What stands out are the performances by the non-actors involved, especially Weiler's mom. They do a very good job of creating an air of authenticity for the documentary. The slow pacing as the story unfolds is mitigated by the interesting characters, their back-story, and the sequencing of the documentary from investigating Suerd, to the reenactment of the trip, to the recovered video footage of that fateful night. The twist denouement, which moves the film from second-person documentary-styled narrative to third-person viewpoint is a bold move, and the final scene returns us to the Pine Barrens, with many unsettling questions still to be answered.
Heretic Films packs their DVD with superb extras that should be done more often. Three short featurettes stand out in particular: the Pre-production, Post-production, and Distribution discussions by Avalos and Weiler are lively and enlightening. In Pre-production, they talk about their discovery of the actor to play Suerd (Jim Seward) in the aisle of a video store, and how they lighted scenes using Chinese Lanterns to create a soft light that could be manipulated according to the wattage used. In Post-production, they discuss their extensive use of Photoshop to add gore effects to scenes, and how they composed the various police evidence used in the documentary on their PC. In Distribution, a very interesting discussion of how they fought to remain purely digital presages the current state of digital film distribution.
Two audio commentaries, one from 1998 and another for this release add to a well thought out presentation. An entertaining mini-comic is also included. The Last Broadcast is a worthy entry in the cinema of horror.
Article comments
1 - brad schader
This was a fairly good and creepy movie until the end. It is one of the worst tacked-on endings I have ever seen and makes no sense at all. That is where Blair Witch passed this film, thier ending still sucked, but made more sense. I do not want to ruin it here because you really do not see it coming, but that is because it comes from no where.
2 - Iloz Zoc
Brad,
Without going into detail, was it the switch from doc to regular movie, or the reveal that you didn't like?
3 - brad schader
To be honest, both. The reveal seemed like they realized they had no ending and the switch added to that feeling. If the movie started out 3rd person and switched to the doc form then back to 3rd it would flow better. The switch as it is now throws the audience too much before they are able to follow the story again.
4 - wendy
how can something like that do all that to those bodies?
these questions are still being recovered but..
i beleive in this myth because this wouldnt happen for no reason
5 - ochre
This was a fairly good and creepy movie until the end
6 - bryan
I'm with the above- I so loved this movie until about the last 3 minutes or so. The first time I watched it I was WTF? There were several points at the end that just make no sense. There was (at least) one other ending that could have really just blasted this film into space. But do see it if you haven't, it is much much better than the crap Hollywood has been putting out the past decade or so. The ending, while weird, is still better than most "horror" coming out recently. Oh, and video girl Shelly is quite the hottie.