The Last Broadcast: A Starting Point

I just got done with this found footage/mockumentary from way back in 1998, right before The Blair Witch Project made the subgenre something horror would capitalize on that continues today. This was the first time I have seen this in probably 13 or so years. It was a fresh experience. I don't even remember it being this good. I was pleasantly surprised of how much I liked this. I like it a hell of a lot, and it has cannon-balled up in my favorites list of found footage. What I think this does extremely well is it not only features the footage but has a documentary filmmaker and narrator lay out its history, using raw footage and a wide variety of news footage, interviews, reports, and particularly dedicates substantially to the footage taken on the fateful night of the "last broadcast". Laid out in chapters, with the narrator/filmmaker commenting on his own feelings regarding three murders (two found dead, another missing with only a blood trail and his toboggan hat left behind) that sent a young man (a recluse who spent a lot of time in an apartment learning magic and chatting on the IRC (Internet Chat Relay)) to jail,  questioning the case brought against the only person who walked out of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey (notorious for possibly being home to the folklore boogey-creature, the New Jersey Devil) alive, Jim Seurd (Jim Seward, actually discovered in a video store by the directors of this film!). Seurd, claiming to be psychic, is brought on to "guide" hosts of a fledgling cable access show (and a hired audio tech) into the Pine Barrens for the most perfect camp site, his "vibes" counted on by them for the spot that will secure them the goods regarding a "creature in the woods".

I can write about this, but I recommend renting this and re-watching it. It breaks the fourth wall at the very end (last ten or so minutes) by going "cinematic", abandoning the found footage/documentary format by having the filmmaker "filmed" himself. A horrible (very realistic to the point I was awestruck and had a hard time not turning away) asphyxiation through the use of plastic wrap as the killer holds a female victim underneath, sucking for air and struggling for life is especially hard to watch and shocking. It is a doozy of a twist. However, I can imagine it ruins the experience for some found footage/mockumentary purists. But I understand it.

Okay, so there's a murder to conceal a truth regarding who was responsible for the deaths in the Pine Barrens as a specialist in "data retrieval"tries to uncover damaged footage on video tape sent to the documentary filmmaker of The Last Broadcast, David Leigh. Right away, the major question is who sent that video tape (dumped in a box outside of a video tape in bunches) to Leigh, and how was it known that he should be the one that receives it? Suspicious much? So why not go outside the confines of found footage to tell us why the murderer wouldn't be revealed and document who it is and how he would keep his secret? So there is a purpose behind the walls' break.