Review – The Last Broadcast

The idea for The Blair Witch Project was allegedly stolen from this lesser-known, low-budget production. Certainly this video was produced first, and there’s unquestionably a strong similarity between the two. Both involve a group of young, amateur video producers venturing into the wild in search of supernatural phenomena. But of the two, I thought this one was a lot better. For openers, it lacked the gut-wrenching camera jerking that became so legendary after motion-sickness-prone Blair Witch viewers became ill just from watching the film. Indeed, the entire production was much more skillfully assembled, looking more like a clever, Welles-esque window soaping than a tedious Watkins fakeumentary. Further, it used the Jersey Devil as its bete noir, and I can remember being spooked by Jersey Devil tales when I was a kid. Sadly, it can’t sustain the suspense, electing instead to lose focus, meander and resort to philosobabble. And it would be more than charitable to describe the final pay-off as less than satisfying. If only this one had used the Blair Witch ending, perhaps the concept would actually have worked. Mildly amusing