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The WNUF Halloween Special has one of the coolest concept I've seen in a long time. In the late '80s a live news broadcast holds a séance in an abandoned house where several murders had occurred years earlier.....and then terrible horror movie thing start to happen. The cool part is that this story is presented as though a person had taped it when it aired live, and someone found it years later. The movie's creator actually put a few copies in thrift shops hoping someone would buy it and spread the word about a creepy VHS tape they found, unfortunately, none have turned up yet. Anyone that ever bought old second hand tapes of random movies or watched TV that had been recorded on a VHS and liked seeing the old commercials and TV bumpers would likely find something to enjoy in this film.
This unique presentation is one of the films main selling points. It does a great job replicating an actual local news station from the 1980s. It has the correct kind of tape damage and decay you would expect and even has some really funny (and incredibly stupid) commercials for fictional local businesses. A lot of the time period pieces overdo the clothes and pop culture references to showcase the decade it takes place in, but the WNUF Halloween Special is surprisingly restrained and realistic with it's style.
It's a little difficult to gage how good the acting actually is because most of the characters are news presenters using their overly chipper television personas, which are intentionally awkward and bad, but the moments where something happens and they do break character are well acted. It comes across as genuine concern and shock. The only other characters are paranormal investigators who are also putting on a show for the cameras and some locals being interviewed who are acting stupid for the cameras. There's also a dentist who hates candy and shows up several times. It's all pretty believable, and there's nothing that would take you out of the movie.
People shouldn't be mistaken in thinking this a straight forward horror movie. It's definitely a horror comedy that pokes fun at bad local TV and knows how silly it is at times, but it doesn't shy away from some darker moments too. Overall it's a really great watch and a fun movie for horror fans. A lot of films are doing similar things with found footage and what-not, but this film does a fantastic job using the format and goes all out to create a believable story. This would be the perfect movie to get and have some friends come over and watch it under the pretense that it's a real taped special you found at a yard- sale or something, so you can freak them out. I really encourage that you seek it out.
score 9/10
ecmelton-186-105049 23 July 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3283106/ |
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28-2-2021 11:13:08