Terrarium: Horror Film Shot on Empty Stage Uses AI to Build World
A horror film about four teenagers hiding underground after a disaster was shot on a Hollywood stage with almost nothing on it.
Terrarium, a found-footage-style film, meaning it is shot to look like video recorded by its characters, follows Tim, Devin, Reese and Lila as they shelter below ground after an unspecified catastrophic event, according to Variety. It is written and directed by Jason Zada.
The stage was bare. Variety visited the production at Hollywood’s BLT Studios in September during one of its final days, and reported no props and no Volume-like screens, the giant LED walls often used to project digital backdrops behind actors. Nearly everything except the humans is to be generated later with artificial intelligence.
The cast is Jake Busey, Ace Greene, Kylee Levien and Austin Willard. Greene, Levien and Willard play three of the teenagers alongside the camera itself, which represents the fourth, Lila. Busey appears to play the villain.
The method is being called an AI-hybrid production. About 15 to 20 AI artists will create locations and props around the live actors, keeping human performances at the centre of every shot.
Behind the camera, the structure is lean. Terrarium was announced in May after Amazon’s AI on the Lot event as a co-production between Zada’s Secret Label and Artlist, with Artlist financing the film. Artlist describes it as its first AI-hybrid horror film and says the production uses union-compliant workflows, according to Artlist.
Zada told Variety on the set visit that he aimed to finalise the microbudget film, meaning a film made for very little money, by early October. It was still seeking a distributor at that point. He and the producers declined to disclose its cost, but Zada claims it will look like a 40 million US dollar movie.
Zada’s last feature before this was 2016’s The Forest, which grossed about 40 million US dollars worldwide against a reported 10 million US dollar production budget. Horror producer Steven Schneider, whose credits were detailed by Deadline, is an executive producer on Terrarium.
For viewers, the test will be simple. If the empty stage fills in convincingly, a small team organised around actors and AI tools will have delivered a look usually tied to a far larger budget.
