There are many ways people try to escape reality. We turn to books, movies, TV shows, or video games. Some go to the woods, find an escape in nature, get into crafts, or play sports. And there are many reasons people opt to do so: to clear our minds, perhaps get a fresh perspective on things or put something behind us. And, heck, sometimes reality simply becomes too tedious and monotonous. Who wouldn't hop on the opportunity to momentarily break from our everyday routine and experience something novel when artificial alternatives exist that offer more wonder and imagination?
No wonder the premise of "escaping reality" is present in many films, which is somewhat ironic, considering that the film world is fictional as well. It's the "thing inside a thing" concept or recursion, which was actually used in one of the most renowned virtual reality movies, Inception (2010), to portray a dream within a dream.
However, perhaps the first onscreen appearance of virtual reality was Rainer Werner Fassbinder's VR movie World on a Wire (1973). Arguably, the first movie about virtual reality was based on the 1964 Daniel F. Galouye novel "Simulacron-3," which depicts an artificial universe where people erroneously think everything is genuine. 26 years later, in 1999, the book was re-adapted as The Thirteenth Floor, which turned out to be, in our opinion, one of the best works of fiction from the '90s.
It was the '80s and the early '90s when movies about virtual reality began to take off. Tron (1982), one of the earliest VR movies, Total Recall (1990), and The Matrix movies (1999-2003) were the films that made the sub-genre pop and are still talked about to this day. Yet, many more depictions of VR in movies deserve to be seen and played on screens.
Below, we've compiled a list of some of the best virtual reality movies ever made. Let us know what you think of virtual reality and which virtual reality movie is your favorite! And now, buckle up, because you are about to take an exhilarating ride into the world of simulations, where nothing is impossible. Catch you on the flip flop!
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