The Last Broadcast (1998)
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4 men enter the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, 1 man leaves. Jim Seurd is arrested, indicated and convicted of murder of the hosts of a TV show called “Fact or Fiction.” He claims he is innocent and this is his story.
Overall: So let’s get something out of the way first off. For a low-budget film captured entirely on digital recording (a.k.a no film), this is a tremendous production. I was quite impressed with the quality and cinematography of the movie. Given what Steven Avalos had to work with, this really is a marvelous work of art. Watching it, I would say this could be on par with some of the great documentaries of our time. Now, that said, this is a fake story, which had it been real I’d have bought the fact that Seurd didn’t do it. Ok, now to compare it as a horror film and the predecessor (of sorts) to “The Blair Witch Project,” it’s just “ok.” Yes, this film predates “Blair Witch.” Yes, there are a lot of similarities to “Blair Witch.” No, this film isn’t even in the same category as “The Blair Witch.” “Blair Witch” succeeded for every reason this one did not. In “Blair,” you learn background about the witch, the woods, the people, and the filmmakers. In this film, you learn nothing of the Jersey Devil, nothing of the filmmakers' past, and nothing of the Pine Barrens. This film attempts to show a nice little “Dateline” mystery of a man wrongly convicted of killing people. When you find out who did it or who appears to have done it, you’ll roll your eyes and go “You gotta be kidding me.” This film just isn’t scary and frankly, the narrations kill the suspense every time a teeny bit tries to seep through. “Blair” succeeded because it allows you to get involved, get caught up in the intensity of the situation but this film doesn’t allow either. Not until the end do you finally get involved with the story and even then the ending is so mushy, you aren’t sure if the killer actually killed the 3 victims or simply has decided to take credit for the killings. This film in many ways has either its detractors or supporters in such a way you can’t truly like both this film and “Blair Witch.” You either like the one or the other but not both. I will praise this film in all it’s low budget-ness and congratulate Steven on a job well done in movie making but I won’t take this film over “Blair Witch.” Comparison: The Blair Witch Project meets Bowling for Columbine |
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