From the director of The House of the Devil, X, Pearl, MaXXXine, Apple Immersive’s first horror film, Remnants, is available in the Apple TV app starting at 6pm PT today.

The approximately 24-minute experience (27 minutes, including credits) invites you into the story that takes place in 19th-century London, to both witness and feel what it is like to be haunted. 

Remnants is a beautifully shot live-action ghost story. The limits of what you can see in its 180-degree immersive video and use of some traditional film techniques actually make the experience feel more unnerving.

The Remnants experience does not give you a role in the story. You are invited back in time to witness what takes place. With no character to embody, West presents a wide range of views for you to take in, from extreme close-up moments with the characters, to bird’s-eye views of inside and outside the castle. The range of shot choices feels similar to a traditional film. 

During the slower introductory scene ahead of the visit to the haunted castle, the angles and quick cuts between the dialogue place more emphasis on the filmmaker than the ability to feel present with the characters and the story. But as the eerie experience unfolds, the selected perspectives start to feel intentionally unsettling. You are not able to choose where you appear or what you hear or are faced with within the 180-degree views. You are trapped in a slightly different way than the main character, Eleanor. The direction is a clever method to reduce the sense of control that you have in an experience that is already not interactive.

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