Rating: Summary: Interesting - If Unknowing Review: Absolutely infuriating movie - if you are unaware of what it is. I caught it on cable five minutes from the beginning. Since it was running on IFC during a Halloween marathon they titled "Independent Screams", I could not find out what the title was or what the film was about. I thought it was a documentary and bought into it hook line and sinker. So bravo for fooling me. Infuriating for making me emotionally and mentally involved with what happened to the "victims". Not such a good film though if you know it is a fictional movie, not a documentary.
Rating: Summary: What in the world is this? Review: PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SPOIL THE FILM - What in the world is this cruel joke of a film. I have no understanding as to why this film is compared to Blair Witch in all of its reviews (I can understand the woods and the filmmakers, the murder etc.). But the Blair Witch story was based on true events. Maybe the legend of the Jersey Devil is a legend, but the events are all fake. Maybe I am bitter because I had never heard of this film before I watched it in its entirety (less the first few minutes with credits, title, etc.). It does come off as an episode of Forensic Files or Cold Case or the many crime documentaries that are now on TV. But what is horrible is that the whole thing is fake. After watching the whole thing and coming upon the ending - I was enfuriated. After having genuine reactions to the "actual footage" they were using in the film, instead of finding out Who Done It? i was left with the question, What in the World Was this Piece of Junk? Answer: It is supposed to be a joke. Ha Ha.
Rating: Summary: If you liked Blair Witch... Review: I heard about the legal case between this film and Blair Witch and felt compelled to see for myself. I loved Blair Witch and was excited to see how similar the films were. After seeing this film, the comparisons are undeniable...when you think of how innovative BW was you MUST realize that the premise was stolen from this film. While the reviews on this film are mixed, I have to applaud the makers for the TRUE ingenuity that BW is credited with. Moreover, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. This is is just a fabulous film, innovative, scary and realistic all set against the backdrop of a cynical media-driven world. Fun stuff.
Rating: Summary: Not as good as Blair Witch but... Review: It's still good. I think it was unfair to compare this to The Blair Witch though. See if you can. Pretty good, but I have to say it does fall apart at the end.
Rating: Summary: misunderstood Review: From what I have read in these reviews it seems that the mayor reason for negative feedback is the acting and the ending. I just cant understand why the acting is considered to be so poor when in my opinion is truly superior. No one can deny the fact that this documentary has fooled everyone into believing it as factual and for that to be possible the acting has got to be on the money, otherwise it wont work. The ending,however,is a mixed bag.You either love it or hate it and from what I have seen the latter tends to be the most popular response. I myself thought the ending absolutely destroyed what till then was a well crafted and superbly executed "documentary". If you think about it the reason this ending is placed is because Avalos and Wheeler wanted to get a very good point across and that is be careful what you belive.Dont believe everything thats placed in front of you as fact.Dig around and search for yourself before believing anything. DONT BELIEVE BLINDLY WHATS PRESENTED TO YOU.Problem is,however,the "doc."comes across as such a fascinating story that starts off and just builds and builds your interest that by the time the ending comes you truly want to know what REAllY happened because,remember,by this point you really believe all this is fact so by getting this kind of ending its perfectly understandable to be SO turned off by it. In any case, I feel that most if not all negative reveiws on this film would be much more positive had the viewer realized this beforehand. Top notch film, puts BWP to shame.
Rating: Summary: What a let down!!! Review: Like most everyone that has posted here, I watched this with the hope that it would be similar to BWP. I will give this movie its props in that the first hour is pretty interesting, and the documentary style is well done (even if the acting isn't that great). One obvious thing that was missing was that there was absolutely NO background about the Jersey devil, which I thought was amazing. The suggestion that perhaps what we were shown on the lost footage may have been caused by the Jersey Devil would have been SO MUCH more effective had we known at least SOMETHING about the legend. But we don't. Not at all. Having said that, this is where I shred this movie. What a horrible, horrible ending. I was completely let down and frankly disgusted by how stupid the ending was. It ruined everything the movie tried to achieve. I nearly shut it off, and I never do that to a movie no matter how bad it is. After it was over, I was left shaking my head, wondering how the producer could allow for such a ridiculous ending. Bottom line, you may enjoy this movie at first but be prepared...you'll be shaking your head too.
