The vault of imaginary movies?

January 22, 2008 5:06 AM

Did I imagine that reference? Cloverfield got me thinking. Someone somewhere perhaps mentioned to me many years ago another "fake visual document" movie, this one involving a tv crew, a lake, a monster (or just a vague mystery?), and it might have been shot in black and white (perhaps to fake olden times?). Treat all preceding details as suspect, but feel free to go wild giving it a go.

Yes, I've tried IMDB and Google. I suspect some of my recollections are wrong and hence the lack of hits. Unless of course I imagined the whole talk or conflated my memories with assorted mental flotsam, and hence there is no such movie. Or my search-fu is pathetically worse than my proud claims would like to affirm to the contrary, and then you have my permission to pull a Nelson Muntz on me.

posted by Iosephus to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

I'll go with the simple answer and say Blair Witch, but I think there was a student film that got some press awhile back about the Jersey Devil.
posted by monkeymadness at 5:08 AM on January 22, 2008

Was it The Last Broadcast? I bought it while I was all still excited about the Blair Witch but it wasn't anywhere near as good.
posted by wackybrit at 5:11 AM on January 22, 2008

It's not black and white, but otherwise you could be describing Incident at Loch Ness. It's a little hit or mess, but worth watching if only for Werner Herzog.
posted by Stacey at 5:17 AM on January 22, 2008

Ha. I meant "hit or miss," but the way I typed it works too.
posted by Stacey at 5:17 AM on January 22, 2008

Response by poster: I've seen BW, sorry for not having mentioned it. TLB sounds intriguing enough, but the more I think about it, the more I lock into the "old b&w news report" angle. Though now I want to watch TLB besides whatever it is I'm fishing for, heh. And on preview, that one Herzog had his fingers on!
posted by Iosephus at 5:20 AM on January 22, 2008

Response by poster: (Meaning I want to watch it too. I need an assistant editor.)
posted by Iosephus at 5:21 AM on January 22, 2008

Here's a list of Dramatic Examples of Mockumentaries found at wikipedia, maybe one will jog your memory.

* AFR
* Alien Abduction
* ...and I was born to sweet delight!
* The Blair Witch Project
* Cannibal Holocaust
* C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America
* Culloden
* Dadetown
* David Holzman's Diary
* The Day Britain Stopped
* Death of a President
* Fandom: A True Film
* I Am a Purifier!
* Interview With the Assassin
* The Last Broadcast
* Made in Secret: The Story of the East Van Porn Collective
* The Magician
* Il Mistero di Lovecraft
* Nothing So Strange
* Oil Storm
*Punishment Park
* The Second Renaissance
* Supervolcano
* Smallpox
* The War Game
posted by iconomy at 6:41 AM on January 22, 2008

blair witch project?
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:57 AM on January 22, 2008

No monster or lake, but hey, it's in black and white and has a TV crew! Man Bites Dog.
posted by Skot at 12:19 PM on January 22, 2008