WNUF Halloween Special

"WNUF Halloween Special" is one of the many "found footage" movies that have cropped up in the last decade. "Supposedly" this special was aired in the late 80's on a local UHF station. Afterwards, all known copies were destroyed and the event was forgotten about, until now (Blah blah blah, you know the gist of these things) Basically a news reporter, a paranormal investigator husband and wife team (along with their cat) and a priest, seek to unravel the rumored haunting of a local house where a son killed his parents after being told to do so by ghosts that he communicated with via a Ouija board.

Surprisingly the film is very authentic, looking exactly like a 3rd or 4th generation VHS tape, complete with "modern for the time" commercials with varying degrees of cheese. And while not too terribly frightening (to me at least), it does build atmosphere, which a lot of "found footage" films are sorely lacking.

Definitely worth a viewing

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.

This is cool. The creators were completely dedicated to the bit. Is it campy? Yes, but it never shows its hand or winks to the audience to get an extra laugh, NEVER. That's impressive in a found footage movie.

This movie left me feeling like I had almost been hit by a truck. Something big had missed me but I was shaken and my heart was racing. I guess that's an ideal outcome for a found footage horror.

If you like weird found footage movies check out Last Broadcast. You might like it.

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.

I suppose if this film were to be summed up in a single word, it would be dedicated. The plot of the film surrounds a television broadcast that's recently been unearthed, and it was executed in such a way with careful dedication to detail that it was quite nostalgic to watch. Those of us who grew up in the times of only having a handful of channels and having everything we watched being interlaced with obnoxious commercials will find particular appeal and charm in this film. Of course, it's not totally inaccurate (VCRs don't squeal when fast-forwarded; nor does the tape itself), but it pulls itself off pretty well.

This is by far the most creative execution I've seen used for a horror movie, in that it plays on the nostalgia of the viewers. It's not like Disney in the sense that the past is thrown in your face in a disingenuous way and you're just expected to come along for the ride automatically. Rather, this film is a careful reconstruction of the way a lot of us watched TV. That alone is worth the price of admission. In fact, I forgot I was even watching a horror movie and instead was interested in the "old commercials" and broadcasting styles.

Yet again, thanks to Shudder for making this wonderful little horror film available to me.