VOD From The Dead - 'Last Radio Call' (2022)
For me, location is one of the most important parts of a found footage film. The right location can elevate some of the simplest things into some of the cinema's most nerve-racking moments. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is the obvious example of the role location plays in the overall impact of a found footage film. Simple noises are infinitely more terrifying when you’re in a pitch-black forest with only the dim light of your handheld camera to illuminate what’s in front of you, but leave you vulnerable at all other angles. There is a lot more to a found footage film than that, and location is one just of the many ingredients that go into the recipe. In LAST RADIO CALL, the location is an abandoned hospital. On the list of places that “I never want to spend a night in”, abandoned hospitals are at the top of the list. The irony of course in my saying this is the apartment building I live in used to be an old hospital. While it wasn’t abandoned, it was sold to a developer to turn into an apartment building and the worst thing that’s happened is a raccoon got loose on our floor, but that’s a story for another time. With an inherently creepy setting such as an abandoned hospital, how does LAST RADIO CALL fare in the realm of found-footage horror films?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
LAST RADIO CALL centers around Officer David Serling, who went missing inside the abandoned Yorktown Memorial Hospital. One year later, his wife has hired a film crew to help bring light on what really happened that night. Using recovered body cam footage, she discovers a dark secret that sends her spiraling down a horrific path of an ancient evil. She must now face an unknown terror to find the answers she desperately seeks.
The abandoned Yorktown Hospital looks a lot better in the day than it does at night.
HOW IS IT?
I think it’s only fair to state outright that I’m no connoisseur when it comes to found-footage horror. I’ve seen my fair share of some of the major ones and even was old enough to see THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT during its test theatrical run, it’s one of the sub-genres of horror I tend to watch less frequently. As I mentioned in the introduction, I put the location on a pedestal when I watch found-footage. One of my favorite things about LAST RADIO CALL is the location and the atmosphere that director and writer ISAAC RODRIGUEZ captured. An abandoned hospital is a crowd-pleasing location and has creepy capital to spare, and that shines in LAST RADIO CALL. The initial body cam scenes in the hospital halls, along with the other segments of video captured there, all do a magnificent job of reinforcing the tension that comes simply from just being inside. What can make found-footage films scarier than most other sub-genres is their ability to submerse you in the atmosphere created by the first-person aesthetic. While it’s a hard sell to get anyone to believe what they are watching is real these days, you can feel the dread that comes from being in dark places where you don’t belong. The hospital setting, and the demon haunting it, are some of the most fun moments in LAST RADIO CALL. The Red Sister as she is referred to doesn’t push the boundaries of expectation, but the backstory ISAAC RODRIGUEZ gives her with the Native American folklore inspiration left me wanting to know a bit more about her.
Despite the location and interesting backstory of The Red sister, there are some aspects of LAST RADIO CALL that don’t always deliver the same thrills. There is a lot going on in this movie, and not all of the ideas always seem to add up. What starts out as a simple premise becomes a conspiracy-sized issue that feels almost too big to be kept a secret. It borders on absurd at times, and while I appreciate the big swings I do think more time spent on the core issue of a woman looking for her disappearing husband in and around a creepy abandoned hospital would have been just fine. This is not to say the expansive world that has been laid out isn’t an interesting one, it just feels like it’s too big to cover in the film’s 76-minute runtime. The lead, played by SARAH FROELICH, does a good enough job even if it’s sometimes hard to really know her motives. There’s a particular scene where she gets discouraged by a trespassing ticket where I wondered if that’s all it took to deter her, perhaps she should hang it up. Aside from that, there are some minor continuity and logic issues that crop up throughout which may distract you some. Ultimately, it really depends on how much you love found-footage as to how much you will excuse some of those things.
The Red Sister doesn’t mess around when it comes to sacrifice.
LAST RITES
LAST RADIO CALL will delight found-footage horror fans with a great atmosphere and interesting antagonist, just expect a few bumps along the way.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
Where can you watch it?
LAST RADIO CALL will be available across digital and VOD platforms January 21st, one week after it debuts on the Terror Films Channel!
Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following MacabreDaily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
About The Author
