The WNUF Halloween Special is the next logical step of the
faux grindhouse movies. Instead of recapturing
the feeling of old exploitation films, it more or less accurately replicates
the feeling of watching an old videotaped TV show. It’s not great or anything, but the way the
filmmakers reproduce the video age of the ‘80s is something to see.
It all revolves around a live local news broadcast where a
reporter and some paranormalists enter a supposedly haunted house. The main focus leaves a little something to be
desired as you have to wait until the very end for most of the horrific stuff
to happen. Either that, or they go to a
commercial break right before something goes bump in the night.
Speaking of which, the fake commercials are easily the best
parts. The filmmakers expertly captured
the feeling of old regional ads and the anti-drug spots are particularly great.
It’s just a shame that the stuff inside
the haunted house is so weak. In fact, the
news segments (where the anchors wear Halloween costumes) are a lot more fun
than the main thrust of the story.
It’s a clever idea and all, but in the end, they just string
you along way too long. One neat touch is
when the tape is fast-forwarded in some scenes.
However, you’ll wish you were the one who could control the fast-forward
button, so you could get through some of the talky sections of the newscast.
No comments:
Post a Comment