Welcome to a very special night of regional TV, recorded on grubby VHS tape
some time in the 80s. After a mix of pretty brilliant fake commercials and news
bits, the tape gets to the meat of the proceedings: a Halloween special
reportage that sees WNUF’s intrepid reporter Frank Stewart (Paul Fahrenkopf)
visit a supposedly haunted house where once some ouija board related murders
took place. Frank is accompanied by famous parapsychological research husband
and wife team Dr. Louis (Brian St. August) and Claire (Helenmary Ball) Berger,
their mediumistic cat Shadow and Catholic exorcist Father Matheson (Robert Long
II). Of course, really weird things begin to happen.
Mainly directed by Chris LaMartina, this is a pretty wondrous fake time
capsule that apparently mimics the style of TV it portrays incredibly well –
while adding jokes to it. Having grown up and living in Germany, I don’t really
know how this kind of 80s regional US TV is supposed to look, but I can say
that the film’s presentation does feel just right to me, so it’s certainly
convincing to somebody who does not have any nostalgia for the sort of thing it
portrays and lovingly sends up. In any case, the film feels like a pretty joyful
project, clearly made with a lot of love and an eye for detail, starting with
the fake commercials that are often as funny as they are straight-faced, and the
news bits, and not beginning to slouch when it comes to the the misadventures in
the haunted (or is it?) house which of course do not end well.
Well, the main special could probably have gone with a little less
authenticity in form of fewer commercial breaks, but otherwise, WNUF
Halloween Special is fun from beginning to end with acting performances
that are cheesy in what feels just the right way and full of exactly the type of
straight-faced humour that won’t destroy the feeling of really watching an old
VHS tape of TV going quite a bit wrong while still being funny.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
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