As if Haunting Melissa wasn't creepy enough, her story continues in Hooked Digital Media's Dark Hearts. The horror of Melissa's disappearance comes as a chaptered story that you unlock piece by piece. The Haunting Melissa series was conceived, directed, and produced by Neal Edelstein, who produced movies such as The Ring 2 and Mulholland Drive, and the story was written by Andrew Klavan of True Crime and Don’t Say A Word, so you know you're getting some pretty quality horror here.
If you haven't played Haunting Melissa yet, check it out so you can get the full story of where the series started. Then creep yourself out all over again with Dark Hearts.
You can download both Dark Hearts and Haunting Melissa for free on the App Store.
Hooked Digital Media, the production company that brought us Haunting Melissa, has announced that principal photography for Haunting Melissa 2 has begun. The story picks right back up one month after Melissa’s disappearance. Like the original, Haunting Melissa 2 will use Dynamic Story Elements (DSE) that can change the story upon repeat viewing, making each time you play all the more horrifying. The game will be released exclusively on Apple’s new iOS8 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
The original Haunting Melissa was the brain child of director Neal Edelstein, who produced “The Ring,” “The Ring 2,” and “Mulholland Drive,” and was written by Andrew Klavan who penned “True Crime” and “Don’t Say A Word”. They have returned with a a cast of talented actors to make Haunting Melissa 2 disturb the pants off us all over again.
If you haven't checked out the original game you can pick it up in the App Store for free.
Haunting Melissa is one of the App Store’s spookiest offerings, and yet there’s also a surprising amount of interesting technology behind it. For the unfamiliar it’s essentially an episodic ghost story about a young girl who has disappeared shortly after claiming some sort of apparition had appeared in her home. But it’s also more than that: updates don’t appear on a regular schedule, episode length can vary greatly, and many episodes will actually change slightly (different camera angles, new background details, etc) when viewed multiple times.
Neal Edelstein on the set of Haunting Melissa - Image Credit: Shaun Robinson via IMDb
Neal Edelstein (Haunting Melissa's director) and the rest of the team wanted to create a new way to tell stories right from the beginning. While it’s a passive and linear experience overall, those dynamic story elements I’ve mentioned - along with the “mystery schedule” and a clever use of push notifications - really set it apart from other traditional stories. And it’s not finished evolving, either. Edelstein has been keeping an eye on the ever-changing state of iOS and adjusting the app accordingly by jumping on iOS 7 features such as automatic background downloads. He’s been considering other ways to help spread the story around as well; Facebook and other forms of social media are currently being considered.
User feedback has also been instrumental in helping him decide what to do with a sequel. Yes, that’s right, there’s going to be a sequel that should be coming out sometime this fall. We don't have any more details than that at the moment, unfortunately, but it's definitely something to keep an eye out for. What’s more, the technology behind Haunting Melissa has attracted the attention of other filmmakers and talent (including some big names in the industry that aren’t being divulged just yet). Edelstein and co. are already working on other stories that are separate from Haunting Melissa but use the same software and structure, and there’s little doubt that even more projects will be popping up in the future. Not just horror-themed work, either. Comedies, thrillers, sports - pretty much anything is fair game.
These are exciting prospects, and it’s easy to see why other filmmakers would want to jump on board. I mean this is essentially a system that would let them have complete and total control over their work. No studio involvement whatsoever. Of course only time will tell how this all pans out, but the possibilities and the technology behind it are incredibly exciting! In the mean time you can check out Haunting Melissa now and see it all for yourself.
Haunting Melissa, from the producer of The Ring and Mulholland Drive, is a mysterious ghost story that changes the way stories are told. Neal Edelstein, who is a vetern storyteller, has reinvented film making by bringing episodic content to the App Store, through this app. Haunting Melissa offers mystery and intrigue as the story is told in unpredictable ways that will maximize your anticipation, never knowing when the next piece of the story will come or how long it will be.
In a press release, Neal Edelstein said, “The amazing technology contained in the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has allowed us to present stories in a dramatically different way. The technology supports story first and foremost. As viewers move further into Melissa’s world, they will understand why this new app technology will change distribution forever,”
