing 360º world VR. The list below focuses on these types of immersive videos.
Note that hours of VR can be taxing, especially as some headsets are heavy, so items on this list are shorter, offering quick escapes, immersive learning or breathtaking exploration.
“Gloomy Eyes,” featuring narrator Colin Farrell, is a Sundance selection in VR Animation and has a charming “Nightmare Before Christmas”–like visual style. The three-episode series is available on Steam for popular headsets like the Rift, Vive and Valve Index. Viewers laud the clever scene transitions and charming storyline in this tale of finding love in the apocalypse.
Ready to combine a live interactive experience with VR? This is an amazing tour of space in a museum-like installation, where you can experience a liftoff, spacewalk and more, plus a 35-minute VR tour of the International Space Station. The Infinite is a ticketed event. Check to see if it’s coming to a city near you. The Infinite Experience provides the Oculus—just bring your penchant for exploration.
Felix & Paul Studios, producers of The Infinite (above), specializes in immersive content, especially VR. Take a look through their site to find VR movies for Oculus/Meta Quest products and other platforms. The studio’s portfolio includes collaborations with big names like the Obamas and LeBron James; experiences related to films like “Jurassic World” and “Isle of Dogs“; and a selection of original immersive content like “Gymnasia,” a TriBeCa film festival selection, and The Confessional, a series of interviews between comedians available on YouTube.
Sometimes you don’t need a plot—just vibes. The AirPano VR channel posts all sorts of great high-quality 360º VR videos on YouTube, including this stunner of Armenian landscapes. The video features relaxing music and awe-inspiring scenery to explore, including meadows, plains and mountains. Explore the globe through other adventure videos, including Shanghai, Rio and diving with great white sharks!
Looking for something spooky? Warner Bros’ short VR companion to horror film “It” delivers chills and thrills in equal measure. Explore Pennywise the Clown’s world in the sewers of Derry, Maine—in full 360º immersion. After you take in the VR experience, catch the full film on your headset by using the Netflix app or accessing HBO Max via Firefox Reality.
John Hull lost his sense of sight and recorded his experiences on cassette tapes in the 1980s. In 2016, “Notes on Blindness,” an emotional VR experience using Hull’s recorded audio premiered at Sundance to rave reviews. Its minimal animation style and the raw content of the recordings are powerful—and can be experienced on Oculus, Google Cardboard or iOS.
“Home After War” is Gayatri Parameswaran’s documentary chronicling Ahmaied Hamad Khalaf’s return to post-occupation Fallujah, Iraq. Parameswaran advises viewer discretion, as the gripping subject matter is also heavy. An NYC Independent Film Festival and South By Southwest festival selection, “Home After War” is available on Oculus.
Bonus: Scope out film festivals
Many film festivals feature exciting new works from up-and-coming VR creators. Check out the TriBeCa Film Festival for free VR content to watch when the festival rolls around again. The 2022 festival featured “Skin & Bone,” a short thriller starring Amanda Seyfried, and almost two dozen other titles. The Catalyst Content Festival in Minnesota recently added VR and AR categories, demonstrating momentum for this medium.
A connection that can keep up
Of course, streaming VR content uses a ton of bandwidth, so you want to have a great internet connection, preferably fiber. Some of these videos are in 8K, meaning fast, stable service is key to watching VR movies. Immerse yourself!
Frontier Fiber makes your streaming more entertaining
You want to see and hear every minute of that show, movie, concert and sporting event, right? Then you want the connection that only fiber gives you. Reliable, smooth, with plenty of bandwidth to go around. Learn about the advantages of Frontier Fiber. Then check here to see when it’s available at your address.
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