Volitan said:

No, it's all fake.

I don't care what anyone thinks, I love this movie! I heard so many people say, "I was so let down by this movie! It wasn't the scariest movie ever." Well, it's your own damn fault for thinking it would be. Don't pay attention to the media. I expected only to be entertained and perhaps scared a couple of times. I thought it was genius in its execution and marketing.

It's one of my favorite movie-going experiences (1999 is, for me, the best film year in my movie-going experience). I saw it when it was still in limited release and there was, quite literally, a line down the street and around the block. It was so much fun to be a part of that. People jumped and screamed at the end. Lots of people did. Nonetheless, there were still people who were grumbling about how much it sucked when they left.

Ditto on the sequel - one of the worst I've seen. Its failure canned the planned third film.

sextonseven said:

Not crooked, silly. Curved. Those are curved.

It is a horror classic, and people who do not get the inpact of it frankly frighten me more then the film.

Roger Ebert says it best:

http://bventertainment.go...ch+project

I went temporarily insane when this movie came out i hated it so much.
Talk about over-hyped bullshit.

But the thing that drove me crazy were these pseudo-intellectuals who went out of their way to champion the film saying things like "well, you just didn't like it because there were no special effects in it."


No, i didn't like it because it was STUPID.

"oh my god! where'd those rocks come from???? AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"


whatever.

OK, was this movie the scariest to those who know who the Cucuuy was I was scared shitless of the Cucuuy when I was young and therefore this movie flipped me the hell out

JustErin said:

Okay, gotcha.

That means I have no idea what a crooked one looks like.

And maybe it had a different impact on those who saw it before the media hype? A friend of mine worked for the film company that released this and I saw it before it hit the theaters. I was freaked out by this shit

sextonseven said:

DAMN!!!

ThreadBare said:

Yeah that was the best part!!! I couldn't understand why the hell those idiots went all up in the house in the first place when the people they interviewed days before told them about it. Then when the Mike guy ran down to the basement of the house without letting her catch up with him, was just so damn selfish to me. I knew he was gonna get it, then her next.

That part did trip me out when at first he gets knocked out, then she comes running down, and he's standing in the corner.

Illusion of the mind is a powerful thing.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I saw it at a free sneak preview before it was picked up by the major studio. We were laughing and making fun of the idea as we waited for it to begin... and then that night we were all scared to hell.

RodeoSchro said:

ok but why was he standing in the corner tho? or did u mean she already had him and she was about to do whatever to him?
.
.
[Edited 12/4/07 0:39am]

Christopher said:

the producers of that movie should be dued for plagiarism. there was a better movie that came out the year before (1998), "the last broadcast" that was much better. (kind of like 8 mile borrows from purple rain... a lot) i admit, i didn't see last broadcast until about 2002, well after i had been duped into believing that wair bitch hype shit. it was actually pretty decent with a pretty good "twist" at the end.(my sister thinks they're both shit movies, however..just that wair bitch is slightly more shitty )
if you come across it, check it out!


The Charge
What actually happened that night in the woods?
The Case
As hosts of the popular cable access program Fact or Fiction, Steven "Johnny" Avkast and Locus Wheeler are used to the unusual. But when their tie-in Web site turns up a request to do a show on the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the so-called "Devil" that supposedly lives in them, the two hosts end up getting in way over their head. Hiring a technology expert named Rein Clackin, who claims to be able to pick up paranormal sounds with his recording equipment and bringing along a supposed psychic named Jim Suerd to "get in touch with the spirit world," the duo proceed with their plan to broadcast live from the middle of this eerie remote location. They hope to put an end to the monster myths once and for all. All preparations appear to run smoothly, but as they approach the campsite, Jim becomes disoriented, threatens Rein, and runs off. As the show starts, Jim sequesters himself nearby, chatting on the computer. The others proceed with the investigation. The next day, everyone's dead—except for Jim. Naturally, the police think the ominous loner killed his comrades, but documentary filmmaker David Leigh believes otherwise. It is his goal to expose the truth about what happened that night deep in the New Jersey woods. He will figure out what happened during this Last Broadcast, hoping that the facts will clear Suerd and lead to the real killer—whoever or whatever it is.

