The Last Broadcast

So these guys have been a bit jealous/disappointed by the fact that Blair Witch Project has gotten that popular and accused it of being a rip-off of their movie (that has been released a year before). This obviously has been denied and appart from the occult angle they're not really similar. In this we watch the documentary investigation of already found footage of some Ghost Hunters-esque team that looked into the Jersey Devil and got killed except for one guy who ends up being prosecuted for their murders (who then died in prison). There is obviously something more to it which is what the documentarian wants to uncover. Where as Blair Witch actually built tension, this one feels mostly like an episode of a Fact or Fiction show. I found it rather boring and there is a lot of repetition. It later on proceeds to hammer in it's message about media and tops that off with a ridiculous ending.

The Last Broadcast is the 'before' picture in a print ad: not very well put together, but necessary for the evolution of the subject. A group of young filmmakers go out camping in the woods with video cameras to investigate paranormal happenings. No, it's not Blair Witch but, as Indiewire points out, The Last Broadcast "may have influenced Blair Witch, it certainly preceded it." Found footage film The Last Broadcast was released a year before The Blair Witch Project, which explains why it's amateurish in all regards. Still, it's contribution to the found footage genre can't be denied.