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'Haunting Melissa' App Brings Episodic Movie Exclusively to iPhone and iPad

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hauntingmelissaHaunting Melissa, from Hooked Media Digital and "The Ring" producer Neil Edelstein, is an app that aims to deliver movies on mobile devices in an entirely new way.

Much like a TV show on iTunes, the film is broken up into segments that can be unlocked by sharing a user's viewing experience on Facebook, purchasing each episode within the app for $1.99 or paying $6.99 to $14.99 for the entire film. In an interview with Bloomberg, Edelstein declined to comment on how many episodes would be available.

Edelstein also said that Hooked Media Digital wanted to find a way to present movies and TV on mobile devices as studios have struggled to account for the rise of mobile video.

"The way stories are consumed has changed, so we set out to alter how stories are told," said Neal Edelstein, founder of Hooked Digital Media, in an interview. "It's terrifying to studios the drain that these devices have placed on the industry, so we have to find a new way to harness them."

Although the film could have been released in Apple's iTunes Store, providing it through an app gives Hooked Digital Media greater control over the way the content is delivered. It also gives the studio the ability to add additional story elements at any time, providing users with a unique film viewing experience. In 2011, "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola experimented with similar technology in theaters.


Haunting Melissa is a universal app that is available for free in the App Store. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

167 months ago
"silent...silent...silent...SUDDENLY LOUD DRUMS AND VIOLIN STRINGS....NOISES OF JET ENGINES RISING....OFF KEY PIANO PLAYING...SCREAMING...silent...silent...silent..." -every horror movie in the past 10 years
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Compile 'em all Avatar
167 months ago
Someone needs to give horror movie genre a kick in the pants, by making a horror movie that doesn't look like what horror movies have come to look like.

Have you watched The Cabin in the Woods?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0098386 Avatar
167 months ago
Because I love watching such engrossing and atmospheric films on my iOS devices, when I have a 55" Bravia, Bluray player and 5.1 system.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
167 months ago
Someone needs to give horror movie genre a kick in the pants, by making a horror movie that doesn't look like what horror movies have come to look like.


...a character that's a sociopath, who just casually, effortlessly kills with complete indifference, in locations and scenes where you'd never expect to see such a thing happen, without reason, without being a comicky caricature of evil villainy, would be truly scary.

Like Dexter?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
167 months ago
Sort of... But even Dexter is very methodical and very much "into" his killing, and endears & makes the audience feel safe because he only goes after other villains.

Remove those aspects, someone who just kills randomly, indiscriminately, broad daylight, city streets, you name it, because the opportunity presents itself and the idea strikes them, without any provocation or ideology or motive to figure out and track. Just, an unassuming character who wanders through the world at ease, leaving eddies of chaos in their wake because they can and it means absolutely nothing but a moments enjoyment to them.

Haven't seen cabin in the woods. I sort of lost interest in the horror genre when it all turned into supernatural quackery and shaky cameras in the dark and the aforementioned soundtracks.

The war scene in the beethoven bio "Immortal Beloved" was more horrific than any of that. ...and a pretty great movie too.

You really should see Cabin in the Woods.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
167 months ago
That works out as an expensive "movie"


My thought as well when I saw the $14.99 price mentioned. Really? $15 to watch a film on my ipad? Pass.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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