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As October 31 draws near, Hulu is celebrating with the launch of “Huluween,” part of a new program initiative designed to draw subscribers with a unique way of experiencing television.
The activation combines a short-form six-part anthology series called The House with virtual reality videos, interviews with horror movie stars and creators, and spooky scenes perfect for putting on in the background during a Halloween party. The content is all available for free, and is meant drive new subscriptions by introducing users to Hulu’s growing library of content, according to Adweek
“These short films will ... be a way to engage the audience to say, hey, there’s this really cool stuff happening within the Hulu experience itself,” John S. Couch, Hulu VP of experience design, told the publication. “They are being both used as traditional content within the experience itself, but also as a way to expose the fact that we are doing this ‘Huluween’ experience within Hulu.”
Hulu released a portion of the videos today, and will launch a second wave of programming on October 25. It will continue through Halloween.
“We’ll take this model and continue to own different seasons moving throughout 2018 and beyond,” Couch said. “You’re seeing it at the very beginning stages, and it will continue to grow and expand over the coming months and year.”
The House shorts revolve around the theme of haunted houses. Let Us In, one of the three released today, has a scary movie spoof type of tone, and features two people dressed up in creepy nun costumes. They break into a home to make a sacrifice, but encounter a frightening twist.
At the end, Hulu directs viewers to “now enter another perspective” and check out The Reckoning, a virtual reality experience available through Hulu’s VR app.
Another short, The Projectionist, has a classic, noir-feel focusing on a young couple who go see a special midnight screening of a horror movie.
The third short, Unexplained Phenomena has more of an an ‘80s vibe, Couch said.
Hulu also debuted what it calls “scenics.” For instance Graveyard, with howling wind and fog billowing across a cemetery, is the Halloween version of what Couch likens to programs of Yule Logs burning that are popular around Christmastime.
On its subscription platform, Hulu also released “Frights and Insights” with interviews from cast members and producers of movies such as The Monster Squad and Fright Night, Adweek said.
As the the steamer’s holiday programming grows, Couch said he hopes this redefines the idea of what television is.
“As part of our overall philosophy of developing new ways of telling story, we wanted to define new experiences for the fans,” he told Adweek. Part of that was be the idea of, let’s build this around a theme, and figure out new ways of leading a person through a narrative into a deeper experience with the content.”
READ MORE: Adweek
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