Millions of moviegoers were terrified by the haunting film “The Ring.” And if you are a horror movie junkie like I am, you should be equal parts terrified and ecstatic about a recent announcement from the award-winning independent producer who created that film. Neal Edelstein has formed Hooked Digital Media to deliver horror to your handset, and iPhone owners can download the original movie “Haunting Melissa” beginning Thursday, May 16. The first of many movies to be offered on the iPhone for free, Edelstein is now delivering independent films to your phone.
The creator of such films as “Mulholland Drive” and “The Straight Story,” Edelstein told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column that he has always wanted to tell a good horror story on the iPhone or iPad. However, he wanted to make it unpredictable, so the company’s new platform of delivery is going to shake up the way you view movies on your iPhone. “Haunting Melissa” is a story which is told in pieces when you download the free application. However, you only get the first chapter initially, and you are not told when new installments will arrive.
The second chapter may surprise you in the middle of a business meeting, and then you may have to wait another week for the next piece. Some chapters will be 20 minutes long, and some are terrifyingly short 2 minute pieces. Edelstein said that the whole idea behind suspense and horror films is to build tension and offer unexpected twists and turns, and he wanted his new company’s movie delivery to operate in the same way.
“Haunting Melissa” is offered on a disjointed schedule because its theme plays out, according to its producer, much the same way with what is happening to its main character. Melissa lives alone in a decrepit farmhouse. Her father leaves her when her mother dies, and soon after Melissa begins to hear strange noises. You will have to download the application and initial chapter to learn more, and if you go back to view previous chapters, different pieces of footage and storylines are revealed.
The application and first movie are available for download on your iPhone, and the most recent Apple handset is available from all major retailers in the United States. You may recall the iPhone 5 is the first iteration of that iconic smartphone to deliver a large 4.0 inch screen, and Apple has said that the A6 system chip is twice as powerful as the one powering the iPhone 4S. A dual core 1.3 GHz Apple Swift CPU and triple core PowerVR SGX543MP3 graphics processor join a high-end resolution of 640 x 1,136 pixels to ensure that watching “Haunting Melissa” on your iPhone 5 will be a realistically terrifying experience.
