Released a year before The Blair Witch Project, The Last Broadcast documents a film crew’s venture into the isolated Pine Barrens to find the Jersey Devil. As the title suggests, this would be their last broadcast.
Shot in mockumentary-style as well as POV, the movie follows the trial of “psychic” Jim Suerd who had been accused of murdering two local television show hosts and a sound engineer in the forest. Suerd would later mysteriously die in prison, prompting documentarian David Leigh to investigate this crime and discover the truth of what happened to the foursome that fateful December night.
From the beginning, I was instantly chilled by the style The Last Broadcast was made in. It’s an “older” movie, so everything was a little fuzzy, a little blurry, and not the best quality; all of these things gave credibility to the footage. Then, there were sound effects and music added in to make that eerie feeling even creepier — not something I particularly enjoyed watching alone at night. It reminded me of the solemn and ghostly music in Japan’s Occult (2009). Those sounds penetrate your brain and go straight into those fear-receptors!
Since The Last Broadcast is a mockumentary, we get POV shots (well-acted), interviews (mostly OK) and host voiceovers (good until the end). With most movies, you know that the interviews are fake and everyone is acting; but here, there were times when I genuinely forgot this wasn’t real. I kept thinking oh, I should look this crime up when the movie is over, only to realize it never actually happened. For that, I give a lot of credit to the filmmakers because that is oftentimes very hard to do.
The storytelling was also a plus. I loved that it brought in a cryptid and that it followed true crime storylines that we all have come to know and love in this modern age. It’s a shame that it was overshadowed by Blair Witch, because on scare factor and believability, The Last Broadcast has it beat for sure. I didn’t hear about this movie until Shudder added it to its repertoire. It’s also refreshing to see movies involving the internet — an early internet — where it was even scarier than it is today. We tend to forget the mystery and anonymity that came along with it.
Now I will say that there is a twist ending that I didn’t see coming. I won’t spoil it here, but the last 15 minutes or so was totally unexpected. I loved how The Last Broadcast had me going back and forth about Suerd’s innocence, and then ended with that. It wasn’t my favorite ending and did take me out of the film a little, but it wasn’t totally unwelcome. I commend the filmmakers with taking that risk; it made me want to see more!
We’re in a time of horror where mockumentaries, found footage, and POVs are slowly coming back (V/H/S 94 and 99, Deadstream, etc.), and it’s mixing with the true crime sensations that have been running our TVs ragged. And all of this came when the internet was still in its infancy. The Last Broadcast is a spectacular film that has sadly been overlooked for the last two decades. Now is its time to shine.
What did you think of The Last Broadcast? Let us know in the comments!
