WNUF Halloween Special (2013) User Reviews

80% Of It Well Done But Boring Commercials

[TheFilmGuy1 · 6/10 · 29 July 2014]

This is a film that in theory sounds really cool, and is actually executed in a well done way, but just doesn't work. It's the kind of thing that would work as a creepy pasta you would read online, but it doesn't have enough entertainment to be a movie.

The biggest issue here is just how much horror we get. The movie is supposed to look like an old VHS tape that contains a recording of an old 80s/90s broadcast of a live haunted house investigation. They really nail the feeling of nostalgia when you watch this. It really feels like a real old tape. But the issue is that they focus too much on that. We get these really well done commercials that at first are funny just because of how they really seem like an 80s/90s commercial, but the movie keeps cutting to these commercials over and over. The joke really starts to pound you over the head to the point where it essentially ruins the film. I want to see the strange events occurring in the live broadcast, not these well done but unfunny commercials. We occasionally get somebody fast forwarding through the commercials which is funny to see, but I really feel like the movie needed to fast forward through the commercials a lot more. It certainly is more of a comedy than a horror.

The horror aspect is okay, but it can be ruined by the comedy, which is a problem that I find happens very often with comedy/horror films. They are two genres that are EXTREMELY difficult to mix and turn out well, yet so many independent film makers try to do it with horrible results. Just because Evil Dead 2 did it, doesn't mean any movie can. This film kind of makes it work, but it's not perfect. I think the films ending gives it a bit more of a boost though, because it's kind of cool.

In the end, I think the concept to this is great, and it does work as a film that is trying to show that old nostalgic VHS tape style, but it just isn't entertaining enough. Maybe it would work if you showed someone this and told them it was real just to see their reactions, but other than that, it kind of falls flat.

Wasted Opportunity!!! Such Potential!!

[jessehammertime · 5/10 · 31 January 2015]

This could've and should've been terrific. The filmmakers totally nail the look and feel of cheap, local 80's TV and waste it on a poorly acted and terribly crafted found-footage horror story that doesn't work in any way, start to finish.

There are moments when I truly thought I was watching an old VHS tape which makes it all the more sad that nothing besides the commercials are very well thought out. The story is truly lame as are the actors. Some so over the top you wouldn't be wrong thinking you'd stumbled into a high school play. That said, if these guys were given another venue, Adult Swim comes to mind, and some decent performers, this stuff could be damn entertaining.

Drop the Poughkeepsie Tapes angle and you've got the second coming of SCTV here.

Viewer Beware, You're In For A Scare

[toastedslipers · 7/10 · 14 January 2014]

"WNUF Halloween Special" is one of the many "found footage" movies that have cropped up in the last decade. "Supposedly" this special was aired in the late 80's on a local UHF station. Afterwards, all known copies were destroyed and the event was forgotten about, until now (Blah blah blah, you know the gist of these things) Basically a news reporter, a paranormal investigator husband and wife team (along with their cat) and a priest, seek to unravel the rumored haunting of a local house where a son killed his parents after being told to do so by ghosts that he communicated with via a Ouija board.

Surprisingly the film is very authentic, looking exactly like a 3rd or 4th generation VHS tape, complete with "modern for the time" commercials with varying degrees of cheese. And while not too terribly frightening (to me at least), it does build atmosphere, which a lot of "found footage" films are sorely lacking.

Definitely worth a viewing

Creative

[baileycrawly · 6/10 · 10 October 2020]

I suppose if this film were to be summed up in a single word, it would be dedicated. The plot of the film surrounds a television broadcast that's recently been unearthed, and it was executed in such a way with careful dedication to detail that it was quite nostalgic to watch. Those of us who grew up in the times of only having a handful of channels and having everything we watched being interlaced with obnoxious commercials will find particular appeal and charm in this film. Of course, it's not totally inaccurate (VCRs don't squeal when fast-forwarded; nor does the tape itself), but it pulls itself off pretty well.

This is by far the most creative execution I've seen used for a horror movie, in that it plays on the nostalgia of the viewers. It's not like Disney in the sense that the past is thrown in your face in a disingenuous way and you're just expected to come along for the ride automatically. Rather, this film is a careful reconstruction of the way a lot of us watched TV. That alone is worth the price of admission. In fact, I forgot I was even watching a horror movie and instead was interested in the "old commercials" and broadcasting styles.

Yet again, thanks to Shudder for making this wonderful little horror film available to me.

