WNUF Halloween Special

WNUF Halloween Special (2013)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Chris LaMartina, and the commercials in the film are from others

Starring: Paul Fahrenkopf, Nicolette le Faye, Brian St. August, Helenmary Ball, Robert Long II

From: Midnight Crew Studios

Here's an obscure film that I wish was better-known as I think many would enjoy this love letter to the 1980's, a faux Halloween 1987 special where things go wrong and it looks quite authentic. I talk about it below and I will return tomorrow night:

I am a child of the 80's, 1981 to be exact. That has to be a big reason I enjoy all the 80's nostalgia from recent times, but I think I've always been entertained by what was in hindsight a pretty weird decade, from the music and the fashion to everything else. Thus, since I heard about this almost two years ago I was real excited to see this microbudget film (claimed to be almost 1500 bucks but I understand that claimed budgets are usually more than stated when it comes to low-buck things like this) and last night I was finally able to check it out.

If you aren't familiar with this film that can only legally be found at one website (at Alternative Cinema), it was made recently but it looks like it's from a low wattage television station and it's a news broadcast then a Halloween special (from 1987) where an old dick reporter-but the funny kind of A-hole-two paranormal investigators obviously inspired by Ed & Lorraine Warren, a priest and two cameramen go into an abandoned house where 20 years ago a young man murdered his parents after he said his Ouija board told him to do so, and hauntings are said to happen. Things do happen as it's broadcasted live...

Despite what you may think and how it's advertised, it's more a comedy than a horror film. That is OK with me as this is a blast to watch. The opening 20 minutes or so is the newscast and it sets things up with the backstory and introducing the characters. The news anchors are cheesy and tell awful jokes and due to the day they wear goofy costumes.

The mood is set, not to mention... as it's a VHS tape you're watching there is not only a few instances of fast forwarding but you get to see various fake television ads, mainly from using legit stock footage from the time and it SO captures the look that commercials had at the time. There are such things as anti-drug ads so it was a blast from the past and as it's mainly local establishments you get to marvel at how goofy such things used to be and how such things as heavy metal cassettes, arcades, and horror hotlines used to be advertised.

Besides bringing back memories of a crazy decade with the various themes it brings up, the story is just entertaining and fun as you see things become worse in the house. It should be enjoyable to horror fans as are the various references peppered throughout; they aren't super obvious but if you're a hardcore fan of the genre and remember the films of the period then you should catch many of them. If you didn't, you can always watch it again. I say the rewatchability factor of this is pretty high.

I do understand those that think there are too many ads and they ruin the flow; however, I say that it makes the experience more authentic and as they did an awesome job making it look like it was actually from 1987 and it was a tape from the station that got out, I am glad they went full bore and made it as true to form as they could.

It's unfortunate that this can't be found at the typical streaming sites and thus is still pretty obscure as if more people knew about it then this love letter to a decade now long gone would get the attention I feel it deserves. If any of it sounds intriguing then I give a strong recommendation to buy.