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The Second Screen Experience Of ‘App’ – Technological Gimmick Or The Shape Of Cinema To Come?

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Nestled within the classic films and straight-to-video movies in the horror section of Netflix is an interesting little Bobby Boermans-directed Dutch gem from 2013 called App.  What makes App interesting isn’t the movie itself, but the “second screen” technology that the movie uses to immerse the audience in its world.

At the beginning of App, the viewer is told to download an app onto their phone or tablet by texting the word “IRIS” to 97-000 (the app can also be found by searching for IRIS in Android and iPhone App Stores).  Once installed, the Iris App will use the device’s microphone to sync itself up with the movie, and the fun begins.

App (2013)

Hannah Hoekstra and Iris in App (2013).

App is about a young college student named Anna (Hannah Hoekstra) who goes to a party and drinks way too much.  When she wakes up the next morning, there’s a mysterious app on her phone called, you guessed it, Iris.  Similar to the iPhone’s Siri, Iris is a voice activated personal assistant type of program.  At first, Anna finds the app useful, but eventually she notices that the app seems to have a mind of its own.  As the app gets more and more invasive, Anna finds that Iris can’t be deleted from her phone, and even replacing the phone doesn’t get rid of the app.  It’s like Iris is Anna’s virtual stalker.

The film itself is average at best, a well-made thriller without any real shock or awe.  The second screen experience is what makes App fun.  During the course of the movie, the viewer’s phone will vibrate to alert them that there is something going on there.  The second screen content varies; sometimes it will be simply an alternate angle of what’s going on in the movie, other times it will be a text message conversation between two characters – it’s generally little things like that.  The movie is perfectly coherent and watchable without the second screen, but the supplemental content adds a cool dimension to an otherwise mediocre movie.

App (2013)

App (2013)

With technology advancing faster than ever and filmmakers always searching for the next big thing, App is an intriguing idea.  The second screen concept is clearly in its infancy, but App will be considered a highly influential film if it catches on.  It definitely seems to lend itself better to VOD releases, as the constant glow of audience members’ cell phones in a theater while they check the extra content would be downright annoying.  As of now, it’s limited to just being a William Castle-esque gimmick, but who knows?  The potential for coolness is there.  In the hands of the right director, second screen technology could be the wave of the future.

App is streaming now on Netflix.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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