You don't see Secret Cinema advertised anywhere. You don't know what film will be screened. You don't even know where it's going to be held. You just have to meet at a secret location and tell no-one what you've seen.
Yet its latest production took over half a million pounds in ticket pre-order sales before it even opened on 1 June. So what makes it so special?
Secret Cinema's latest production, its 18th in total since 2007, is physically its largest ever: just under 20,000 square metres of office complex has been given a dystopian makeover by a team of 160 people, transforming it from a pile of bricks, concrete and loading bays into a supposedly-habitable facility of the future.
30,000 people are expected to visit over the course of its June run in central London and -- as with all Secret Cinema events -- this transformation will involve interactive set pieces, staged laboratories, outdoor scientific endeavours, actors that mysteriously appear around you to take on roles from the film, and a decent helping of beer. The audience wears the same costumes as the actors, so no-one knows who's an actor and who isn't.
The darkness
The event has a dark feel, figuratively and literally -- you'll navigate floors of sparse, dimly-lit corridors, room after room of unusual installations, research labs, terminals and interactive environments inspired by the film. Smoky, sports-hall-sized garages contain life-sized vehicles and props to investigate, and all are backed up by sound pumped from an enormous audio system.
Certain areas are more vibrant than others, however. Within one of the bars, dozens of sweet-smelling flowers hang from a roof to form a ceiling with an overpowering aroma. Once you reach the bar itself, complete with its actors serving drinks and fellow cinema-goers in costume, you're surrounded by metallic grey walls and bright white panels of light that illuminate the flowers overhead.
Then you sip a blue cocktail, have a sit down, maybe reflect on how weird your evening has become.
Elsewhere, a large restaurant exists to seat a couple of hundred people or so, sells food and drink, and serves as a sufficient resting place from the sensory overload that's thrusting away behind you. It was here, when I attended the opening night, that an emergency klaxon erupted in tandem with an explosion of red lights, and we were "evacuated" by actors to safety -- it was 9pm and finally the film was about to be screened.
Then you breathe, enjoy a movie, and leave at 11pm feeling like you're ready to get back to reality.
The result is as impressive and immersive as past productions, though notably altered in character: its scale is so vast and so cut off from the outside world, spanning many physical levels of the building it's set within, that seeing everything is challenging in one evening. Maps on walls help you get around, but a themed smartphone app could have enriched the experience even more.
Past productions, such as Blade Runner, felt like each explorable room or decorative set piece was closing in on you, competing for attention in a limited space. June's event, conversely, is far more widely-dispersed and encourages heavy exploration, not strategic time-management. You can, again literally and figuratively, lose yourself exploring the gargantuan maze of corridors, chambers and building levels. It's up to you to decide whether a blind wander is better than knowing you've seen everything there is to be seen.
Regardless, it's a unique way to spend five hours of a London evening.
Future cinema
Despite having created 17 of these events over the last five years, Secret Cinema founder and creative director, Fabien Riggall, has high hopes for what this show will deliver. "I believe this is the one that is going to potentially define a new format in cinema," he told Wired.co.uk, "Which is that you can watch a film in Imax in 3D or you can live the film. "I really believe that in the future, all big films could be seen in this way, that cinema becomes more social, more magical, more of an experience than what's currently on offer."
Although entirely an independent production, the director of the film that the event is based on is supportive. "[The director] knows about what we do and is actually doing a video introduction as part of this event," says Riggall. "He's seen what we did with
[his previous work] and believes and trusts that we're not going to do anything that he's going to be unhappy with. "He could've said 'I'm nervous', but we've built a relationship with the studio and it's a positive one. They trust us, and that was part of the challenge [of creating this event]."
Curious film fans have the whole of June to explore Secret Cinema, more details for which can be found on its website.
Editor's note: You may have noticed we haven't mentioned what film is being shown at Secret Cinema. This is deliberate so as to not spoil the surprise until the event is over.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
