In a time when we're bombarded by popcorn horror flicks like Paranormal Activity, we may never see an end to found footage films. The Blair Witch Project is largely responsible for popularizing this style of filmmaking. And it's gotten a little unoriginal ever since.
Grave Encounters is a great example of such a film yet with loads of memorable scares to offer...
The movie depicts a rather unfortunate evening for a TV production crew. The 'ghost hunters' find themselves locked overnight in an old mental hospital with haunted past and reports of paranormal activity within. And boy are they in for a bumpy ride.
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| Grave Encounters crew |
Canadian actor Sean Rogerson plays the host of Grave Encounters' - which is currently filming it's 6th episode. The film starts off with a word from the producer basically saying, 'What you're about to see is real.' A cliché idea conveyed in a very non-cliché manner.
Grave Encounters has a very authentic feel to it. Authentic in that The Vicious Brothers wasted no time with choppy visual effects and other post-production edits. The night vision-enabled sequences were in fact shot in the dark. Also, while you're watching it, note that there isn't any background track - we've seen films like these before, but this one stands out.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Lance Preston (Sean) bribe a local community worker into pretending he had seen a ghost along the premises of Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. In the first half - before the scares kick in - Grave Encounters is more of unraveling of what reality TV shows do behind the scenes to make things more believable. Which is really cool, because you develop certain feelings for them. You're gonna love Lance Preston because he's just friggin' cool, but hate the psychic dude they bring in.
What follows are some fairly mind-bending events. First off, the crew is locked inside overnight. With no way out, they must face their fears in pitch black. They try to escape, only to find dead ends everywhere. Even scary is the fact that it's still dark outside...in the morning. So in a sense, they're here to stay. Forever.
As a member of the audience, you are made to see it all through a camera. Which adds to the whole TV show hullabaloo. The actors are amazing and everyone's performances are top-notch for a low-budget film! I will never understand why this movie is 'rotten' on Flixter. Granted that it's mostly jump scares, but they aren't a problem. Me and my friends were thoroughly frightened by the end of the film. This can only mean that the movie was successful in delivering it's genre: horror. If it's a horror movie, it has a god-given right to scare the hell out of you. And if it doesn't, it sucks.
If you haven't gotten the hint already, Grave Encounters is a pretty frightening movie. Every hallway, door and window to the outside world becomes a nightmare for the crew and it's a mother lode of fun to watch them get scared right outta their pants.
Grave Encounters has a very authentic feel to it. Authentic in that The Vicious Brothers wasted no time with choppy visual effects and other post-production edits. The night vision-enabled sequences were in fact shot in the dark. Also, while you're watching it, note that there isn't any background track - we've seen films like these before, but this one stands out.
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| You're gonna be seeing loads of this! |
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Lance Preston (Sean) bribe a local community worker into pretending he had seen a ghost along the premises of Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. In the first half - before the scares kick in - Grave Encounters is more of unraveling of what reality TV shows do behind the scenes to make things more believable. Which is really cool, because you develop certain feelings for them. You're gonna love Lance Preston because he's just friggin' cool, but hate the psychic dude they bring in.
What follows are some fairly mind-bending events. First off, the crew is locked inside overnight. With no way out, they must face their fears in pitch black. They try to escape, only to find dead ends everywhere. Even scary is the fact that it's still dark outside...in the morning. So in a sense, they're here to stay. Forever.
As a member of the audience, you are made to see it all through a camera. Which adds to the whole TV show hullabaloo. The actors are amazing and everyone's performances are top-notch for a low-budget film! I will never understand why this movie is 'rotten' on Flixter. Granted that it's mostly jump scares, but they aren't a problem. Me and my friends were thoroughly frightened by the end of the film. This can only mean that the movie was successful in delivering it's genre: horror. If it's a horror movie, it has a god-given right to scare the hell out of you. And if it doesn't, it sucks. If you haven't gotten the hint already, Grave Encounters is a pretty frightening movie. Every hallway, door and window to the outside world becomes a nightmare for the crew and it's a mother lode of fun to watch them get scared right outta their pants.
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