A Halloween Horror Gem Worth a Watch

[beatsavior420 · 7/10 · 25 October 2020]

The WNUF Halloween Special is the horror-holiday hidden gem you've been looking for! Presented as a VHS recording, faux commercials included, of a televised Halloween broadcast from the 80s, this flick is a fun and refreshing take on the worn-out "found footage" genre. And it could have fooled me, as a real recording of a local news station attempting a live call-in séance/exorcism at the haunted location of a double homicide. Either shot as an honorable homage to the legendary BBC horror-mockumentary Ghostwatch (1992) or an outright ripoff, the WNUF Halloween Special still hits all the right notes, and seamlessly blends awkward reality-style comedy with spooks. Add it to the list, catch it if you can, it's a fun lil gem not to be missed by aficionados of the halloween horror movie exploratorium. And I believe it's currently streaming on Shudder. 7/10

Did anybody want 60 minutes of commercials? Anyone?

[shaunephillips28 · 6/10 · 24 October 2021]

The concept of this movie is pretty brilliant and I commend everyone involved. I feel like a kid again watching late 80's/early 90's local tv. I know there's millions of people out there who would enjoy the nostalgia factor.

My issue is with how the concept was implemented. To me and many others, they went overboard on concept. The realism might be a little too much. I was 20 minutes into the movie and maybe saw 6 minutes of actual news footage and not all of that was about the plot. The commercials are every 2 minutes and they usually are 2 minutes long. I barely knew what was going because so little of the begginning was about the movie. It also didn't help they really pushed the concept for the first 15 minutes or so. I guess they really needed people to know you are watching vintage local access television. That's great and all, but in ends up putting the actual plot of the movie on the backburner. It becomes more about commercial filler than anything else. Early on, I was forgetting what the movie was supposed to be about because the commercials were relentless and constantly broke up the plot. I don't remember local news ever having so many commercials every 2 to 3 minutes. Yes, the movie gives us the basics early on, but it would be nice to have more news footage.

Long story short, it's annoying. Let me watch the darn movie already. I get it. I get what they are trying to do, but for the love of god, let me watch the news.

Perhaps a little too authentic

[Blazehgehg · 4/10 · 7 October 2015]

Complete with fake TV ads, The WNUF Halloween Special really, really nails the low budget, awkward nature that an actual live TV special of the late 1980's might have had.

Unfortunately, I found it a little TOO authentic. After a while, it genuinely feels like the whole point of this "movie" is to string you along to sit through the next commercial break, full of tongue-in-cheek advertisements for businesses that don't exist. They're good fake commercials, don't get me wrong, but just like real TV, there's only so many "we'll find out when we come back after this commercial" cliffhangers you can take before it starts to get frustrating.

Which feeds in to a larger problem: not a lot actually happens over the course of the movie. Characters are almost non-existent, there's barely a narrative to follow, there's very little setup and next to no payoff. Things happen, of course, but they aren't structured to happen.

This is all in service of WNUF's attempts at found footage authenticity. If this was actually recorded off of television as the film maintains, it wouldn't have anything resembling a traditional movie narrative. It's supposed to be a crummy local access broadcast on Halloween. It's as impersonal as a weather report, because that's kind of the point. It's not totally devoid of fun, of course. They play up the awkwardness of live TV, and how the host reacts to audience members or callers is worth some laughs, but those moments are too few and too far between, nor do they really build towards anything.

You also have to consider that if what happens in this "tape" was actually real, it would just be clips on Youtube of only the relevant parts, not the full 90 minute recording with all the commercials still left in (including half of the nightly news that aired prior to the special).

I admire what the WNUF Halloween Special is going for, but its slavish dedication to authentically replicating even the worst aspects of television ended up making it kind of a bore. It's more entertaining on a conceptual level than it is when you're actually watching it. I'm sure there's people out there who are probably way in to something like this, but I don't think I am.

Maybe Its Just Because I am a child of the eighties....

[nighthouse66-1 · 8/10 · 30 July 2014]

I can't believe more people aren't praising this film. Its great, silly fun, doesn't work as a horror film that well, but its still entertaining and even hilarious at times. The commercials....someone was complaining about the commercials, I guess you had to be around at that time in some podunk town to understand how brilliant of a recreation this is. Somebody knows that time really well. The music, even the fonts, were all ridiculously of their time. This is the kind of local programming that really doesn't exist much at all (if at all) anymore. I felt like i was watching Channel 36 from Atlanta waiting for "Movie Macabre" to come on. They could have amped up the scares a bit, made it really spooky, but i still think this is one of the more brilliant takes on the whole "found footage" bit. Certainly the most humorous. I have to think this film was loads of fun to make.

