Many films transport audiences to a lovely place and time in our lives: where every aspect of generational aesthetic has been painstakingly and adoringly reconfigured from beginning to end. After just one viewing, the WNUF Halloween Special gives this impression, and it's probably a found-footage experience that most fans of the genre have never heard of. Imagine someone went through their closet and pulled out a couple of pre-recorded videotapes, one of which turned out to be an old Halloween news special from 1987. When all of this is skillfully combined, the result is the found-footage cult favorite WNUF Halloween Special.
The WNUF Halloween Special, a nostalgic look back at the late 1980s, is an eclectic found footage experiment that uses a newscasting special and a collection of well-made commercials to transport viewers to the infectious time of the 1980s for the first time or for old times' sake.
Innovative and fresh, everything about this found-footage experience feels authentic. From the newscasters, cheesy dialogue, videotape quality, and the haunted house special itself, director Chris LaMartina took special care all the way down to the development of the commercials to make sure this moved and flowed like a genuine playback experience for its time. It takes dedication, especially with a unique found footage experience like this, to recreate an experience like this from the ground up.
When watching this, one looks at V/H/S's future found footage experience, V/H/S 85, and hopes that they churn out something with this much nostalgic guise. The final copy would achieve its vintage quality by being run through a VCR three or four times, making multiple versions that would then be cut, degraded, and copied through several VCRs. The WNUF Halloween Special would achieve this identical video footage goal by using vintage tape stock and S-VHS and DV cameras for the news and Halloween special. The on-set recording would also use no boom mics, maintaining the preserved sound quality of the era.
Authenticity is key to making this genre work. Looking back at classics like The Blair Witch Project, it's easy to see why, at the time, such a revolutionary experience worked because they were committed to the premise of making sure people believed their story. Of course, Blair Witch's strategy would not fare well by today's standards, but the commitment to believability made it such a huge success.
LaMartina understood this concept intimately and would revitalize this strategy. Watching the WNUF Halloween Special, one could mistake this for a legitimate piece of history left behind in someone's belongings. Because of LaMartina's commitment to historical accuracy (even down to the VHS Limited Edition), the WNUF Halloween Special is one of those quirky experiments that would bring interest back to the raw basics of found footage in a new and inventive way. It's absurd that no other director in the genre has tried their hand at this concept given how unique it is, but the fewer there are, the better. Even down to the dialogue, where the connections between its characters feel solid and, at times, genuinely comical, it all creates a fantastic wrap-around storyline for what eventually unfolds in the film.
While much of the praise can go to the ingenious quality of the WNUF Halloween Special, there were more clever aspects at play here beyond its aesthetic charm. The WNUF Halloween Special primarily follows Frank Stewart, a WNUF investigative reporter (Paul FahrenKoft), as he gets ready to launch a paranormal investigation at the Webber House, the scene of three slayings. From the beginning of the special, it feels like you are watching part of an Unsolved Mysteries episode, adding depth and allure to the experience. When Frank, the paranormal team (Helenmary Ball and Brian St. August), and the priest (Robert Long II) begin their investigation, they attempt to communicate with the spirits of the deceased, which results in a distressing encounter with dire outcomes.
Although the premise may not seem to have much substance to some, the film surprisingly succeeds in creating tension through its use of time capsule pacing and emotional conflict between its characters. Juxtaposed by its terrifying moments and genuine comedic timing, it creates an experience where the viewer does not anticipate what will happen next, and every moment counts. Even the ones that are purposefully fast-forwarded, it all contributes to the viewing of an experience that is long gone and cannot be recreated.
Characters like Frank Stewart are the bread and butter of this found-footage experience. Waiting for the Halloween special after the newscast is made worthwhile by Frank's sharp wit, comedic indifference, and genuine satirical approach to the characters. Overall, all the characters contribute to making this layered enjoyable experience, as their lack of decorum towards one another and entertaining agitated responses as the Halloween special progresses make it all worth it.
This found-footage experience won't leave even the most seasoned horror fan quaking in their boots with fear, but what makes it such a potent found-footage film is that it is unrepentant about its love and dedication to the time it commits itself. For anyone who truly values the historical accuracy it adds to the setting, WNUF's commercial breaks make for great artistic transitional pieces between crucial moments within the special. While an experience best meant to be respected and enjoyed in its entirety to be appreciated, the WNUF Halloween Special is a love letter to horror, public access TV, and the 1980s era it derives.