Why is The Last Broadcast a better film than its unholy spawn, the insipid Blair Witch Project? How come it manages to be coherent, suspenseful, funny, and fresh while Witch remains loud, abrasive, confusing, and ultimately unsatisfying? It could have something to do with the overall approach. The Last Broadcast is a mock documentary, an attempt by an outsider to interpret and extrapolate on the "found footage" of some deadly events in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Witch is a wobbly "you are there" presentation of the actual material discovered during an investigation into the disappearance of a filmmaker and her friends. Both employ plenty of POV perspectives, although one substitutes swear words for actual conversations. Yet in the end, Witch is a one-joke movie, a gimmick that once given away is not easily re-experienced and appreciated. In the case of Broadcast, filmmakers Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler have found a way to incorporate the same menacing mood and unexpected story twists without losing us in Gen-X jerkdom and pointless aural thrills. Besides, Witch only has one scene going for it—and it arrives right at the very end of the movie. Broadcast almost unravels when it shifts to showcase its finale. Yet between the two, this fake-fact film is more industrious and inventive, leaving the Burkittsville bunch wallowing in its wake.

Naturally, the next question is why The Last Broadcast isn't as successful, or even more so, than its blockbuster brother. The answer is actually quite simple. When placed up against the ersatz realism of the adventures in disorientation of Heather, Josh, and Mike, Broadcast appears cold and distant. We never get to know Steven and Locus and more or less fail to find a reason to root for Jim Suerd, the fame-whoring pseudo-psychic who may or may not have murdered his fellow cable-access adventurers. No, the real thrust of this far superior film's force is in its clever and consistently creative storytelling. Witch went one way, and one way only—follow three people into the woods and watch what happens. Broadcast uses that same dynamic, then fleshes it out with backstory, humor, standard documentary interviews, and eccentric character twists to take us out of the actual moment, only to redirect our attention and place us right back in the middle of these murders. It's a wonderfully inventive method of keeping the story fresh and free from the stagnancy that can come with such an approach. We get caught up in the mystery first, then find reasons to hang onto the individuals involved.

Once successfully removed from its copycat cousin (While there is no real proof of plagiarism, the Blair Witch gang does admit to seeing this movie before setting out to make their own), what you end up with is a wildly entertaining experience that uses subtle thrills and undeniable chills to tell an excellent story of arrogance unhinged and dangers undetected. The Last Broadcast believes in the effectiveness of its narrative and never once tries to pull any punches or fake any fear. When it wants to be goofy and gratuitous, it is. When it hopes to be strange and unexplainable, it is as well. In fact, there are very few things that Broadcast is not. This is the rare movie that appears to achieve all of its goals instantly and honorably, never going for the cheap trick or the obvious element. It is so expertly constructed, so flawlessly built out of facets we recognize from all over the genre map, that when they finally come together toward the end, we never once doubt their effectiveness as a source of shivers. Because of its snuff film-like realism and its desire to tell its scary story honestly and realistically, Broadcast builds up a lot of gonzo goodwill—and it needs it. The conclusion takes a track that many won't see coming, and even more may find it antithetical to what the movie was originally striving toward.

That would be a shortsighted interpretation of what occurs. If anything, The Last Broadcast is one of the few films to anticipate its imitators and offer up its own intriguing commentary on their overall modus operandi. When you realize that someone other than the Blair Witch crew is manipulating the events to create the on-camera "scares" we see, the brilliance of Avalos and Weiler's ending becomes clear. Instead of going for a supernatural slant or a direct link to the obvious suspects, Broadcast takes on the notion of perception—why we follow certain stories and what we eventually get out of them. When the denouement is made (in a wonderfully effective montage sequence), we bristle at the brashness of such a reveal. Then, as the wrap-up begins—both figuratively and literally—we get the opportunity to reflect on all that's come before. It paints the entire story in a totally different light, one that suggests more than the movie ever sells, and illustrates how effective an approach like this can be. Since major cinematic elements (such as acting or production value) are not really necessary here, The Last Broadcast has to get by on the success of its storytelling alone. In that regard, it is masterful. It creates an impression far more lasting than some frightened fellow momentarily glimpsed in a basement corner.