If you like Ghostwatch and wish there was something close to the authenticity but for America, this is it.

[Danoxmas · 7/10 · 1 October 2020]

My friend was really good at tricking me into thinking this was real for a few minutes, if you can I highly recommend doing the same,.

So many commercials

[cbalogh-353-869784 · 4/10 · 19 January 2021]

Do you remember how annoying the 90s were with very heavy and frequent commercial interruptions? Well this movie was made to remind you. There's more commercials than movie and it very quickly wears out its welcome. Also most of the "action" or "scares" happen off screen and by the end its not funny anymore its just as obnoxious as the repeated scream sound used to exit and intro the 'program' .

Could one day be a small cult classic

[westcor · 9/10 · 20 November 2013]

It saddens me I am the first person to write about this movie. I guess I'm not really too sure how I even found out about it. Unfortunately for me, this is not a movie you want to have even heard of before experiencing it. It's available on VHS or DVD, get it on VHS if you have a working VHS player, as getting this on DVD is kinda pointless.

I told my wife I found an old VHS tape someone had recorded in the 80's and made copies of, and we were gonna watch it for Halloween. This movie by far is the most believable 'found footage' movie I've ever seen. There were times I thought it was an actual recording from the 80's, and I knew about the movie. The VHS quality, the terrible commercials, the bad acting, and there are no credits to be found in the movie. The entire movie she kept asking me, is it real or is this one of those Blair Witch movies? I played dumb, and said I don't know, I found it online.

The movie itself isn't anything spectacular, I rate it so high mostly for the fact there is no other 'found footage' movie this believable. It will be a hard movie to ever become a 'cult' movie just for the fact that once you know its's a movie; it definitely ruins the experience somewhat. My plan is to hang on to this treasure till I have kids, and tell them my parents recorded this in the 80's from TV on a VCR tape (kids won't even know what VHS tapes are then). This movie will for sure be in my Halloween viewing collection every year, and I hope to get more people to see it, as it's virtually unknown. The movie was made dirt cheap as well, and is an inspiration for people interested in making movies; as it shows a clever gimmick can go a long way.

A recreation of a bygone era

[jfgibson73 · 6/10 · 17 July 2023]

Well, here is something different. This movie is meant to be a live broadcast from a UHF channel in the 80s. It takes place on Halloween night, and follows a local news coverage of the holiday. The main focus of the broadcast is that a reporter is taking a pair of paranormal investigators into a supposedly haunted house. Things start to happen as the group explore the house, and all of the action is intercut with period-perfect fake commercials. This was fairly entertaining and it kept me interested to see how everything turned out. I don't expect that I will watch it back again, so I give it a mild recommendation for comedy-horror fans.

Shockingly bad

[evans-57655 · 1/10 · 7 October 2020]

I can't believe I watched this all the way through, the previous ratings made me think there was a scare to be had somewhere but I was wrong. Three quarters of the movie is filled with the badly filmed adverts you see at the beginning of the movie, you have been warned. There is literally about 15 mins of footage from within the house, none of them scary.

WNUF Halloween Special (2013)

[jonahstewartvaughan · 7/10 · 3 November 2023]

Shocktober 2023 #10: WNUF Halloween Special (2013)

(7/10): A rather interesting little Halloween gem with a unique theme.

WNUF Halloween Special is a little film that plays out more like an eighties news broadcast that has the crew celebrating Halloween.

There's commercials and the whole crew are dressed up and talking to the local neighborhood people about the holiday.

They have a special set to air later in the broadcast where a field anchor will be exploring the local abandoned house where a young boy had murdered his parents years ago, he is planning on going in with a group of paranormal investigators as well as a priest in case they need him exorcise an angry spirit.

Of course things do not go as planned and the paranormal investigators left due to their cat investigator dying and now it seems like something is happening and he's pretty defenceless.

It's a bit of more difficult film to review as it somewhat doesn't follow a typical narrative or it has a set narrative but it's broken into pieces by commercial breaks, which don't get me wrong are charming but make it more difficult to summarize.

The humour doesn't always land, there's definitely a couple moments that really got me but it's more like an experience as it feels, up until a certain point, like you're watching a real eighties Halloween news broadcast, albeit with someone randomly fast forwarding some not so important events.

