Review: WNUF Halloween Special (2013)
Directed by: Chris LaMartina and various
Starring: Paul Fahrenkopf, Aaron Henkin, Nicolette le Faye
Written by: Chris LaMartina, Jimmy George, and various
Country: United States
Available on: Blu-ray (Terror Vision Films), DVD (Bayview Films)
IMDb
WNUF Halloween Special, the lo-fi indie brainchild of director and co-writer Chris LaMartina and producer and co-writer Jimmy George (President’s Day, Call Girl of Cthulhu, What Happens Next Will Scare You), has carved itself a spot as a staple of Halloween viewing. There are two primary reasons for this. First, it’s kind of a miracle of low-budget filmmaking, leveraging the ingenuity of a hundred Hollywood auteurs to recreate, in 2013, a film that looks incredibly authentic as an ‘80s time capsule spawned by public television, from its overly egotistical, bitter hosts who are too talented for their small town but too shitty for anything else, vintage commercials advertising anything from amateur shooting ranges to makeup kits to specially formulated Halloween wine coolers, and a spine-tingling, if somewhat low-key, central story. And second, it’s a throbbing miasma of Halloween nostalgia alive with blow molds, grease paints, and wax teeth.
Most of WNUF’s praise focuses on how accurately it recreates its time period (and it’s gonna swiftly whisk your ass right into the berber-carpeted living room of your youth, sitting in front of the RCA tube TV with an Ecto Cooler in your hands). But LaMartina and his gang are up to something much slyer and more fun beyond its aesthetic. The core narrative follows WNUF investigative reporter Frank Stewart (Paul Fahrenkopf), filming a paranormal investigation of the Webber house, where multiple people were murdered. Stewart, a couple of paranormal researchers, and a priest try to contact the spirits in the house, with results that are not the best. This story is very simple, doesn’t hold a ton of surprises, and makes up only about a third of the film (the other two-thirds are various commercial breaks and other Halloween-related vignettes being broadcast by fictional television station WNUF TV28. But the movie expertly ramps its tension through the escalating pissiness of its main characters, who get increasingly sassy with each other, and the horror (which gets fairly distressing near the end) juxtaposed against moments of quaint silliness and genuine humor.
Fahrenkopf is the star here; Stewart’s biting wit, aloof grumpiness, and “get-the-fuck-out-of-here-with-that-shit” scowl invokes Phil Connors vibes. But equally as great is Nicolette le Faye as Stewart’s awkward, cheery producer whose badly penciled eyebrows belie just how unprepared everyone is for what’s happening on Halloween night in 1987. All of the actors are fantastic — or at least their lack of professionalism entirely suits the timid, graceless personalities you’d encounter through public access.
For better or worse (generally better), WNUF Halloween Special accurately presents itself as cheapie local TV gone haywire. The commercial breaks can be excessive and sometimes cloyingly whimsical, and often interrupt the dread at the worst times. The transitions between the at-times benign segments are clumsy. The horror is a little tame and nothing particularly fresh in and of itself. Though these elements might (and have, according to many Letterboxd reviewers) rub some viewers the wrong way, this meal needs to be consumed whole for its individual ingredients to be appreciated. After the first watch, it’s perhaps better served as seasonal ambience than a riveting watch; and, as a child of the ‘80s, I wonder how much I’d like this movie if I had no built-in nostalgia to cultivate. But I do. And WNUF Halloween Special is a terrific way to awaken those memories of late nights and scary movies by the glow of the boob tube.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10