Heretic Films was apparently determined to give this film the DVD release it deserves and, judging by the tech specs provided, they've done a damn fine job. A previous 2000 release by Ventura Home Entertainment had a nice selection of bonus features and a decent digital transfer. This new version is also very good. The image is clean and crisp, practically pristine in its 1.33:1 full-screen presentation. Sure, there is some grain, and occasional washouts of color and detail, but this only comes during the found footage portion of the film. Everything else looks slick and professional. Sonically, the disc delivers as well. While there is not much mood or ambient atmosphere in the material offered (Witch does that wonderfully, mind you), we get a crystal clear Dolby Digital 2.0 mix that expertly matches music with dialogue and narration.

What fans will be most interested in is the abundance of added content collected for this DVD. In addition to some supplements carted over from the first digital release, we are treated to two commentaries (both featuring Avalos and Weiler), a collection of documentaries that discuss how The Last Broadcast was created, completed, and distributed (all excellent), a nice selection of new interviews (almost everyone involved is back for an up-close Q&A), and a few clips from the Fact or Fiction program (an excellent send-up of homemade cable creativity). We are also treated to Jim Seward playing two folk songs, a wonderful gallery of gory, gruesome crime-scene imagery, a series of trailers, and a 12-page booklet bursting with interesting information. Heretic even goes so far as to subtitle this release "The Definitive Special Edition of the Chilling Classic" and, after plowing through the seemingly endless bonus features, it is hard to disagree with such a statement.

The Last Broadcast lingers long after The Blair Witch Project has run its creepy course because of one key factor—execution. The creators of the blockbuster mainstream movie knew that they had a "killer" premise on their hands. They just failed to fulfill its promise. Not Avalos and Weiler; they stayed true to the story and never played the audience for idiots. The result is a classic that contains all the terror possibilities that such an idea can generate. It effectively goes beyond the events that happened in the woods that fateful evening—and it's a much better movie for it.

thanks to blair witch I am now scared of trees crackling in the night time, or even trees without their leaves on

The Last Broadcast was just okay. They switched points of views at the climax to make the ending work, and that bugged me.

The Last Broadcast wasn't scary, (even though it had the documentary elements, and had them before the Blair Witch Project) it seemed much more a typical kind of movie in it's twist and progression.

There were movies/shows that used the "reality style" before this!

"War of the Worlds " 1938 the original Orson Wells radio broadcast
was done in the style of a real radio news broadcast, and back then it caused many people to become confused and think it was really happening. http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ds_(radio)

"Special Bulletin" 1983 was a tv movie that was made to look like special news interupting your program about a terrorist standoff and then a nuclear explosion in America. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086350/

ufoclub said:

I also saw one where the entire movie was made to look like a TV news segment, first about metorites but then it turns out it's an alien invasion. It was pretty nifty. Do you know which one I mean?

retina said:

haven't seen that.... was it done well?

ufoclub said:

As far as I can remember, yeah - not bad at all. I caught it on TV and for the first little while after I switched on (maybe ten minutes into it) I thought it was an actual newscast. Then I noticed how everything was a little bit too slick to be real, but still, not a bad effort. Since you're into ufos and stuff like that I'm sure you'd love it. Especially since it unfolds slowly and retains the mystery throughout. I just wish I could remember the title.

retina said:

Without Warning

This movie caused CNN all sorts of headaches.

WillyWonka said:

Yeah that's the one, thanks! I didn't know that those reporters were actual CNN news anchors. I bet if you're used to seeing them reporting real news the impact of this movie must have been even greater.