The Last Broadcast takes the form of an amateur documentary, filmed, written and narrated by David Leigh (David Beard – The Strange Brew). The focus of his documentary begins in looking at the Pine Barren Murders of a couple of years previous, and what sort of a person the man who was convicted of the killings was. Locus Wheeler and Steven Avkast (Lance Weiler and Stefan Avalos – the men behind the making of the film) had a low budget cable access show called ‘Fact or Fiction’. Like many other shows, they looked at mysterious phenomenon - ghosts, aliens, urban legends, whatever kooky stuff they could latch onto. Having something of a cult following, the guys were happy enough for a few months until things got stale and decidedly uneventful, and so turned to their fans to come up with suggestions. One suggestion that came through to them via IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was that they should do an investigation of the Jersey Devil. Excited by the idea, Wheeler and Avkast set about creating an ambitious project that they hoped would allow them to regain some of the freshness they had been searching for. Talking to people in various fields, they intended to broadcast live from the Jersey Pine Barrens on TV, the Internet, and radio. This was too much work and equipment for two men, and so they recruited two others – Rein Clackin who claimed to have equipment that allowed him to record otherworldly noises, and Jim Suerd who claimed to have psychic abilities which he could use to help them find the best place in the Pine Barrens set up camp.

The ‘Fact or Fiction’ team only managed one short broadcast before something happened to them, the mutilated bodies of Rein Clackin and Locus Wheeler were found, and a large amount of Steven Avkast’s blood was also discovered though no body was ever recovered. Jim Suerd returned unscathed, and was later accused and convicted on two counts of murder. Suerd himself was later found dead in his cell. Beard talks to many of the people attached to the show and people who knew Jim Suerd, and also people involved in Suerd’s conviction. Jim was convicted on the strength of video footage compiled by the prosecution, taken from hand-held video cameras used by the ‘Fact or Fiction’ crew to document the planning and execution of their Pine Barrens venture. Jim is shown using a magic trick to convince Avkast and Wheeler of when to go into the Pine Barrens, and then acting erratically during their trek through the woods, and later his using a laptop computer to talk to people on IRC. The prosecution accused him of setting up the entire thing, that he was an unstable personality that lured them into the Pine Barrens using the anonymity of the Internet and his alleged psychic abilities so that he could viciously murder them in a ritualistic fashion. What started as an investigation into why Suerd committed these acts, Leigh’s perspective starts to change. Suerd had lost both his parents, had been seeing a child psychologist, and was very much a loner who had latched onto the Internet. However it increasingly becomes apparent that Suerd seemed to be a victim of circumstance, that as no other suspect could be found that the evidence that existed could be easily shaped to make him guilty, and the prosecution used a carefully edited version of the events filmed in the Pine Barrens in order to reinforce their case. However when enough doubt has been cast on the case, and new alarming evidence comes into Leigh’s hands, the question becomes who, or what, could have responsible for the grisly murders?

There are two issues surround this film, one is the possible influence of this film upon The Blair Witch Project. How does it compare to TBWP? Well it’s a tenuous connection, both films contain ‘raw footage’ filmed by the protagonists on regular camcorders. However while TBWP is entirely made up of this footage, The Last Broadcast merely uses them as a part of the overall film, the majority of it taking the form of this fictional documentary created by Leigh. Its not known just how much of an influence The Last Broadcast had on the later work, but it has to be said that TBWP uses the ‘raw footage’ to better effect, creating an atmosphere from it in a way that The Last Broadcast can’t due to its sporadic use. Still, there are scenes from the ‘Fact or Fiction’ cameras that unnerves, though never as much as TBWP could, though it could be argued that The Last Broadcast has a stronger story and makes a bit more sense. Further comparison really isn’t fair, as they’re two different movies made in different ways, and saying “The Blair Witch Project is better than The Last Broadcast” would be like trying to compare Almost Famous to This is Spinal Tap, pointless. Having said that, at least The Last Broadcast hasn't got an utterly diabolical Hollywood sequel.

The other issue that surrounds this film, which in my opinion is the more important of the two, is the tiny budget the filmmakers had to create this film. Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler had $900 to make this film, using friends and family as crew and cast, and using almost entirely cheap, amateur filming and editing equipment and later altering the look of the film with computers. While some have accused The Last Broadcast of being boring and badly acted, quite honestly I was almost totally engrossed the first time I watched. The performances were never going to be Oscar-worthy and neither were they intended to be. The film has the convincing look of a low-budget documentary, just look at the likes of Nick Broomfield’s Kurt & Courtney, the style is similar and more than plausible. Though there are holes in the story, it develops nicely from being a look into the mind of a killer to becoming an investigation into who did the murders, and from there the filmmakers do a good job of suggesting possible alternative suspects before jarring the viewer with an unexpected and quite disturbing climax. That this was all achieved with a budget of only $900 is extremely impressive and something of an inspiration. The film is nowhere near perfect, the pacing does leave a little to be desired and does meander somewhat towards the end, and the writing and acting does muddle the proceedings at times. However far more expensive films have done a far worse job at telling a story than this does, and I have to say that I do really like this film not just because it was achieved with so little, but the film is in itself an interesting and enjoyable experience.

Pretty unique, and worth a look if you’re an aspiring filmmaker yourself, or just want to see how far 900 bucks can go these days.