History WebVideo / TruthInJournalism

The film can be watched in its entirety on [[https://vimeo.com/79697570 Vimeo]] and on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YDYL6oECjU Youtube]].

** [[spoiler:Franchise/SpiderMan is pictured in some photos in Eddie's [[RoomFullOfCrazy room]].]]

* CrypticBackgroundReference: Many to Eddie's career as a journalist. [[spoiler:They're actually not that cryptic if you're a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' fan.]]

** Eddie talks about his backstory, involving him losing his job at a major newspaper and nearly committing suicide, only to experience an incredible event in a church that gave him a new view on life. [[spoiler:Any ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' fan will recognize that as Venom's origin story.]]

** [[spoiler:Franchise/SpiderMan is obliquely talked about and appears in some photos in Eddie's RoomFullOfCrazy, but that's it. He never directly appears and Eddie gets decidedly uncomfortable when the director tries to bring the subject up.]]

** The plot twist and the film crew's fate is terrifyingly obvious if you're even a casual fan of [[spoiler:''Franchise/SpiderMan'']]. Contrastly, if you're not familiar with the series and character, [[spoiler:Eddie turning into [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} a pitch-black, brain eating monster]]]] will seem like a total GainaxEnding.

* VillainEpisode: The film is essentially [[spoiler:a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' story from Venom's point of view.]] Pointedly subverts the "make them sympathetic" part.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler:Eddie's bedroom, which has photographs of Franchise/SpiderMan all over it.]]

''Truth in Journalism'' is a 2013 short film by director Joe Lynch and producer Adi Shankar, starring Creator/RyanKwanten as a well-known and rather [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} quirky]] (some would say [[AxCrazy troubled]]) journalist named Eddie. Eddie is the subject of an amateur documentary by a group of young filmmakers who want to get his perspective on his controversial career. So begins a series of interviews that become more twisted and strange with each day. And as the film crew quickly discover, Eddie's not the type to take constructive criticism...

* ImmoralJournalist: What Eddie really is.

-> [[SchmuckBait "Hey... would you like to see something cool?"]]

** After all his obvious demonstrations of sociopathy, troubling signs and casual indifference to suffering over the course of the documentary, when the crew decides to cut ties with him in person at his apartment, Eddie promptly murders them all.

** Eddie is scornful of vigilantes. [[spoiler:Because he's the {{ArchEnemy}} of one, namely Spider-Man.]]

* VigilanteMan: Eddie [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] these types at one point. He's pretty dismissive of them, seeing them as not really doing anything to curb crime. He believes the best way to handle it is to simply inform the public properly on how to protect themselves. [[spoiler:Given he's a supervillain, he's a bit biased.]]

** A [[spoiler:Daily Bugle]] paper seen has a front page article about [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the government performing gamma bomb tests in the Nevada Desert]]...]]

** During the mugging scene, Eddie uses newspapers to cover up the victim's body. Pause and you'll see said papers are from [[spoiler:the Daily Bugle]]. The front page article is about a [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk nuclear test in the Nevada desert]].

** A lot, and they actually serve a purpose; they help the viewer figure out where in the series chronology the film takes place. [[spoiler:It's set eight months after Spider-Man ditches the black suit and Eddie Brock becomes Venom. It also happens at the same time as the storyline where he breaks into Spider-Man's house and threatens Mary Jane. Eddie alludes to his firing from the Daily Bugle as happening fairly recently, and partway in he temporarily leaves to pay Mary Jane his visit.]]

* NoNameGiven: When we first meet Eddie, he is referred through the subtitles as "Eddie B. - [[GratuitousFrench journaliste]]". It's only at the very end that we find out what the "B." stands for: [[spoiler:Brock, as in ''[[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Eddie Brock]]''.]]

* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: It's said the director of the documentary project on Eddie is in fact [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/{{Gambit}} Remy LeBeau]]]], albeit it's clear in this incarnation he has no relation to the [[spoiler:ComicBook/XMen]], nor is there any mention or indication that he's a [[spoiler:mutant]] because if he was, it's far more likely he would've been able to [[spoiler:better defend himself against Venom at the end before he butchers him and his crew]].