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The Last Broadcast
(**)
There seems to be something lurking in the New Jersey woods of Pine Barrens. Two hosts of a cable access show called "Fact or Fiction", Locus Wheeler and Steven Avkast, take two aides out into the woods. Only one man, Jim Suerd, comes out alive.
A great premise. It seems to be a rip off of "The Blair Witch Project", but in reality it's not. First, "The Last Broadcast" was completed before "The Blair Witch Project" was ever known. Secondly, and most importantly, is the fact that the style of "The Last Broadcast" is much more journalist than home video. Rather "The Last Broadcast" puts its focus into a documentary filmmaker named David Leigh and his search for the truth.
"The Last Broadcast" was made by Avalos and Weiler for less than $1000, and in many ways is the equal to any horror movie on the market. Throughout it's hour and a half it picks up speed, quickly becoming more and more creepy. The big question here is "what's out in those woods?" throughout the film I was hoping to have Leigh find out somehow that the Jersey Devil did do it, and that Jim Suerd was jailed unfairly. However, the film turns into a cop-out. Avalos and Weiler had something that could have been the equal to "The Blair Witch Project" in scares, but instead they turned it into a hokey cheap horror movie. The film as a whole is flawed, but up until the last scenes it works beautifully. Given, the acting isn't really great. Many times the people are noticeably hamming it up for a camera.
I don't completely dismiss this film because of the scenes leading up to a bad climax. Seeing this, I know that Avalos and Weiler do have a chance at making something great, but they need to learn to take chances. I have to wonder now if they would have filmed it differently if they'd had "The Blair Witch Project" to look at as a template. Rather, "The Last Broadcast" was finished before The Blair witch even cursed theatres last summer. Having seen the success, I hope they would have done it differently.