Yahoo Lifestyle 17 Moments In “Latency” That Will Make You Want To Log Off And Go Outside To Touch Grass
First of all, if you haven't seen Latency and you would like a preview of how terrifying gaming could get in the near future, go watch it wherever you rent or buy movies.
As a refresher, Hana, played by Sasha Luss, gets a hold of an electro-encephalography device that uses neuro-imaging to read her thoughts before she’s even aware of them. It can tap into every other connected device in her home and she's going to use it as a video game controller. But then the device starts to control her thoughts and the line between reality and horror is blurred.
***THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS AHEAD BUT NOTHING MAJOR***
Personally, I was like this for most of the movie, wondering why someone would put themselves through what Hana did in the name of winning a tournament:
Hana has agoraphobia, so going outside isn't an option for her. But I was filled with the urge to just shut off all of my devices and walk outside to not only touch, but perhaps roll around in, grass. I wanted this so badly for her as well.
1.But let's get into it. The first time we start to question whether any of this is a good idea is when Hana cuts herself as part of the "pain" onboarding process for the OMNIA device.
At this point the device is already playing with her head because there's someone in the apartment behind her, I'm sure of it. And it's not Jen.
2.Yes, here is some simple screen brightening to prove there is definitely someone behind her:
The way I would be pulling that device off my head so quickly.
3.A demonic hand enters from stage left and grabs a ball off the bed that Hana and her best friend, Jen, were playing with earlier.
Whose hand? We do not know. We don't even know if Hana notices this. Jen is nowhere to be seen.
4.And then the ball rolls across the living room floor.
5.Hana uses the power of her mind and some VR glasses to turn the ball into a bird. This is the closest we will get to nature for the rest of the film, so embrace it.
Of course, it's not a real bird, because nothing is real anymore.
6.And then this hand, which it seems we cannot escape, pushes through the monitor for a face-grab.
At this point any reasonable person would log off, right?
7.Back inside, tiles start emerging from the walls...
8....but Hana is so immersed in another game that she doesn't notice the very materials that hold her apartment together floating in the air around her.
9.Hana somehow gets locked out of her apartment. For the average person, it might be a tolerable annoyance, but because Hana has acute agoraphobia, this is a terrifying experience for her.
10.This screaming entity appears in the hallway again:
11.Hana ends up winning the tournament. "Great!" we collectively think. Now would be a great time for Hana to take several breaths, drink a glass of water, open the curtains, get some sun on her vitamin D-deprived face.
12.Instead we get... maggots? Were those maggots in the takeout?
At this point I blacked out and couldn't tell.
13.Hana knows something is off now, and removes the OMNIA device...only she doesn't, because it now cannot be removed.
There is no going back to reality now.
14.Something unspeakably horrible happens in the bathroom.
But does it? Or is this not reality? At this point we don't know.
15.She confronts this horrific version of herself...
16....and is chased through the hallway...
17....only to end up on the rooftop in the rain. Alone, terrified, and a long way from grass.
I won't give away the very ending here but it had me questioning everything — I'm still processing what it all meant. Go watch Latency if you haven't already. I think it's a good reminder of why we should be careful about where we let technology take us.
