Eli Roth Presents ‘The Faceless Lady,’ Debuting Tonight in Meta Horizon Worlds

Deep in the Irish countryside stands Kilolc Castle, a magnificent stone fortress where things aren’t always what they seem. Invited by its mysterious owner, three young couples arrive, ready to take on a series of historic games as they compete to win the castle. Little do they know that a tragic spirit is doomed to walk the crumbling manor for eternity—and that far more than real estate is on the line.

So goes the premise of The Faceless Lady, a new six-episode stereoscopic 3D VR horror series from Eli Roth, Crypt TV, and ShinAwiL, debuting tonight at 5:00 pm PT in Meta Horizon Worlds.

Written by Jerome Velinsky and directed by John William Ross, The Faceless Lady draws its inspiration from Irish folklore and the legend of Lady Margaret Hodnett, who’s said to haunt Belvelly Castle in County Cork. Roth’s third foray into VR horror, its six times longer than its predecessors, Trick-VR-Treat and Be Mine. You can binge the first two episodes tonight starting at 5:00 pm PT, and new episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays. Subscribe to the event series so you don’t miss a beat.

We sat down with Roth to learn more about The Faceless Lady and get his unique take on VR horror.

Eli Roth: It was actually a suggestion from Meta. They had a very clear understanding of what type of programming works well for the metaverse, and we were more than up for the challenge. I had been thinking of VR horror storytelling in 30-minute stories because when we did Trick-VR-Treat and Be Mine that was how Worlds programming was working. But Meta said to us that for the next one they wanted to do a serialized story, and we were thrilled. I loved the idea of doing it in six parts, in 22-minute episodes. It really allowed us to go deeper with the story and character and create more scares. But we also knew if we were going to up the ante in episodes, we had to bring up the visual level so it looked nothing short of spectacular, which I am thrilled to say it does.

ER: Our writer Jerome Velinsky brought us a take we loved and director John William Ross along with a creative producer Trent Atkinson really helped shape it all the way through production. It was a fantastic piece of folklore, one that’s not incredibly well known, but enough for them to write a story around. I also loved the idea of going back and forth in time. When the film opens in the 1620s and you’re right there, it’s breathtaking. You just get immersed in this siege right away—it’s like being inside Game of Thrones or something. It’s a wild sensation. The 3D is so strong, and shooting on the Red with the Canon Fisheye lenses is so clear. I’ve never seen resolution this sharp in VR storytelling.

ER: A competition works as a great framing device, where the people know something’s off but it’s worse to not compete. They realize very quickly that the competition is real but the elimination is more than they bargained for. I love when there are a series of games and each time the bell chimes a new game begins and it seems worse than the last one. It gave John Ross a way to have every episode look and feel different. The maze episode in particular is visually spectacular because I’ve never been in a story where you truly feel what it’s like to be lost in a hedge maze with danger all around you. But then there’s the underground tunnels and you feel the claustrophobia. Without giving too much away, I just loved how the competition gave you a really good way to explore different wings of the castle and different types of scares and kills.

ER: We had worked with them from Crypt TV, and they are fantastic. What I love about Jerome and John is that they truly embraced the challenge of telling a story in VR and wanted to raise the bar and make something better and scarier than anyone had ever done before in the medium, and I truly believe they achieved that. I tried it with Trick-VR-Treat, and then with Adam MacDonald, we innovated further with Be Mine, but Matt Celia at Lightsail and I wanted to shoot those in stereoscopic VR but never had the time to do so. With The Faceless Lady, we finally felt like the technology was at the level of the ambition and Jerome and Matt and the whole cast and crew just absolutely dove in and went for it with every single shot. The whole piece is so well thought out, and as a viewer I finally got to get scared by a VR short. Even knowing the scripts and seeing the footage as it was being shot, I got scared watching the final episodes. They just did a magnificent job.

ER: I have. I think it’s fantastic. It feels like we are in year one of what this world can truly be. As the technology evolves and the storytelling grows, I can’t wait to see where this leads. It’s already so exciting, and my goal is always to innovate and push the technology further. I want people to say, hands-down, this is the best horror VR experience I have ever seen.

ER: I love appointment viewing. I think it creates an excitement within the community and gives people a chance to really digest what they’ve seen and get hungry for more. There are people who will want to witness it first and they get those bragging rights, and then everyone else can catch up in their own time. But with horror, you don’t want things spoiled, so you always want to see it as soon as possible. But with this medium, I believe no matter what people describe, nothing can explain what it’s like to watch it in a headset. It really feels like you’re right there in the room with these characters in a way I have never seen before. You can only get this experience by actually being in a headset.

ER: I want people to know that the potential for storytelling has just been blown open in a way that has never been possible before. If you’re a storyteller, you can now write for VR in a way you couldn’t before. If you’re a director, suddenly there’s a world of possibilities available for what you can shoot. What Meta has created is nothing short of remarkable, and I’m thankful they’re funding creators to create programming like this.

ER: Yes—don’t miss it in-headset, and tell me what you think on Instagram @realeliroth!