Rating: 
Summary: A Companion Video To The Blair Witch Project!
Review: The Last Broadcast is a welcome addition to the new "intellegent" trend in fright movies. Like the Blair Witch movie, it relies more on plot and suggestion than on blood and gore. But an accurate comparison between these two films must include the obsevation that it is more of a combination of the sci-fi special "Curse of the Blair Witch" and the actual Blair Witch movie itself. Indeed, after viewing The Last Brodcast, it is hard to believe that the Blair Witch team did not see this earlier version of (basically) the same type of subject matter. That is not to say that it is nessesarily bad to get your inspiration from another film, since both of these films take from other movies as well. Some that come to mind are "Night of the Living Dead", "The Exorcist" And "Evil Dead", movies that also incorporated relatively small budgets, unknown stars, and compared to other films in the genre, little gore. And so, I will give "The Last Broadcast" a thumbs up, and remind the viewer to remember the small amount of cash it was made for and the tremendous amount of effort and imagination that went into making it. It will take it's spot with my other favorite scary movies(right next to Blair Witch, hee hee). I look forward to more films made with such enthusiasm. One final warning: "The Last Broadcast" has slightly more blood and violence than the Blair Witch movie, which should please those of you who thought there was not enough in Blair Witch.
Rating: 
Summary: What is up with the prices
Review: The movie is ok, After I paid almost 40 dollars for it and found out it was a Region 2 DVD, then Cancled it, THEN rented it for 4.50. Cmon dewds your charging rediculousy high prices for this movie, I almost think its not even worth the 4.50 from BB.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thinking Man's Blair Witch Project
Review: "Last Broadcast" was released a full year before the "Blair Witch Project" release date, and upon seeing this film, the viewer can only conclude that this film was the source of the ideas behind "Blair Witch." "Last Broadcast" is a far better film both technically and artistically. What's amazing is that Last Broadcast was shot for under $500. "Blair Witch Project" directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez did one thing better than "Last Broadcast" directors: promote themselves and their film. "Blair Witch" directors Sanchez and Myrick knew how to hype their product using an internet campaign and eventually got widespread distribution for "Blair Witch Project." Had Stefan Alavos and Lance Weiler possessed that kind of marketing strategy, perhaps "Last Broadcast" would have been the sleeper hit movie that came out of nowhere. Unfortunately "Last Broadcast" came out of nowhere and stayed in nowhere, but thanks to verenrable cable networks like Sundance and IFC, this remarkable movie can still be seen on television, occasionally.
The strength of "Last Broadcast "is that it's utterly believable. The characters in the film crew are intelligent (albeit; eccentric tekkies in the marginal subculture of contemporary infotainment television). The young men of the television crew are high tech savvy producers of a public access "fact or fiction" type of show. The crew members are a cross section of a generation who readily mastered the digital and internet technology, but ironically, explain the ambiguities of the real world in terms of paranormal science,esoteric rituals,urban legends and X-File conspiracy theories. These are smart men who like agents Scully and Mulder want to beleive that the truth is "out there." Our misguided perception is that the truth is the source of all authority, but the search for truth often ends with a confrontation with a beast hidden beneath the veneer of "truth."
The acting of the entire cast is so natural and spontaneous that it's hard to believe they aren't real people, unless you know the movie is a hoax. David Seward as the accused killer, resists an opportunity to portray Jim Suerd as an over-the-top caricature of a mass murderer. Instead, Jim Suerd is a brooding self obsessed psychic, not unlike any number of colorful characters and psychic charlatans you might encounter at a New Age seminar or even a Phish concert. Maybe he's manipulating you with his smoke and mirrors magic act, but otherwise Suerd is the sort of entertaining character that inhabits the margins of mainstream America, except for one personality flaw. Suerd takes himself too seriously and exhibits agressive behavior toward those who would ridicule his psychic talents. Prosecutors use Suerd's short-fuse to make a convincing case that he is an out of control lunatic.
