WNUF Halloween Special (2013)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Pushy reporter Frank Stewart (well played to the obnoxious hilt by Paul Fahrenkopf) and a team of paranormal experts check out the notorious Webber house to confirm if it's actually haunted during a live television broadcast on Halloween night in 1987.Director/co-writer Chris LaMartina not only nicely pegs a fun spooky ooga-booga Halloween atmosphere, but also further spices things up with amusing touches of inspired droll humor and ably crafts a strong mood of gradual mounting dread which culminates in a genuinely startling climax. The sound acting by the capable cast helps a lot, with especially commendable contributions from Nicolette le Faye as plucky producer Veronica Stanze, Leena Chamish as cheery newscaster Deborah Merritt, Richard Cutting as stuffed shirt anchorman Gavin Gordon, Brian St. August as fey occultist Dr. Louis Berger, Helenmarry Bell as kooky medium Claire Berger, Robert Long II as the earnest Father Joseph Matheson, and George Stover as hammy horror show host Dr. Bloodwrench. Best of all, this film astutely captures the actual look and feel of a corny small local TV station broadcast gleaned from a moldy old VHS tape print source complete with occasional wonky tracking issues and a hilarious slew of spot-on faux TV commercials. A worthy little fright flick.

I grew up in a time when this would have actually been shown on television; they did an astounding job of making everything look and feel authentic. Every bit of the video looked like it could have come right out of the time period it was trying for. Bravo! Some of the parts weren't entirely accurate, but most of that was either for comedic effect, dramatic effect, or simply being able to be understood. Audio distortion on VHS recordings of the time might interfere with actually watching and enjoying the movie. I understand the choice made.You know what the best part of it was? The inanity. The mundane quality of it. The commercials were perfect. The news broadcasts were absolutely flawless. Everything was so down to earth and believable that it made the whole thing even more unsettling. It actually scared me a little. That never happens with horror these days.It was profoundly easy to believe in, and it never really presented anything that made it hard to swallow as an actual broadcast. I have to applaud the tremendous effort put into this production for all of the variety of things happening in it: commercials, the haunted house special, the news segments...that had to have taken a huge amount of work, and it really paid off.Great job! This production is really fantastic. I found it suspenseful, genuinely frightening, and one of the very few "retro" productions that actually manages to keep its period immersion consistent throughout. This would be great to have on during your Halloween party, but it's also enjoyable to watch on its own, especially with others who can appreciate the effort.

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.

I can't believe more people aren't praising this film. Its great, silly fun, doesn't work as a horror film that well, but its still entertaining and even hilarious at times. The commercials....someone was complaining about the commercials, I guess you had to be around at that time in some podunk town to understand how brilliant of a recreation this is. Somebody knows that time really well. The music, even the fonts, were all ridiculously of their time. This is the kind of local programming that really doesn't exist much at all (if at all) anymore. I felt like i was watching Channel 36 from Atlanta waiting for "Movie Macabre" to come on. They could have amped up the scares a bit, made it really spooky, but i still think this is one of the more brilliant takes on the whole "found footage" bit. Certainly the most humorous. I have to think this film was loads of fun to make.