hyped garbage

Good concept, poorly executed.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Obviously this is shot on really low quality cameras with very rudimentary special effects. The sound quality is poor at best with much wind noise and bass rumble on the microphones. Then again it is deliberate and perfectly fits the intended tone. This is probably the cleverest use of budget. There is no budget and they make a quite well crafted horror out of it. You get the feeling that they are really passionate about making films. There is some repetition as they struggled slightly to fill the time but overall it is interesting throughout. There are some really creepy moments that they could have taken further. I didn't like the third person ending; they could have kept it part of the documentary. It is inspirational for those wanting to make movies with a bit of substance with no money. Add some more thrills and this would have been much bigger. Obvious deliberate technical deficiencies are made up for by passion and suspense.

When you read the plot and/or see the DVD cover, this movie seems really attractive. Then wait until you watch it..The movie was released in 1998 and so the DVD cover proudly says "May have influenced Blair Witch... it certainly preceded it". I don't know when the production and the filming has started for this Last Broadcast, but The Blair Witch's production started in 1994 till 1997 when they started the filming. Then the Blair Witch was released in 1999. So the "preceded" thing is very relative.To come back to the Last Broadcast, all is cheap. Some parts are cosy indeed (the geeks, the clothes, the computers), but the film is more than slow and really goes nowhere, plus all effects are deeply amateurish. I was very disappointed.The Blair Witch Project is no genius work neither but it works! (at least the first time you watch it).Regards.

OK, so let me start by saying that, for me, The Blair Witch Project is the greatest horror film I've seen since it's release back in 1999. I've seen a lot of great horror since then but nothing has surpassed it.The Jersey Devil is an excellent premise as most of us have heard of this unsettling legend.They use the documentary style very well to cover the story of the cult cable show creators and their sound guy murdered in the woods, supposedly by the psychic they take along, Jim Suerd, while filming a story on the Jersey Devil. The documentary maker sets out to prove the innocence of Jim, who has since mysteriously died in his prison cell from unknown causes. Using the method of interviews with police and others involved in the case, retracing the steps of the crew and viewing the footage the crew themselves took on their first fateful night in the Pine Barrens, the film maker attempts to get an understanding of exactly what happened. The found footage of their adventure into the woods doesn't scare outright but it sets a tone that slowly creeps in and effectively plants the seeds of dread and fear combined with the interviews and back stories. What happens after this moment is completely speculation to the authorities. Jim is the only survivor and is the one to report the others as missing the following day. Finding DNA matching blood on his jacket that is carelessly flung on his bedroom floor for anyone to discover incriminates him. The fact that he's been on a primitive online chat room during most of the night doesn't even save his bacon when the police find a 45 minute gap in his posts that would give him enough time to commit the carnage. The fact that I felt very unsettled by this stage without actually seeing anything is a testament to how well they executed this up to this point. Exactly what happened to these guys? You get a glimpse of the dead bodies through police photos of Locus (a co-host of the show) and Rein (the sound guy) which is adequately horrific. The main host, Steven, is missing but his hat lying on the forest floor along with copious amounts of blood is found. The next part of the film had me brimming with excitement that perhaps, just perhaps, this film may be the one that outshines TBWP. The documentary filmmaker receives an anonymous package in the post with crumpled up VHS tape, damaged to the point where it's impossible for him to view it. Enter Michelle, a data retrieval expert, who is put to task to slowly reconstruct the damaged tape, some of which is still intact and other parts are severely damaged and she uses her expertise to "guide" the computer to recreate the images in the mangled tape. This next segment of the film had me on the edge of my seat. You get view some footage of Locus and Rein yelling out to Steve in the dark woods after he's gone missing. They happen upon the bloody pool of what is left of Steve and are attacked by something, the initial fear in their faces insinuating something beyond human recognition. Now, this is where I love the found footage genre. The footage is very shaky, grainy and you can't quite see what's going on, which adds to the effect. Jim is exonerated from guilt, he would have been online at that time posting on the net. Meanwhile, Michelle seems to have found a piece of tape where a different perspective has been filmed during this incident and the face of "another" is slowly being reconstructed. This is where it gets really good. We keep revisiting Michelle on her quest to find the face of the killer and the image is slowly progressing into something that will become recognizable. Are we actually going to see the Jersey Devil? By this stage I'm certain that this is the film that has finally surpassed TBWP. The final stages of her reconstruction of this face are slowly building up to a pinnacle... what am I about to see? STOP!!!! Surely to Christ no? My worst fears are confirmed. The face turns out to be the documentary film maker who proceeds to kill Michelle in plastic. The film descends into a sharp downward spiral from that moment on. All that build about "the Jersey Devil may really be out there" just gets quashed in a matter of seconds. In comparison, that documentary film maker is about as scary as Mary Poppins. Not only that, all of a sudden, the found footage/documentary genre is thrown out the window and the "murderer" is being filmed in a conventional format in the woods with the dead body of Michelle at his feet. THE END. WTF?! How could you destroy such a perfect build up with that pathetic dribble? I'm sure they're scratching their own heads now and wishing they could turn back the clock. This brings me back to the TBWP. You cannot fault the execution and the ending. We still to this day can use our own imagination as to what happened to Josh, Heather and Mike. Was it the Blair Witch?, was it Rustin Parr?, was it a random inbred psycho? The ending of The Last Broadcast could have had so many other infinitely better options than one they chose. You could have at least half shown the face to be some sort of Jersey Devil looking creature or you could have left it up in the air as to what it was and fed the mystery. Jesus, I don't know, anything but that ending! This would have been a perfect 10/10 for me. The ending slashed it back to 6/10.

yes, Blair Witch and Broadcast have the same overall theme(teens go into the woods)but if you look passed that you will know each film had a different approach to it. Yes, both used Video but, Broadcast took it one step further. Not only did they incorporate video footage of what happened in the woods that night, but had "commentaries' and interviews from other people involved(which in my opinion made it a lot more sophisticated and intelligent than Blair Witch). I would recommend this film for anyone looking for something "smart" to watch while still having a simple plot. However If you are looking for something like Blair Witch, i wouldn't automatically assume this is the film for you.