FEARnet, Sony Launch Shocker Web Series
Horror-oriented, video-on-demand channel FEARnet today launches a new daily Web series designed to keep visitors coming back to the FEARnet site through mid-December.
“Buried Alive” centers around a group of apparently random, 20-something victims, who have been abducted and interred in custom-made coffins by an evil antagonist. They must discover the connections among them, the reasons for their imprisonment, and the keys to escape. Luckily, they have two above-ground friends working to free them before their oxygen runs out. Web visitors can help the pair do that by using clues in the episodes to surf around the Internet and uncover video footage and hidden diaries.
Distributed by Sony Pictures Television, the “Buried Alive” series takes places in two-minute daily episodes at http://www.fearnet.com. The FEARnet on-demand channel is a joint venture among Comcast, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate.
“What makes ‘Buried Alive’ so distinctive is that it is truly an immersive, interactive multi-platform programming event,” FEARnet president Diane Robina said, in a statement. “Characters and clues have a presence online in some of the most unexpected places. From cell phones to YouTube and entertainment sites, clues are waiting to be discovered.”
Last Wednesday FEARnet launched an interactive “Buried Alive” widget that adds to viewers’ engagement with the series by offering “buried videos” not found on the main site, showcasing the characters’ kidnappings and offering useful backstory. The widget also offers a promotional trailer for the show, the first two episodes prior to their premiere on FEARnet, bios of the victims, and a “Coffin Cam” look at their cramped underground prisons.
FEARnet has used the short-form Web series before. “30 Days of Night: Blood Trails” was a seven-episode Web program to accompany the release last month of the “30 Days of Night” horror film, based on a popular graphic novel. That and another short Web series, “Devil’s Trade”, each attracted more than 2 million online views to the FEARnet site, the company said.