The footage looks pretty authentic so aside from the haunted house stuff it really nails what it is going for and I gotta commend it for that.

It claims that it is based on a real broadcast and it looks almost like it could've been, but it's just a tad bit off in the finale.

The one thing that I do have to say is that I totally recommend this to found footage fans as it's one of the most unique found footage films yet.

What the *** Did I Just Watch?

[TheRedDeath30 · 2/10 · 22 August 2016]

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.

I grew up on this

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 7 October 2021]

I grew up directly between Youngstown, OH and Pittsburgh, PA, which meant that growing up, I got to see UHF channels from Cleveland, Wheeling, Stuebenville and everywhere in between. There are still local jingles that I know by heart - Youngstown's Remnant Room - and when I see the staticky look of this ancient television, it warms my heart beyond belief. Beyond Superhost and Chilly Billy, I can remember characters like Barnaby and the local news teams that had no hope of ever working for the networks.

The WNUF Halloween Special could have been horrible, but I get the feeling that its creator Chris LaMartina grew up watching plenty of Baltimore TV* (he probably knew Captain Pitt as Captain Chesapeake on WBUF (but we both may have not known that he was also Ghost Host), because this is so authentic that I thought that I went back in time.

A home recording of WNUF's Halloween special that aired on October 31, 1987, this tells the story of Frank Stewart's investigation of the Webber House, the site of the Spirit Board Murders. He's brought along a priest and Louis and Claire Berger, psychic investigators who use a cat named Shadow to speak to the dead.

By the end of the night, the evil inside the house will show itself. And no one is safe.

The story may have been told before, but its the entire package that is perfect. There are references to Dust Devil, R. O. T. O. R. And so many more movies, plus it captures that strange moment of the pre 90s when UHF stations would air just about anything, when major bloopers happened almost every day and something like a series of occult murders could happen while you watched.

Producer Jimmy George confirmed that WNUF TV28 was inspired by Baltimore's WNUV TV54, a similar TV station that was independently owned until the mid-90s.

Made with a lot of love & affection, just lacking a story

[derekjager · 3/10 · 4 May 2017]

As everyone else has mentioned, this has way too many 80s TV commercials.

This film is about an hour and 20 mins in length. It's ALL simply watching a VHS tape from the 80s. In fact, the first 20 mins--TWENTY MINUTES!--is nothing but two newscasters chatting and stories of local news. And dozens of TV commercials.

20 minutes of that. Yes, it's all done very well, but to what end? We get it after five minutes. We want story, a compelling reason to keep watching.

Finally, 20 minutes into the film we get the film proper, the investigation into the haunted house. Nothing really happens...and every time something starts to happen, they cut to a commercial. Seriously. The "joke" we got an hour ago is STILL being told! Check the credits and there are about a dozen directors and writers. So they all just did a bunch of commercials, thought it was hysterical, kept them ALL in the film, and hope we'll watch. I did, you don't have to.

Brilliant satire on 80's Independent TV Programming

[pureinsanity07 · 10/10 · 20 October 2020]

If you grew up in the 1980's, then this little gem will feel familiar. It makes me miss the time when Halloween was a bigger deal to TV programming, and all the commercials, as frustrating as they are, really recreate the viewing experience I remember. I watch this every Halloween season and it always puts me in the Halloween mood.

Does Not Deliver

[selfdestructo · 4/10 · 6 January 2022]

I bought this one (at a premium) based on premise alone. A well-circulated VHS tape from 1987 of a local news broadcast where they stage a seance live on air at a purported haunted house. Sold! The quote from one of the creators of The Blair Witch Project on the box is a nice touch.

Alright, this "special" has a lot of problems. I thought the news anchors were perfectly cast (though I'm sure the silly costumes helped their cause), and their man-in-the field Frank made a good curmudgeon/skeptic (who changes his tune with little to no evidence), but overall, acting is appalling to just-short-of appalling. Oh, save for the guy who plays Dracula, and steals the show with one line (see more of him in the outtakes).

Where was that seance I was promised? The paranormal couple they have on, who are obviously supposed to be the Warrens, the woman reads people's "auras" and the guy has his sound equipment destroyed. So, the woman has a bad "feeling" and their cat is killed, then Frank subsequently goes into a tizzy that the house is haunted. Really?

