To celebrate the relaunch of its teen portal Red, AOL will premiere the full-length horror movie Incubus, starring Tara Reid.
Incubus will bypass theaters and go straight to Red as a "direct to download" movie that can be purchased for $7.99 as a download, or "rented" for 5 days for $3.49, AdWeek reports. The performance of Incubus will be closely watched by AOL as it considers whether this distribution model can be used for future releases.
Los Angeles-based Crew Creative Advertising will handle the marketing for the film, which will include mobilizing cross-AOL platforms like Moviefone and instant messaging service AIM. Movie and teen sites will also be incorporated into the promotional mix.
Incubus will have a 30-day run on Red, then Sony Home Entertainment will begin worldwide distribution of the film via DVD and television. AOL is in discussions to debut a major motion picture release before the end of the year.