WNUF Halloween Special, 1987 lives!
Stumbled upon this gem of a movie on Twitter recently, and it only took the trailer to have me sold on this found footage horror comedy that’s set up as a “lost” Halloween Special a local channel WNUF did back in 1987 wherein a reporter goes live from a haunted house.
The movie starts out with a local news show, on Halloween, so the anchors are dressed in costume and they make plenty of bad Halloween joke banter in between news segments, some of which inform the plot of the movie and others just fill in the atmosphere of this time and place.
The fake commercials are also hilarious, and they touch on everything from 800 number spooky hotlines that were everywhere in the ‘80s and ‘90s, to a local carpet store ad that pops up multiple times throughout the “broadcast”.
I like all the inclusion of all of these because this is exactly how TV was back then, and then you’d also have tapes of stuff you recorded off the TV if you were going to not be home because there was no PVR back then and not everything got shown again so if you missed something, especially something live, that was it, and you’d never see it again.
We then move on to the bulk of the movie, the Halloween Special itself, where a reporter goes on live TV to investigate paranormal happenings at a house loosely based on the Amityville Murders. He even has a husband and wife paranormal investigation team as a nod to The Warrens. As for what they find when they get up there, well, you’ll just have to watch for yourself.
As a child of the 1980’s I can assure you that this movie feels very much like the television of that era, and every frame is an utter delight. It’s cheesy, a little goofy and oh so very ‘80s. And this is all very intentional on the filmmakers parts, as they made the film as a love letter to VHS tapes and local cable access shows of the time.
One technical touch I love about the movie is that when they were making the movie the filmmakers did everything they could to recreate that look and feel of VHS tapes from the 1980’s. They did so by making several copies on VHS tapes, degrading the quality until we are left with that distinct ‘80s aesthetic.
It is heavy on the comedy and a slow burn to the horror element, which really doesn’t kick off until the final moments of the film but if you were an ‘80s kid or an ‘80s kid at heart you’ll love this movie.
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