WNUF Halloween Special (2013)
Directed by Chris LaMartina, James Branscome, Shawn Jones, Scott Maccubbin, Lonnie Martin, Matthew Menter, and Andy Schoeb
It was at least 3 years ago that I first heard of this movie on an episode of SlasherCast and I was intrigued. The idea of making a movie based around an old style local news cast and Halloween special is pretty interesting and funny. After hearing of it I spent the next 3 years forgetting to watch it, we all know how that goes. You sit down “oh I should watch a horror movie” then your mind goes completely blank and you search Netflix for the next hour trying to sort through the garbage they constantly throw on there, then you say hell with it and watch The Office for the ten thousandth time. This time I happened to remember this film, got on amazon prime and rented it. I find that paying for a movie gives me extra incentive to finish it and pay closer attention.
WNUF Halloween Special is presented as if you are watching a local newscast and corny Halloween special recorded on a VCR, complete with random fast forwarding. Along with the main story, we get the standard commercial breaks with parody commercials, which are quite comical and nostalgic. A few of them reminded me of the dumb reoccurring commercials I would see daily watching TV as a kid in the early 90s, which gave me a good laugh. The newscast itself was also pretty spot on, complete with corny jokes, puns and awkward transitions. A few times during the newscast they will start talking about politics and the person watching it starts fast forwarding until it is over. That really made me laugh out loud because I would do the same thing.
One of the commercials was an advertisement for the late-night newscast asking what a dentist’s biggest fear is (or something along those lines). Then a dentist says “Halloween is!” which was really awkward and made me think, “shouldn’t that be their favorite time? People are eating candy getting cavities then the dentist gets paid more to fill them.” You also get your typical stories of super religious nuts banning Halloween for being evil, a story about razor blades in apples, etc.
After the newscast ends you get the special presentation, which involves the field reporter Frank Stewart entering a local “haunted house.” Which is an old house where brutal murders took place. Frank is shown with a big group of people in costumes that are excited to see if it truly is haunted. Frank has a priest Father Joseph Matheson. The priest is there to exorcise any beings that may be haunting the Webber house. Things start of as lame as the ghost shows on Syfy but escalate quickly as the movie goes on. I won’t spoil what happens but its rather comically and unsettling.
WNUF Halloween special was a rather nostalgic and fun experience to watch, as well as being rather difficult to explain and review, yeesh. I’m not sure I can truly recommend this to many people, as it wasn’t a traditional movie. If you are a horror movie buff, well versed in the genre and have seen many obscure movies such as myself, I’d say watch it. If you are a casual fan that watches the big name movies and aren’t aware when a new release is actually a remake, I’d steer clear of this. All in all I enjoyed the movie, it had a few down moments where it was kind of slow, but the presentation of the film as a whole was great. I really enjoyed how grainy and blurry the movie was, it truly felt like I was watching it on VHS taped off tv. I would give the WNUF Halloween Special a C+. It really isn’t something I would rewatch numerous times but I had fun watching it and enjoyed its campiness.
