hellholehorror 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.

Leofwine_draca As a big fan of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, there was no way I could really avoid seeing this film. Touted as a precursor to that horror phenomenon, indeed the two films are similar in many ways and it's difficult to believe that the creators of the BWP didn't see this film before they began work on theirs. In terms of horror, BWP has the edge slightly, but THE LAST BROADCAST still manages to be extremely frightening during some key scenes.Instead of relying solely on recovered footage, this takes the form of a mock-documentary. All sorts of evidence is thrown in our faces - tape recordings, interviews with key players, newspaper articles, courtroom verdicts, and, of course, the key footage, making this a well-rounded and interesting film. Unfortunately, for the first hour, it's pretty slow-moving too, with the real horrors only beginning towards the end of the film. As a side note, clever use of the Internet as a factor in the incident is used.The low budget, amateurish feel is clear, yet this really does make the film feel like a cheapie documentary you might see on a cable channel. While we never get to sympathise with the characters as much as we did in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (none of them are particularly likable), the acting is all rather good considering that no famous names are involved and most people involved are, indeed, amateurs. Special mention should go to David Beard, who plays the maker of the documentary and acts as a narrator for the film's running length, as he is surprisingly good and surpasses first impressions.The film plays more like a murder mystery than a horror film for the first hour, but crime fans will enjoy the clues and twists that are included. When a crinkled reel of videotape is discovered, the horror really begins. We're subjected to some grainy, jumpy scenes heavily resembling key moments in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which are just as frightening. One of the party disappears and the others go to look for him, eventually discovering a huge quantity of blood in the snow - this scene is actually terrifying. More creepiness ensues when reconstruction of a crucial frame is applied, which purports to show the killer's face. As the fuzzy features become clear, this is highly disturbing...And then the twist comes. It's completely unexpected, and confused/annoyed a lot of people. A problem with the ending is that events are suddenly played out in third person, whereas for the rest of the film they haven't been, and this ruins the atmosphere by taking the viewer out of the film entirely. While this aspect destroyed all credibility for me, the identity of the killer is actually well thought out, and when you think about it, you'll realise a number of clues have been shown in the film's running time. THE LAST BROADCAST is a curiosity that deserves looking into, and probably one of the most interesting and best horror films of 1998.

AceTheMovieCritic Let me start off by saying that if you went into this thinking it would be a Blair Witch project prequel, you are wrong. The concept is that this film is a documentary, although this would be a TV-grade 'mid afternoon' documentary, based around the murders of 3 crew members on a program called "Fact or Fiction" in the New Jersey pine barrens. It's meant to look like one of those cheap afternoon shows with guys 'hunting' for the lochness monster, or big foot, or even the Jersey Devil. One of those paranormal docs, or a murder investigation program they'd have on A&E or a channel like that. Something you'd find in the middle of the afternoon, when nothing else was on, and get kinda creeped out watching it. That was this films goal, and they captured that cheap quality PERFECTLY! Everything about this aspect works, and it works splendidly. And it's played totally straight. The people interviewed feel authentic, and the eerie monotonous narration works, cause this is what the guys narrating the tea-time documentaries would be doing. Go watch any of those 'true crime' type programs, and you will find this same style of narration.It's this stab at the familiar that gives the film it's tone. First it presents it's alleged murderer, Jim Suerd, who is a strange and anti-social young man, who was the only survivor of the killings which ended the lives of the crew working on the fore-mentioned program. He's presented in a good, and creepy fashion. His mannerisms are awkward, and he claims to be a psychic, although we are also told that he is an amateur magician, and skilled in trickery. If the documentary was solely about him it would still feel creepy and interesting. BUT(!) When it begins to sway towards the supernatural, and the mystery of who the killer is begins to widen, tensions really begin to raise.This film is brilliant on atmosphere, it really is. The tensions seem to constantly be rising, and everything seems to be building towards something...which makes it all the more aggravating that it had to have such a terrible ending. I won't spoil it for you, but I can just say that it totally butchers the mood set by the film, and is actually very jarring; as if it wasn't even part of the original project and just tacked on at the end.For me, this film would have been near perfect, had it ended differently. It could have gone any direction with the several mysteries it established, as long as it kept with the tone and I'd have been fine. But instead they opted for this terrible completely off tone piece of--well like I said I won't spoil it. I'd say give it a watch, but the wasted potential makes for a bitter viewing. It actually made me mad that I liked the film leading up to the end, because it butchers it that immensely.~6 out of 10~ For it's great capturing of a sub-genre, but loses a lot of points because of that ending. That F*****g ending..

merklekranz If you come into this movie expecting to see a documentary on the Jersey Devil, you will be sadly disappointed. If on the other hand, you sit back and watch without that expectation, you just might be entertained. I have seen other ultra-low budgets shot on video, and I can honestly say "The Last Broadcast" has more thought, and creativity, than a dozen of them combined. I had no problem with the ending either, far better than seeing some guy flash by in a rubber devil suit. The filmmakers made the most out of what they had to work with, and for that reason alone the movie met my expectations. You might want to check this one out. - MERK