thelectrichair101 This is definitely a gem of a film that deserves to be seen; aside from its clever and original presentation, the performances are quite effective, the degraded VHS effects believable, and the humor dark and quirky. Of course, while the found-footage VHS aesthetic enhances the creepiness of the film, it's the refreshing manner with which it's presented that makes this production rise above its far more derivative and clichéd counterparts of the found-footage genre.I didn't really find the commercials distracting, as other reviewers have commented. I actually thought, in addition to their obvious role of conveying a tongue-in-cheek & satirical sense of humor and wit for entertainment purposes, they also enhanced the "realistic" attributes of the work in service of its found-footage, "abandoned 80s broadcast" nature.My main complaint was the ending. The film had initially done such a superb job building up anticipation and suspense that when we are finally shown what's behind all the smoke and mirrors, it's sort a letdown. Instead of ending with even a slight, creepy aura of ambiguity - leaving viewers with perhaps an unnerving "fear of the unknown" - we see that the supposed "supernatural" forces at work were actually the depraved workings of a bunch of crazies, who we eventually see violently (though briefly) torture the news crew at the end of the film. All that brilliant setup for this? To me, it was a shame that the movie had to settle on such an absolute and banal conclusion to what could have been far more effective if it were more vague and restrained.However, the disappointing ending for me does not detract from the rest of the smartly-crafted and creative efforts poured into the rest of the film. The rest of the film was far superior to its brief ending shot. Highly recommended for those who appreciate these independent and obscure oddballs of cinema.

derekjager As everyone else has mentioned, this has way too many 80s TV commercials.This film is about an hour and 20 mins in length. It's ALL simply watching a VHS tape from the 80s. In fact, the first 20 mins--TWENTY MINUTES!--is nothing but two newscasters chatting and stories of local news. And dozens of TV commercials.20 minutes of that. Yes, it's all done very well, but to what end? We get it after five minutes. We want story, a compelling reason to keep watching.Finally, 20 minutes into the film we get the film proper, the investigation into the haunted house. Nothing really happens...and every time something starts to happen, they cut to a commercial. Seriously. The "joke" we got an hour ago is STILL being told! Check the credits and there are about a dozen directors and writers. So they all just did a bunch of commercials, thought it was hysterical, kept them ALL in the film, and hope we'll watch. I did, you don't have to.

ecmelton-186-105049 The WNUF Halloween Special has one of the coolest concept I've seen in a long time. In the late '80s a live news broadcast holds a séance in an abandoned house where several murders had occurred years earlier.....and then terrible horror movie thing start to happen. The cool part is that this story is presented as though a person had taped it when it aired live, and someone found it years later. The movie's creator actually put a few copies in thrift shops hoping someone would buy it and spread the word about a creepy VHS tape they found, unfortunately, none have turned up yet. Anyone that ever bought old second hand tapes of random movies or watched TV that had been recorded on a VHS and liked seeing the old commercials and TV bumpers would likely find something to enjoy in this film.This unique presentation is one of the films main selling points. It does a great job replicating an actual local news station from the 1980s. It has the correct kind of tape damage and decay you would expect and even has some really funny (and incredibly stupid) commercials for fictional local businesses. A lot of the time period pieces overdo the clothes and pop culture references to showcase the decade it takes place in, but the WNUF Halloween Special is surprisingly restrained and realistic with it's style.It's a little difficult to gage how good the acting actually is because most of the characters are news presenters using their overly chipper television personas, which are intentionally awkward and bad, but the moments where something happens and they do break character are well acted. It comes across as genuine concern and shock. The only other characters are paranormal investigators who are also putting on a show for the cameras and some locals being interviewed who are acting stupid for the cameras. There's also a dentist who hates candy and shows up several times. It's all pretty believable, and there's nothing that would take you out of the movie. People shouldn't be mistaken in thinking this a straight forward horror movie. It's definitely a horror comedy that pokes fun at bad local TV and knows how silly it is at times, but it doesn't shy away from some darker moments too. Overall it's a really great watch and a fun movie for horror fans. A lot of films are doing similar things with found footage and what-not, but this film does a fantastic job using the format and goes all out to create a believable story. This would be the perfect movie to get and have some friends come over and watch it under the pretense that it's a real taped special you found at a yard- sale or something, so you can freak them out. I really encourage that you seek it out.

TheFilmGuy1 This is a film that in theory sounds really cool, and is actually executed in a well done way, but just doesn't work. It's the kind of thing that would work as a creepy pasta you would read online, but it doesn't have enough entertainment to be a movie. The biggest issue here is just how much horror we get. The movie is supposed to look like an old VHS tape that contains a recording of an old 80s/90s broadcast of a live haunted house investigation. They really nail the feeling of nostalgia when you watch this. It really feels like a real old tape. But the issue is that they focus too much on that. We get these really well done commercials that at first are funny just because of how they really seem like an 80s/90s commercial, but the movie keeps cutting to these commercials over and over. The joke really starts to pound you over the head to the point where it essentially ruins the film. I want to see the strange events occurring in the live broadcast, not these well done but unfunny commercials. We occasionally get somebody fast forwarding through the commercials which is funny to see, but I really feel like the movie needed to fast forward through the commercials a lot more. It certainly is more of a comedy than a horror. The horror aspect is okay, but it can be ruined by the comedy, which is a problem that I find happens very often with comedy/horror films. They are two genres that are EXTREMELY difficult to mix and turn out well, yet so many independent film makers try to do it with horrible results. Just because Evil Dead 2 did it, doesn't mean any movie can. This film kind of makes it work, but it's not perfect. I think the films ending gives it a bit more of a boost though, because it's kind of cool.In the end, I think the concept to this is great, and it does work as a film that is trying to show that old nostalgic VHS tape style, but it just isn't entertaining enough. Maybe it would work if you showed someone this and told them it was real just to see their reactions, but other than that, it kind of falls flat.