The Last Broadcast (1998)

What a waste of my time!!!

That was an excellent one.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

Let me start off by saying that if you went into this thinking it would be a Blair Witch project prequel, you are wrong. The concept is that this film is a documentary, although this would be a TV-grade 'mid afternoon' documentary, based around the murders of 3 crew members on a program called "Fact or Fiction" in the New Jersey pine barrens. It's meant to look like one of those cheap afternoon shows with guys 'hunting' for the lochness monster, or big foot, or even the Jersey Devil. One of those paranormal docs, or a murder investigation program they'd have on A&E or a channel like that. Something you'd find in the middle of the afternoon, when nothing else was on, and get kinda creeped out watching it. That was this films goal, and they captured that cheap quality PERFECTLY! Everything about this aspect works, and it works splendidly. And it's played totally straight. The people interviewed feel authentic, and the eerie monotonous narration works, cause this is what the guys narrating the tea-time documentaries would be doing. Go watch any of those 'true crime' type programs, and you will find this same style of narration.It's this stab at the familiar that gives the film it's tone. First it presents it's alleged murderer, Jim Suerd, who is a strange and anti-social young man, who was the only survivor of the killings which ended the lives of the crew working on the fore-mentioned program. He's presented in a good, and creepy fashion. His mannerisms are awkward, and he claims to be a psychic, although we are also told that he is an amateur magician, and skilled in trickery. If the documentary was solely about him it would still feel creepy and interesting. BUT(!) When it begins to sway towards the supernatural, and the mystery of who the killer is begins to widen, tensions really begin to raise.This film is brilliant on atmosphere, it really is. The tensions seem to constantly be rising, and everything seems to be building towards something...which makes it all the more aggravating that it had to have such a terrible ending. I won't spoil it for you, but I can just say that it totally butchers the mood set by the film, and is actually very jarring; as if it wasn't even part of the original project and just tacked on at the end.For me, this film would have been near perfect, had it ended differently. It could have gone any direction with the several mysteries it established, as long as it kept with the tone and I'd have been fine. But instead they opted for this terrible completely off tone piece of--well like I said I won't spoil it. I'd say give it a watch, but the wasted potential makes for a bitter viewing. It actually made me mad that I liked the film leading up to the end, because it butchers it that immensely.~6 out of 10~ For it's great capturing of a sub-genre, but loses a lot of points because of that ending. That F*****g ending..

I love the camcorder style of filmaking. Blair Witch, cloverfield, quarantine, diary of the dead, and paranormal activity are all scary and entertaining. So what's wrong with one of the first to tackle this style of filmaking, why didn't I like it? Well, the main reason was that it was pretty boring, it was like solving a puzzle, but without the satisfaction of figuring it out. The characters are pretty bland, I can't even remember their names. Really all I remember is some dudes go looking for the jersey devil, they die, and the only survivor is convicted of the crime.ON a posotive note, it has a great twist ending. The killer, is something you will never believe. But it leads to it becoming third person. In the end, it isn't horrible, but I don't recommend it.

I love the legend of the Jersey Devil, being a native of South Jersey and the Pine Barrens my whole life.I watched the 13th Child, and I must say, the editing and Michelle Maryk were HORRIBLE. But, then I heard of this movie.This movie is much more like The Blair Witch Project. But, it came out before it, making this more original.The movie is very flawed, but it still came together nicely for the big ending. The camera work, the acting, and the props were all on a good scale.There were great performances by David Beard, Jim Seward, Stefan Avalos, Lance Weiler, Rein Clabbers, Michele Pulanski, Tom Brunt, and Mark Rublee.Fans of the Jersey Devil and the Pine Barrens don't necessarily HAVE to see this, but it is still a fun movie to watch.8/10