There are a number of red herrings that the prosecution was unable to resolve: How did Suerd manage to overpower four other people and commit the level of carnage at the crime scene? What happened to the crew member that simply disappeared leaving only a hat at the crime scene? How could Suerd commit the crime when he spent the evening in an internet relay chatroom set up inside his tent? The answer is lies in partially destroyed videotape that is left on the doorstep of the documentary film director. Or is the answer really in the destoyed video tape, or is the tape just another red herring?...another faked or manipulated document to mask the idenity of the real killer.
The final revelation of the truth by the Beard's narrator makes the ending of the movie even more unsettling. The narrator speaks of the nature of evil and how truth can be easily manipulated in the age of reality T.V. Reality is often not what it seems to be and the "truth" is elusive and operates under the laws of relativity. As we witness the disclosure of the "real killer", the truth is still ambiguous. With so many red herrings, is it possible that the ending is another clever deception by the killer?
Perhaps many of the Amazon reviewers missed the subtle point of the ending. Those critics of the "Last Broadcast" have said that its ending isn't "realistic." The camera angles and wide shots in the last five minutes couldn't have been done by the just one person. That makes complete sense, if you beleive that the killer acted alone. I disagree with the single killer theory; indeed the final scene is compelling evidence of a more sinister scenario....the murderer had one or more accomplices.
When I saw the final shot final wide angle camera shot of the narrator in the woods, I concluded that the "killer" was simply a pawn being manipulated by the real mastermind of the killings, whose idenity is never disclosed in the film... The actual mastermind of the killings was operating the second camera doing the tight shots, rooftop shots and wide angle shots that would have impossible for the documentarian to film in the last two scenes of the movie. The mastermind was filming his own documentary of the documentary and was cleverly manipulating even the final revelation of the killer by the documentarian! The killer's final coup d'grace is that when he shoots the final scene of his insane and babbling partner in crime, to prove he exploited at least one other person to do his bidding. Perhaps it was shot for the purpose of blackmail, but it's more likely he shot for the footage of as a homage to his own pure evil.
So,who was the mastermind in these horrifying murders? Could it be that oddball, lip stick wearing, down-and out soap opera director, Sam Wells, who lurks in the background of the events? His scruffy appearance and bizzare personality make him my candidate for a guru of thrill kill cult. Or maybe the overly ambitious and genial "Fact or Fiction" video editor, Tom Brunt, who disclosed his television career had taken the fast track since the killings? Or was it the the benign and supportive Dr. Dale Worstall, the killer's psychological counselor prior to the killings? His status as a psychologist would certainly benefit from being the treating psychologist to a notorious mass murderer. You can almost see the book deals and movie options coming in for Dr. Dale.
The message of the "Last Broadcast" is "trust no one." In modern America it pays to be skeptical, particularly if someone tells you they have the "truth." The truth is cheap and you can get as many versions of "truth", as reflected images in a house of mirrors. If you don't like one person's version of the "facts", change the channel, or surf over to a website where someone has an entirely different version of the "truth" that you can agree with. The "truth" is mediated by spin doctors, checkbook journalism, reality television, "fact based" movies, mockumentaries, supressed evidence, cult superstitions, out of context quotations, politcal and moral censors, press agents, rumor and heresay. With the right kind of media coverage, the same people who were gullible enough to beleive the "weapons of mass destruction" fantasy, can be convinced that boogeymen like Bigfoot and the New Jersey Devil are coming to get them. After all, a good tyrant always needs a boogeyman to blame everything on. This ultimate deception of the tyrant along with the evil boggeyman,is the convincing the entire world that someone else boogeyman.
Rating: 
Summary: Like the last person said, "it was ok till the end"
Review: I absolutly hate the Blair Witch. This movie/documentry attemts to recreate what the blair witch was, in more of an investigation style of what happend to people who where investigating the Jersey Devil. The story goes that a web site administrator who does investigation deeds is out of ideas. And in a chat room someone, or something, has suggested searching out the Jersey Devil. While camping out ther ebraodcasting there internet show, somethign went very wrong. They where found in peaces, blood everywhere and only there footage was found.