Yeah, writing is not this movie's strong suit, and I think you need someone clever, or at least has an eye for satire to really pull this off. Speaking of which, THE ADS, and there is an overabundance of them, and sometimes they repeat! I was more than a little miffed that they chose to fast forward through some of the news stories, and let the ads play in their entirety. This just doesn't make any sense. Actually, it would be one thing if the ads had anything whatsoever to offer. What they present are straightforward commercials you might see on a local station in the 80's. No parodies, clever ideas, mocking, winking, or even humor, unless you count the redundant bad puns that can be found throughout the running time of this special. No effort was made to even entertain with these. I was shocked to learn a variety of people did the ads. It's all homogenized garbage.

While I appreciate that this movie went through 3 generations of VHS tape to make it look authentic, it totally puzzles me why they would give it a Blu-ray release, and charge so much for it. Literally no reason to put it on Blu-ray.

I hate to say it, but really, this is a great idea that needed someone competent to write it and put it together. Also, hire better actors. Nothing takes you out of "found footage" quicker than a lack of believability.

NOT a horror movie!

[rugbynationusa · 1/10 · 12 October 2020]

If you're a fan of horror this is not for you. This movie is simply a satire about 80's commercials and local TV. Do NOT expect a horror movie in any sense of the genre.

Wow. What was that?

[dylanstaxes · 8/10 · 15 December 2020]

This is cool. The creators were completely dedicated to the bit. Is it campy? Yes, but it never shows its hand or winks to the audience to get an extra laugh, NEVER. That's impressive in a found footage movie.

This movie left me feeling like I had almost been hit by a truck. Something big had missed me but I was shaken and my heart was racing. I guess that's an ideal outcome for a found footage horror.

If you like weird found footage movies check out Last Broadcast. You might like it.

Nice Trip Down Memory Lane

[Kurosawa89 · 5/10 · 6 January 2021]

I'm so glad that someone found this broadcast and put it on Shudder. It was a nice trip down memory lane. I remember watching it on TV back in 1987 and thinking it was a hoax for ratings. I'm still not entirely convinced that it wasn't. Come on, the evangelical Christians were the bad guys the whole time? Can we get any more cliché? Still, it was nice to see all these old commercials again. I don't remember the strip club one though. Maybe I grew up in the wrong area? The commercials were fun and the broadcast itself was pretty superb, but that ending was so cheesy that it was pretty obvious this was made in the 80s.

Super Niche, Super Nice

[cheyenne9257 · 10/10 · 1 November 2020]

Honestly, this film hit something I really enjoy. For anyone who loves found footage, but also loves that nostalgic feel of old VHS tapes with commercials, this is the movie for you! You can feel the care the creators put into it, and for such a small budget, this highly unique film was endearing, creepy, and oddly nostalgic all at once. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was definitely mine!

Until part 2 is streaming this can stay at 1.

[killem2 · 1/10 · 2 July 2023]

This dude gets popular from legit streaming and then has the audacity to pull the piracy card going forward. No, I don't think so. Claiming Piracy is why you don't stream is such a lie and cop out. Anyone born before 2000 at this point knows that claiming piracy hurts your sales is just RIAA corporate speak from when they didn't want to adapt to new media.

Piracy doesn't hurt your bottom line, you're only restricting those who want to support you. It's be one thing if this director was actually selling it for a reasonable price. But 30.00 just so you can claim free shipping is old school Ebay era misdirection of the 90s and I see right through it.

Not to mention import fees applied to those outside of the USA.

The fact WNUF blew up on streaming and Chris LaMartina choice to block it from any online presence tells me that it's a flop. Because most artists who make a killing on streaming use that to their advantage to ask for way more money on their rebound.

Poor writing and acting ruins the immersion.

[happyspaceinvader · 3/10 · 23 January 2022]

For a found footage film to work, the performances need to be authentic. Unfortunately, WNUF Halloween Special is so heavily scripted with actors hamming up their performances way beyond the goofinesses you expect from actual US television that any sense of believability or immersion flies straight out of the window.

At one point early in the film, a police officer does a "piece to camera" segment on the news (has that ever happened?) but he in no way conveys the mannerisms of a police officer... he's just so glaringly obviously an actor in a costume.

The anchors and journalists are similarly poorly acted... and there are just too many inaccuracies to pull you out of the moment, such as a politician holding a broadcast mic while being interviewed.

A lot of people have criticised the adverts, but I thought they were the best part, and far more authentic than the main parts of the story.

Overall, this movie was neither funny, nor scary... just a huge waste of time. In better hands, it could have been so much more.