thelectrichair101 This is definitely a gem of a film that deserves to be seen; aside from its clever and original presentation, the performances are quite effective, the degraded VHS effects believable, and the humor dark and quirky. Of course, while the found-footage VHS aesthetic enhances the creepiness of the film, it's the refreshing manner with which it's presented that makes this production rise above its far more derivative and clichéd counterparts of the found-footage genre.I didn't really find the commercials distracting, as other reviewers have commented. I actually thought, in addition to their obvious role of conveying a tongue-in-cheek & satirical sense of humor and wit for entertainment purposes, they also enhanced the "realistic" attributes of the work in service of its found-footage, "abandoned 80s broadcast" nature.My main complaint was the ending. The film had initially done such a superb job building up anticipation and suspense that when we are finally shown what's behind all the smoke and mirrors, it's sort a letdown. Instead of ending with even a slight, creepy aura of ambiguity - leaving viewers with perhaps an unnerving "fear of the unknown" - we see that the supposed "supernatural" forces at work were actually the depraved workings of a bunch of crazies, who we eventually see violently (though briefly) torture the news crew at the end of the film. All that brilliant setup for this? To me, it was a shame that the movie had to settle on such an absolute and banal conclusion to what could have been far more effective if it were more vague and restrained.However, the disappointing ending for me does not detract from the rest of the smartly-crafted and creative efforts poured into the rest of the film. The rest of the film was far superior to its brief ending shot. Highly recommended for those who appreciate these independent and obscure oddballs of cinema.

Blazehgehg 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. They're good fake commercials, don't get me wrong, but just like real TV, there's only so many "we'll find out what that was when we come back after this commercial" cliffhangers you can take before it starts to get frustrating.Which feeds in to a larger problem: there's not much that actually happens, here. Characters are almost non-existent, there's no real narrative to follow, there's very little setup and barely any payoff.Again, it all feels incredibly realistic in that regard. This kind of show, if it actually existed, would not be concerned with a traditional movie narrative, because it's just a crummy live broadcast on Halloween. But if what happens in this "tape" was actually real, it would also just be a highlight 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).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 can get some laughs, but those moments are too few and too far between, nor do they really build towards anything.I admire what the WNUF Halloween Special is going for, but its slavish dedication to 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.

toastedslipers "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

westcor 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.