The level of believability is off the charts, which unfortunately sometimes becomes a bit of a detriment. The WNUF Halloween Special is full of amusingly corny characters (Frank Stewart and the Bergers are fantastic) and wonderfully cookie commercials. Though not every section is as fun as the last it still keeps a highly enjoyable and adorably nostalgic vibe throughout its whole running time with a few spooks along the way. The only negative I could think of is that I did not love the ending and that there are just too many of said commercials, (no matter how fun they are) but I guess it's realistic in this way too, other than that I wholeheartedly enjoyed and loved the WNUF Halloween Special.

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.

Pushy reporter Frank Stewart (well played to the obnoxious hilt by Paul Fahrenkopf) and a team of paranormal experts check out the notorious Webber house to confirm if it's actually haunted during a live television broadcast on Halloween night in 1987.Director/co-writer Chris LaMartina not only nicely pegs a fun spooky ooga-booga Halloween atmosphere, but also further spices things up with amusing touches of inspired droll humor and ably crafts a strong mood of gradual mounting dread which culminates in a genuinely startling climax. The sound acting by the capable cast helps a lot, with especially commendable contributions from Nicolette le Faye as plucky producer Veronica Stanze, Leena Chamish as cheery newscaster Deborah Merritt, Richard Cutting as stuffed shirt anchorman Gavin Gordon, Brian St. August as fey occultist Dr. Louis Berger, Helenmarry Bell as kooky medium Claire Berger, Robert Long II as the earnest Father Joseph Matheson, and George Stover as hammy horror show host Dr. Bloodwrench. Best of all, this film astutely captures the actual look and feel of a corny small local TV station broadcast gleaned from a moldy old VHS tape print source complete with occasional wonky tracking issues and a hilarious slew of spot-on faux TV commercials. A worthy little fright flick.

I think I can count on one hand the movies that I have given a one star rating to on this site, but if I could go lower for this pile of tripe, I would. Who in their right mind is giving this 9 stars in their reviews? Are you serious? I know that we all have our personal tastes, but ratings like that are the reason no one takes this site seriously. Are you trying to tell me this movie is in the top tier of horror movies ever released? Really?This is marketed well. The movie creators wanted it to feel like an actual news broadcast gone wrong, caught on some lost and obscure VHS tape and found for our startling shock years later. On paper, it's a fantastic idea and the movie tries hard to recreate that feel, but goes waaaaaaay too far trying to accomplish it.We start out with a half hour news broadcast. I'm not joking, either. You literally watch a half hour news broadcast, complete with bad anchors making corny jokes. Naturally, being Halloween night, most of the stories revolve around the holiday, but it starts losing the audience right away.Eventually, we get to a special investigation with a reporter visiting a haunted house, accompanied by a priest and a couple of paranormal investigators. Things go awry as the evening wears on and leaves the viewer wondering if the terror is real or supernatural.Let's get one thing out of the way. This is ultra low budget, featuring actors you'll never see again, virtually non-existent effects and horrible dialog. No part of my bashing of this movie has anything to do with those limitations. I love indie horror. I support indie horror. I accept and, almost, embrace these things about indie horror. That's not my problem with the movie.First, let's rant about the news broadcast again. It's almost a full third of the movie. So, before we get to any plot that is essential for further into the movie, the audience is already getting bored with the tedious ploy of this fake news cast. Yes, I'll spoil things by saying that part of this news has a bearing on events to come, but half an hour is just not necessary.What's with the fast forwarding? You just ruined the idea, idiots. Is that supposed to be clever? I need another way to bash me over the head with the fact that it's a VHS tape? If you are going for an immersive experience where a viewer might, conceivably, believe they were watching a real broadcast, why fast forward parts? It takes you out of the "experience" and reminds you that it's a joke.The actual "horror" is non-existent. By the time the movie gets done making corny jokes, we realize that almost nothing has actually happened. We are, then, asked to believe that these characters feel some terror, though nothing has really elicited that reaction, then a "wham bam" ending and it's done. They could have used this format to build real tension and create a real audience nightmare if we "thought" real terror was happening to real people on a real video, but they never even try.Now, let's get to the ultimate sin, the freaking commercials!!!! Since this is a "real broadcast" we have commercials. At first, they are amusing attempts at recreating lost era local TV commercials, but they just keep popping up over and over and over and over. There are as many commercials in the 90 minute movie as you would expect to get in a real 90 minute TV broadcast. The problem is that I watched a movie so I didn't have to deal with freaking commercials. By the end, it was everything I could do not to just stop the movie and give up. I wanted to grab whoever made this decision by the throat and throttle them.If they were silly, SNL style goofs, I could tolerate some of them. If there were more hayride, monster makeup, trick or treat feeling commercials, I would have taken more. Half these commercials are bad political commercials, or fake insurance ads, etc, that offer no humor and nothing more than 30 boring seconds of monotony. The whole gimmick might have worked if there was a commercial here or there, but I would honestly guess that a third of this run time is fake commercials. In college, I roomed with film students. Most made movies as good or better than this, albeit without the horrible commercials. This is not good. It's almost painful to watch. My wife exclaimed "Thank god that's over" when we finally got to the end. I couldn't have put it better myself.