Rating: Summary: Another good idea gone horribly wrong Review: After many months of consideration, I finally decided to buy this movie. I must say I was quite disappointed. I wasn't expecting another Blair Witch Project, but I did expect more creepiness and more of an actual story. Halfway through the movie, I noticed the time and wondered when the movie was really going to start. The ending was somewhat acceptable though less than unforeseen, but overall this movie reminds me of a patchwork quilt that someone forgot to actually sew together into one whole object. The documentary format was weakened by a droll, unemotional, monotonous narration; the interviewed subjects also do not reveal any real attachment to the story. When the film starts, the viewer is informed that the following people are not actors; "(at least, not very good ones)" could easily have been appended to that opening statement. The sequence of the action is also questionable. There is too much jumping around from one place and setting to another, and several scenes are annoyingly replayed several times; I would rather have been given a more sequential presentation. As for the film shot by the participants in the pine barrens, the attention to realism possibly goes too far. The video is totally unviewable much more often that it should be. The conversations on the tapes are often unintelligible, and there are few decent background perspectives by which the viewer can orient himself. The story of the recreation of the mangled tape that turned up long after the events is well-done, but the descriptions of just how difficult it is to reconstruct the images grow tedious, and the tape's ultimate revelation is less than earth-shattering.It is important to note that this movie preceded the Blair Witch Project and is thus in no way a Blair Witch clone. Had Blair Witch never been released, this movie would probably fare much better than it does now; before Blair Witch it was a uniquely bad movie; now it is just a bad movie stripped of its uniqueness. I did not find The Last Broadcast creepy at all and cannot recommend it for horror fans. Nor can I recommend it for mock documentary aficionados. To tell the truth, I can't recommend this movie to anyone at all.
Rating: Summary: The Last Broadcast Review: I am substantially older than the creators of this film, as are my viewing tastes - however, The Last Broadcast was, without exception, one of the creepiest films I have ever seen. The first time I saw it, I believed it - how weird is THAT? If you even remotely liked The Blair Witch Project, this is the film for you; the production style is much the same, but to much greater effect. There is an interesting sideline in that, these two films competed for promotional backing (or some such) from Artisan Entertainment - worth looking into if you're into such things.
Rating: Summary: 1st two acts very tense, then last act fell apart Review: This movie could have been great had they not spoiled it with a terrible ending. The suspense was building and building until they let the air out with a really [bad] ending. This movie was pre-Blair Witch and could have been a lot creepier had they not gone in the wrong direction with the ending. However, some people reviewing really enjoyed the twist ending, so buyer beware.
Rating: Summary: A Student Film Review: I am surprised that many reviewers find this film phenomenally better than the Blair Witch Project. The production quality of the movie looks like a student film. I would compare it more to Curse of the Blair Witch (the Sci-Fi Channel documentary), but it looks like it was made on someone's home computer. The movie is about a bunch of local cable personalities disappearing in the woods during their search for the Jersey Devil, however the film never talks about the legend behind the Jersey Devil. Nothing is set up to help the audience grasp the horror behind what these characters are trying to find. You also never see the terror that the characters go through. You see one guy running away for a few seconds, but there is no moments of fear experienced in the movie. I admit that it was still creepy at times, but knowing the legend would have made the movie interesting. The ending was also quite corny, but I won't get into that. If you enjoyed the Blair Witch Project, you should probably skip this movie. If you did not understand what made Blair Witch great, then you will likely enjoy this film much better. This movie lacks the components that make a good horror film, but if you enjoy being in the know about the lesser known films then knock yourself out.
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