SPOILER FROM HERE ON (dont read on if you dont want the movie rueind if your interested in seeing it.)
Up untill the last few minutes it was really interesting, i knew it had to be all fake from factual things here and there but the little suprise ending of the camera man being the one responsable was overdone a bit too long, maybe if it was a lot shorter it might have been funny or something, but dragging on like it did and trying to show he is out of his mind just rueined it by going from a documentry interveiw log on camera to a very bad ending from something that would be out of The Twighlight Zone or something. It took the real world feel it was convincingly showing so well into a completly different realm.
If the end of the film was as strong as the first 1/3 of the video, then it mightve gotten 4, possibly 5 stars, but because of it's bad ending, it has cost it valuable points. and I would give it 2 and half, maybe two and 3 quarter stars.
The first time you watch it it is very interesting. But after you have seen it, it might leave memories, but you wont veiw it the same again and therefor it has no lasting appeal to watch it again, unless you wanna see it again to see if you missed something somewhere, but after that you wont watch it again. Unless your obsessed with one of the actors or something?
Rating: 
Summary: It was okay until the end...
Review: I liked the movie,was suspence and shocking parts and kinda scary,but not great like Blair witch project was ,but was good...then i always wants to Buy it on DVD,but coudent find the new one on internet world .and also in amazon.com and funny part is like $40.00 till almost $100 for USED one?/?/?/ are i kidding me???/?com'on,anyway after some research i found it used and in great condition in EBAY seller put that for $5.00 plus $3.00 for shipping and i bought it for $8.00 Total,lol good luck with those prices on used in here buddy .anyway probley amazon dont put this rewiew anyway ..but o well ..but worth the $8.00 . not $100 used in here .
Rating:
Summary: It Sucked
Review: The movied sucked, the best part was the ending. That actually was quite hilarious. Not worth the 99 cents though.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe it should've been called "The Leeds Broadcast"...
Review: So do you think that guy babbling about The Blair Witch Project actually being "based on true events" is for real, or just making some bizarre, stretched attempt at a joke? Seriously, I know some people bought that in 1999, but people don't STILL believe the marketing campaign, do they? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?Anyway, The Last Broadcast. Excellent, incredibly innovative movie, though I'm admittedly biased; being a New Jersey native who grew up with legends of the Jersey Devil, there was pretty much no way I wasn't going to like this. Still, really good acting, as evidenced by how many people buy this as a real documentary when they miss the first few minutes. As to the ending, I'm one of those who thought it was great, completely blowing your mind the way good Twilight Zone episodes always did... sure, it fooled everybody, but that's what it was SUPPOSED to do; did these people get mad at the end of The Sixth Sense too? Regardless, can't say enough good things about the film. I've only got the VHS version, but I'd love to get the DVD to see the trailer and hear the commentary.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly a excellent job, however it has one flaw
Review: You can't know anything about this to get the most out of it. If by lucky chance, you've read nothing else, leave this webpage and go watch this documentary. I was flipping channels and landed on the Independent Film Channel to what looked like a documentary. It certainly felt like a documentary. It was presented very well. And I've rarely been scared from a movie as I was when they show the discovered footage of one of the victims discovering the killer. Absolutely haunting. The acting was done so well, you could swear that no one was acting and that it was all real. Of course, there were questions and issues were being raised in my head as to how some of the coincidences kept happening in just the right way. I was wondering how someone could have done what the documentary had claimed. But right to the end, it holds true and then shocks you. Perhaps the only poor part was in the end, it goes to a third person view of the movie, instead of staying with the documentary. Other than that, the twist is worlds above anything Memento could offer. But the problem this film has is that if you even know that there is a twist coming, its ruined for you. Luckily, in my case I was able to blindly watch this documentary and get the ultimate experience from it.
|
