acidburn-10

'The Last Broadcast' is a solid, ambitious and yet rather obscure, found footage horror film that deserves a lot more credit than it gets for pioneering the found footage genre a year before the 'Blair Witch Project' subsumed the masses. Directed, written and produced by Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler and made on an extremely low budget, the movie is presented in a pseudo-documentary style that cleverly blurs the lines between fact and fiction to enhance its eerie atmosphere and chilling narrative to create a rather satisfying viewing experience.

The Plot = David Leigh (David Beard) films a documentary about four men who went into the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, looking for the mythical Jersey Devil, and only one man survived the ordeal.

For such a low-budget effort, this is an impressively made production as it fully captures that authentic TV documentary aspect with the interviews and found footage segments edited together effectively and even manages to be quite creepy in places with quite a few twists and turns as the story unfolds. The tone of the narration is well handled and adds a spine-tingling feel and the film embraces its limitations to create a raw, unsettling realism to the film. Although this is far from perfect as there's quite a few flaws here such as the pacing can feel rather slow at times, especially during the middle portion of the film and there are times when the tension feels completely derails as it does become rather talky in places instead of actually showing the good stuff, Other than that this is still a good found footage horror flick that set the foundation of what's to come from the genre.

Overall 'The Last Broadcast' may have its fair share of flaws, but it's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of the genre.

'Duel' is a powerful, riveting and intense action, psychological horror made for TV flick that turns a simple premise into a relentless nerve-racking thrill ride from start to finish. Directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg in his feature film debut and based upon the short story of the same name by Richard Matheson, the movie is a masterpiece of fear and tension and it's a prime example of not needing a big Hollywood budget to deliver big scares.

The Plot = David Mann (Dennis Weaver), a travelling salesman driving through rural California on a business trip. However, he soon finds himself chased and terrorized by a mostly unseen and psychopathic driver of a semi-truck.

This is a prime example of how effective the less is more approach works here with nail biting suspense filtered throughout its high-octane thrills, simple yet gripping narrative and enhancing the paranoia driven atmosphere which keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout its entire runtime. Even at this early stage in Spielberg's career he uses the film to demonstrate his remarkable talent for storytelling and his masterful use of suspense. Even decades later, the movie still feels fresh as it strips away exposition and character development to focus on raw fear and constant lingering dread, which totally works thanks to its well-written screenplay by Richard Matheson, it's tight pacing and a satisfying yet cathartic final showdown which ends everything on a high note and is what makes this such an underrated masterpiece in Spielberg's filmography.

The central performance by Dennis Weaver is excellent and despite appearing unsympathetic at first, he does a great job of getting the viewer invested in his plight as the movie goes on and therefore gives a well-rounded and engaging performance.

Overall 'Duel' is a taut, powerhouse TV movie thriller that goes beyond its limitations thanks to Spielberg's keen direction and turns this into an all-time classic.

'Hell House LLC' is a fun, refreshing and effectively chilling found-footage supernatural horror film that makes the most of its modest budget and limited resources to deliver one of the most authentically scary and narratively compelling entries in the found-footage sub-genre. Directed and written by Stephen Cognetti, this is an incredibly well-made production that delivers frights, tension and atmosphere in equal amounts making this a firm horror cult classic gem.

The Plot = Five years after 15 people were killed during a haunted house attraction at the Abaddon Hotel, a documentary crew travels back to the scene of the tragedy to discover what really happened.

The movie utilizes the found footage format really well as it conveys a subtle yet eerie tension throughout its runtime, leaning into creeping dread and lingering terror with its gradual buildup of suspense and mystery, along with some well-timed jump scares before the supernatural chaos kicks in. Honestly, it's rare to find a movie these days that genuinely delivers scares, but this manages to exceed expectations as you're constantly on the edge of your seat as everything slowly unfolds. However, this movie is not without its flaws as while the cast do deliver strong and grounded performances, none of them were really fleshed out and some of the shaky camera movements became annoying to the point where you couldn't make out what was going on. Then there's the ending which kinda fizzled out and left you wanting more. But this is still a great horror flick that truly delivers atmosphere and some unforgettable moments that will stay with you long after it's over.

Overall 'Hell House LLC' is an excellent entry in an oversaturated sub-genre, that while its not perfect, it's still a solid time that's well worth your time.