Sickhouse

Sickhouse is a 2016 thriller that was written and directed by Hannah Macpherson and starring YouTube personality Andrea Russett. The film was initially released between April 29 and May 3, 2016 on the instant image messaging mobile app Snapchat via Russett's account in one to ten second increments in the mobile 9:16 vertical orientation. On June 1, 2016 the film's production company, Indigenous Media, released a 68-minute full length version was released to VOD. This version of Sickhouse utilized the clips released to Snapchat, which made up the bulk of the film, as well as new, additional material. The film's plot centers around Russett, who ventures to a supposedly haunted cabin named "Sickhouse" with her fictitious cousin, and two social media addicts, in an attempt to investigate its lore. The actors for Sickhouse improvised most of their dialogue as the movie was filmed in real-time on Snapchat. Since the movie's release Sickhouse has been compared to the 2014 horror movie Unfriended, for its usage of social media as a storytelling technique, and the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project, for its similar premise. Due to the film's popularity online, a sequel to the film was greenlit in July 2016.