The 3rd Channel is a fan movie based on the controversial Halloween III: Season of the Witch. I honestly enjoyed John Carpenter's original more than the other movies in the Halloween franchise so I thought this fan film was worth checking out.
The movie started out very strong. I loved that many of the same filming locations were used from the original movie which really helped to quickly pull fans into this new story. The initial character development worked well and the eerie off kilter shots sold the horror very well and the "big brother is watching you" aspect. The soundtrack and background ambience were amazing in setting the tone although, at times, the volume level was set too high and made some of the dialogue very hard to hear.
Until about 5 minutes before the end of the movie, tension was successfully built and we became invested in the protagonist Jessica Kelly, who inherited the somewhat sinister Shamrock factory, and the mysterious advisor who guides her in her new role. Little snippets are revealed and we wonder if she is going to overcome the creeping horror or become a willing part of it.
However, we never get to have those questions answered as the last five minutes is very non sequitur. We never hear any more of Jessica's story and are instead presented with an ending intended to be a shocking twist but was not earned in any way, seeming only tangentially related to the original plot. It's almost as if there is about 20 minutes of missing plot to get from point A to point B. And this is truly sad. What was an 8 or 9 star movie throughout was decimated by it's far too sudden and unsatisfying ending. The film quality went down and, instead of the great practical robotics shown earlier, we get some very out of place cgi that doesn't match. Likewise the great camera angles ,editing and sound track from the lead up to that point is suddenly abandoned. I get the impression that perhaps the budget ran out so they had to stitch together what they had and perhaps intended more story to tie it all together.
Ignoring the unjustified ending, Michelle Blasky, who wrote and directed this fan film, is clearly an extremely talented individual and cinematographer. This is her first movie outing and, given that, she is definitely a rising star to watch out for in the future. In spite of it's flawed ending, take a look at this movie so, when you see what impressive stuff comes from her in the future, you can say that you saw her career develop and bloom right from the beginning...
