The Last Broadcast

The poster cover of the Last Broadcast claims 'Don't see it Alone'.

This is a joke. This is not a horror film. It's not scary. The ending is a total anti-climax. I am baffled by comments claiming this has caused some viewers sleepless nights. I mean, come on people, really. When I watched this alone, my reaction was: 'is that it?' When I watched it a second time with my mates, after it ended, their reaction was: 'hey, where were the scary moments?'

Forget this and go for the Blair Witch Project. A much superior film.

Probably the most fascinating part of this entire film for me was that it was made in 1998. There's just something endlessly compelling about watching an extremely obscure amateur-style film from over 2 decades ago while perpetually being reminded that I'm getting older. It's a sensation completely different from watching a professionally filmed Hollywood movie from the 90s, probably similar to reading a personal diary from someone written in the 1800s rather than a professionally published novel.

But the film itself was mildly intriguing in its own right. My only gripe would be that there was an insufficient balance between the first half (Jim and the trial and the sequence of events leading to the murder) and the second half (casting doubt on the alleged guilt of the suspect and an extremely slight possibility of the supernatural).

I am a complete sucker for subtlety in movies like this, and this film executed it perfectly, to the point where any and all supernatural or paranormal implications are so slight that you could easily miss it completely.

But while those things are dealt with with great subtlety, the film itself doesn't manage to rise beyond "mild" in terms of interest or excitement or compulsion. Aside from the incoherent ending, it all amounts to being overall "Neat", not so much boring or even entertaining. Just kind of neat.

I don't care what anybody says; I think this lies amongst the most brilliant films I have ever seen. The documentary itself looks totally convincing, and the movie's ending will have you disturbed for days afterward. Sure, it was awkward to switch camera perspectives, but it NEEDED to be done. It couldn't have been worked any other way, and still have the same effect. People don't seem to understand this, and it is why THE LAST BROADCAST gets so much negative feedback.

In order to understand the sheer genius of the movie, you need to watch it multiple times and catch the many, MANY clues about the events that occur at the ending. This flick's rewatchability value is extremely high, and it never gets boring because you spot so many little details that make you think "oh, I see..."

I don't care whether this or BWP came first, but for the record, I don't care. They were both excellent and different films.

I had this one on my watchlist for quite some time now and decided to give it a spin this evening. It started of pretty good and I was hooked, but after 30 minutes or so the movie just kept dragging on and became very boring. I noticed that I wasn't closely paying attention because of this and was eager to turn it off. After a minute or 60, it became interesting again for a few minutes but then went back to it's dragging self.

The movie has some similarities to the Blair Witch Project, but doesn't even come close. A lot of the found footage material was so badly shot and 'damaged' that it wasn't even fun to watch anymore because you hardly could see anything.

The acting was decent at best and at some points not even convincing. The characters were dull and had very little backstory.

Without giving anything away, the big revelation is a big letdown and nothing is really explained about the 'how' and 'why', which makes it very frustrating.

Don't be fooled by the 5,5 rating which is pretty good for a horror movie on IMDb these days, it's definitely not worth wasting an hour and a half on. If you haven't seen the Blair Witch Project, you should definitely view that in favor of The Last Broadcast.

In 1995 a group of presenters for the cable TV show `fact or fiction' travelled into the woods to search for the Jersey Devil. When they are killed, one of the group, Jim Suerd, is convicted for the murder. Years later a documentary maker receives video tape not included in the trial and sets out to find what really happened.

I don't care which film was made first and I don't care if `last broadcast' and `Blair witch' are similar or not. All I care about is if the film itself is any good. The set up is good – a documentary that is put together in the style of many documentaries you might see on channel 5 etc and it is easy to get taken away by it (if not taken in!). it feels like it's building to something and it's reasonably compelling. However this drive loses it's way as the film tries to make comments about the subjectivity of the media and it detracts from what happened on that night.

This is a shame because the documentary style was well put together and believable. But the twist is silly (I think) and the final half hour could have been scary instead of trying to be a comment on the media. The acting is good if basic – it is just like they're playing themselves – but all the documentary contributors are totally believable.

Overall it held my attention and is well made considering the budget. The idea is clever but I was let down by the lack of thrills or scares and the fact that the final 30 minutes is just one big let down as the focus is lost.