| Grave Encounters (2011) |
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| Director: | The Vicious Brothers (Collin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz) |
| Writers: | The Vicious Brothers (Collin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz) |
| Starring: | Sean Rogerson, Ashleigh Gryzko, Mackenzie Gray, and Merwin Mondesir |
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The Plot: In the world of our film, Grave Encounters was a reality television program that was destined for big things. The show starred Lance Preston who, along with his team of paranormal investigators, would go and snoop around supposedly haunted locations. For their fifth episode, which would never see the light of day, Preston and his crew decided to lock themselves inside of the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. Although this was seen as another day on the job with nothing to fear, Preston and his crew soon began to experience legitimate paranormal phenomena. Objects start to move on their own and some team members begin to actually feel the ghosts come into contact with them. As the group becomes increasingly freaked out, they try their best to escape the hospital but something will not allow them to leave. Corridors change, doors disappear, and soon they are at the mercy of whatever spirits haunt these halls. |
| The Review |
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From the outside looking in, with very little knowledge about the movie, Grave Encounters might look promising, but certainly not special. As far as spoofs of reality “ghost hunter” television shows go, the first half of this movie is pretty spot-on. We all know the “reality” behind these television shows, but it is funny seeing the filmmakers take glee in poking fun at these shows which intend to fleece their audience. So, after the first twenty minutes of the movie, I was happy to find myself laughing quite a bit. As a viewer, it is easy to be lulled into the movie under wrongful expectations, and those expectations are what made the second half of the movie so incredibly effective. The movie gradually moves from being a behind-the-scenes look at the televised ghost-hunting business, to being a pedal-to-the-floor piece of shocking horror. The only thing that I can think to compare to the second half of Grave Encounters would be the original Silent Hill videogame for the Playstation. This second half becomes a living nightmare where our lead characters are continually haunted by invisible foes, dark shadows, cruel jokes, and corridors that change more than the rooms in Cube. All logic is abandoned during the second half, and I’m not sure when the last time I saw a horror movie play games with its audience in the same way that Grave Encounters does.
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| The Conclusion |
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