First Ever iPhone Shot Feature 'Hooked Up' Boasts Interesting Ideas
Hooked Up is the first ever feature length movie to be made entirely on an Apple iPhone. An impressive feat for this fairly entertaining horror flick.
The plot line of this movie is pretty straightforward: After one breaks up with girlfriend, two American men go out for a wild night of partying in Barcelona, Spain. They are initially excited when two women invite them back to their house, but they find trouble in the form of a killer ghost who locks them in and attacks them.
As horror movies go, this is an admirably woven blend of concepts that seem to find a hard time breaking away from stereotypical found footage genre. You have to take these movies on face value: once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. However, there is a definite macabre sensibility that echoes through the aesthetic, but its shopworn story line succumbs to its one dimensional visual approach to delivering its tale unappealingly.
The hardest element of the movie that I struggled to overcome most was the two main characters' willingness to continue filming the horrific moments they are enduring. In reality, who would whip out their mobile phone and begin filming, or persist in documenting the events that are endangering your life? Surely your first priority would be to get yourself away as fast as possible? But this isn't just the fault of Hooked Up. Many of the found footage movies feature this trend. It's tough artistically to break from the style, and not be dragged down the same route of being compared in the same light as other similar themed movies. Its a genre that struggles to spurn out original concepts, finding it hard to express itself creatively when almost all are told entirely from a point of view aspect.
However, Hooked Up does bolster some interesting ideas. It works as a inventive piece, and it should be seen as a encouraging example for any aspiring independent filmmaker. For its weak narrative, and often nauseating performances, Hooked Up proves it can be done. You can go out and make a feature film with your iPhone and a plausible idea. It's not an impossible task anymore, and that's an exciting prospect any filmmaker should be salivating over.
