Over the course of five days, April 29th through May 3rd, Snapchat users were able to follow a horror story in real time through videos uploaded to the accounts of "digital influencers" Andrea Russett and Sean O'Donnell. All of the videos that played out on Snapchat have now been compiled (with "substantial additional footage) into a 68 minute feature film called SICKHOUSE.
Written and directed by Hannah Macpherson, SICKHOUSE has the following synopsis:
A group of teenagers film a live documentary on the Sickhouse legend to millions around the world.
I don't know a thing about Snapchat, but the trailer for SICKHOUSE can be seen below and it appears to be a typical found footage horror movie, the image just takes up less of the screen.
SICKHOUSE comes to us from Indigenous Media, and co-founder Jake Avnet had this to say about the idea of using Snapchat as a storytelling device:
Younger audiences are not going to the theaters; they’re not watching TV. They spend their time online watching YouTube, Snapchat, etc. Since this is where these audiences live, why should we try to force them to go elsewhere to watch a movie or show?"
SICKHOUSE can now be viewed in its entirety on Vimeo On Demand.