Sofia’s not joining me for this movie as she’s having
computer troubles, so you’re stuck with me alone. Hopefully we'll see her again soon!
DAY FIVE - THE LAST BROADCAST (1998)
What did I just watch? I’m just…I…what? The movie ended and
I had to google the ending because I had no idea what had happened. Turns out
the ending went right over my head, but I feel like I’m probably not the only
one who experienced it that way. Everything happens so damn quickly in the last ten minutes.
The Last Broadcast is sort of found footage, sort of
mockumentary, horror movie. For the first half of the film it plays out like a
Dateline episode, and then goes into more of a Blair Witch type film, and then
that ending happens. So I thoroughly enjoyed most of the movie, I love a good
Dateline episode and I was hooked on this format.
The film is narrated by a guy who’s is investigating the
deaths of the two hosts of a cable TV Show, Fact or Fiction, and their sound
guy. The police “solved” the crime and arrested the fourth member of the team,
a “psychic” who is quite eccentric. But our narrator doesn’t believe all is as
it seems.
The footage used is a mix of news clips, newspaper
clippings, interviews with the police and members of the show. Then there is
the footage from the night in question. Our two hosts; Steven and Locus are
taking their show on the road to investigate the Jersey Devil. They bring along
a sound guy, Rein, and a psychic named Jim. They live broadcast their
investigation but in the morning, only one of them comes out of those woods
alive. That man is Jim.
The narrator starts out making us believe it was Jim who did
indeed murder those men brutally in the woods, but then switches to another
possible murderer, maybe it was Steven, whose body was never found. But then
after the narrator receives a box with a mysterious destroyed tape inside, and
seeks the help of a woman who starts to retrieve the broken data, he leads you
to believe that perhaps it was the Jersey Devil after all.
But then that damn ending happens. So disappointing. I
almost wish they had just stuck with the jersey devil killing them all because
honestly the movie was so great up to that point I would’ve believed it. Instead
it feels like the filmmakers panicked completely and just tried to be shocking.
But there’s a difference between having a twist ending that you could’ve figured
out if you paid attention to the subtle clues along the way, and an ending that
no one could have predicted and makes no sense…but is “SHOCKING”.
Let’s talk about how the film was made – it was one of the
first of this style of film we are now so used to. And it is believed
that this is the first feature-length to be filmed on “consumer-level digital
equipment”. It came a year before the Blair Witch Project. It’s hard to find a
lot about this movie. It was made in the 90’s and is VERY outdated. But it’s
quaint for an old fogie like me who remembers the dial up sounds of internet,
and IRC, and lugging computer screens around instead of a tablet. But I can see
how someone a lot younger watching this movie would find it completely
ridiculous.
The big thing for Fact or Fiction is that they are doing
the first ever live internet and cable broadcast and you’re just like, that’s
cute. The narrator talks about the internet like it’s this new magical world to
be explored, which really back then it was.
The filmmakers play our Fact or Fiction hosts – Stefan
Avalos and Lance Weiler and do an impeccable job of acting. In fact everyone in
this film is just flawless. It’s really what makes the whole thing so
believable. Apparently they also shot this film for $900???? Amazing.
I was never taken out of the film. In a weird way the whole
thing felt completely believable. I watch so many paranormal documentaries and
shows, so much Dateline, that this just felt like another one of those.
Excluding the ending of course. I give this movie a 6/10 - purely for the ending. I would still recommend it to people, but I think going into this movie knowing nothing is the best way to watch it and enjoy it.
See you back here tomorrow for DAY SIX! (I’ve almost made it
a whole week woohoo!)
Stay Spooky!
No comments:
Post a Comment