WNUF Halloween Special

This could've and should've been terrific. The filmmakers totally nail the look and feel of cheap, local 80's TV and waste it on a poorly acted and terribly crafted found-footage horror story that doesn't work in any way, start to finish.

There are moments when I truly thought I was watching an old VHS tape which makes it all the more sad that nothing besides the commercials are very well thought out. The story is truly lame as are the actors. Some so over the top you wouldn't be wrong thinking you'd stumbled into a high school play. That said, if these guys were given another venue, Adult Swim comes to mind, and some decent performers, this stuff could be damn entertaining.

Drop the Poughkeepsie Tapes angle and you've got the second coming of SCTV here.

WNUF Halloween Special is a truly unique work unlike anything else out there. It's not a "film" so much as an experience, an 82 minute portal back to 1987 and the days of VHS, arcades, and after-school specials.

Combining masterfully crafted commercials (many of which make for excellent satire) with the paranormal investigation of a local "murder house" alleged to be haunted, we follow a tv host and a psychic couple, clearly inspired by Ed and Lorraine Warren, inside on Halloween night. The film is all made to mirror a home video recording of the live broadcast.

For what this film sets out to do, it is beyond successful. As a film, less so, but I'm really in awe of how well this was crafted. The skill shows in every detail. At its core, this is a love letter to the Late 80's, VHS tapes, and Retro Local Television. It is beyond convicing, and if I didn't know better, I would have no doubt this wasn't a lost relic from the 80's, in the vein of Ghostwatch. Just rad!

This is a film that in theory sounds really cool, and is actually executed in a well done way, but just doesn't work. It's the kind of thing that would work as a creepy pasta you would read online, but it doesn't have enough entertainment to be a movie.

The biggest issue here is just how much horror we get. The movie is supposed to look like an old VHS tape that contains a recording of an old 80s/90s broadcast of a live haunted house investigation. They really nail the feeling of nostalgia when you watch this. It really feels like a real old tape. But the issue is that they focus too much on that. We get these really well done commercials that at first are funny just because of how they really seem like an 80s/90s commercial, but the movie keeps cutting to these commercials over and over. The joke really starts to pound you over the head to the point where it essentially ruins the film. I want to see the strange events occurring in the live broadcast, not these well done but unfunny commercials. We occasionally get somebody fast forwarding through the commercials which is funny to see, but I really feel like the movie needed to fast forward through the commercials a lot more. It certainly is more of a comedy than a horror.

The horror aspect is okay, but it can be ruined by the comedy, which is a problem that I find happens very often with comedy/horror films. They are two genres that are EXTREMELY difficult to mix and turn out well, yet so many independent film makers try to do it with horrible results. Just because Evil Dead 2 did it, doesn't mean any movie can. This film kind of makes it work, but it's not perfect. I think the films ending gives it a bit more of a boost though, because it's kind of cool.

In the end, I think the concept to this is great, and it does work as a film that is trying to show that old nostalgic VHS tape style, but it just isn't entertaining enough. Maybe it would work if you showed someone this and told them it was real just to see their reactions, but other than that, it kind of falls flat.

It saddens me I am the first person to write about this movie. I guess I'm not really too sure how I even found out about it. Unfortunately for me, this is not a movie you want to have even heard of before experiencing it. It's available on VHS or DVD, get it on VHS if you have a working VHS player, as getting this on DVD is kinda pointless.

I told my wife I found an old VHS tape someone had recorded in the 80's and made copies of, and we were gonna watch it for Halloween. This movie by far is the most believable 'found footage' movie I've ever seen. There were times I thought it was an actual recording from the 80's, and I knew about the movie. The VHS quality, the terrible commercials, the bad acting, and there are no credits to be found in the movie. The entire movie she kept asking me, is it real or is this one of those Blair Witch movies? I played dumb, and said I don't know, I found it online.

The movie itself isn't anything spectacular, I rate it so high mostly for the fact there is no other 'found footage' movie this believable. It will be a hard movie to ever become a 'cult' movie just for the fact that once you know its's a movie; it definitely ruins the experience somewhat. My plan is to hang on to this treasure till I have kids, and tell them my parents recorded this in the 80's from TV on a VCR tape (kids won't even know what VHS tapes are then). This movie will for sure be in my Halloween viewing collection every year, and I hope to get more people to see it, as it's virtually unknown. The movie was made dirt cheap as well, and is an inspiration for people interested in making movies; as it shows a clever gimmick can go a long way.

The WNUF Halloween Special is the horror-holiday hidden gem you've been looking for! Presented as a VHS recording, faux commercials included, of a televised Halloween broadcast from the 80s, this flick is a fun and refreshing take on the worn-out "found footage" genre. And it could have fooled me, as a real recording of a local news station attempting a live call-in séance/exorcism at the haunted location of a double homicide. Either shot as an honorable homage to the legendary BBC horror-mockumentary Ghostwatch (1992) or an outright ripoff, the WNUF Halloween Special still hits all the right notes, and seamlessly blends awkward reality-style comedy with spooks. Add it to the list, catch it if you can, it's a fun lil gem not to be missed by aficionados of the halloween horror movie exploratorium. And I believe it's currently streaming on Shudder. 7/10