GRAVE ENCOUNTERS (2011)

[indianasmith]

HECK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know how hard it is, after watching horror films for a lifetime, to find one that actually scared the crap out of me???  I mean, this movie literally made chills run down my spine and the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I LOVED IT!

OK, let me calm down a bit.

This is perhaps the best "found footage" style movie I've ever seen.  Better than CLOVERFIELD, BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, or PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.  The great opening touch is a carefully shot, well staged interview with a studio executive.  He explains how, a number of years back, a young producer named Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson) approached him about doing a reality show called "Grave Encounters", in which he and his crew would spend the night at various haunted localities and film what happened.  Since this was before "Ghost Hunters" or other such shows, the studio gave them the go-ahead.  Five episodes were filmed without any (non-staged) incidents.  But then came episode six . . .

The crew is locked into an abandoned mental hospital overnight.  Collingwood Mental Institute opened in 1893 and was shut down seventy years later after the murder of one of the doctors there by six inmates.  Lance and his crew set up their static cameras, interview the caretaker and ground crew and a local historian, then settle in for the night to see what happens.
  The buildup is a little slow, I'll grant that.  But it makes the payoff all the more worth it when it comes.  The incidents begin, trivial but still rather shocking, and escalate and escalate - until it becomes evident that the building is not haunted, it's ALIVE - and it intends to devour them one by one!
  Very few special effects here, but when they come, they WORK!  The characters are a bit shallow at first but become more believable and sympathetic as the story goes on.  The end is shocking, brutal, and hard to watch.  I am still getting a chill just typing about it.  YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!

[Jack]

Okay, I'll see it I'll see it!     Added it to the Netflix queue, but it's not available until next week Tuesday.

[Flick James]

Okay. I'll do the same. But if I'm not at least half as impressed with it as you were, I'm coming for you Indy, and it's not going to be pretty.

[indianasmith]

I am legally required to warn you I hold a third degree black belt . . .

Now Bring It!!!!!!

[Flick James]

I am legally required to warn you I hold a third degree black belt . . .

Now Bring It!!!!!!

Yeah, well my black belt is infinity degree.

[InformationGeek]

I've been seeing trailers for this all over YouTube in the past.  It seems okay, but I heard it has a pretty downer ending.

[Trevor]

I am legally required to warn you I hold a third degree black belt . . .

Now Bring It!!!!!!

Me have no black belt, just Toyota fan belt.

[Flick James]

I am legally required to warn you I hold a third degree black belt . . .

Now Bring It!!!!!!

Me have no black belt, just Toyota fan belt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaq72-rAqJU
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[indianasmith]

I was going to create a separate post on this other film, but after I watched it, I found so much in common that I thought I'd just put it here.  The movie is SEVEN DAYS OF DARKNESS, and features a very similar plot - it is put out by Midnight Releasing, and I guess it could be a knockoff of GRAVE ENCOUNTERS.  It has a very similar premise - "found footage" of a group of reality show contestants who agree to spend seven nights in a haunted asylum - but it is much, much cheaper and rather poorly done.  That being said, it does deliver a few actual scares and is not that bad considering the poor acting skills and absolutely abysmal film quality.  GRAVE ENCOUNTERS is enormously better, but this one is not the piece of junk I thought it would be.  i'm just surprised that Midnight Releasing would rip off a low budget indie film.

[indianasmith]

Just curious - has anyone else seen GRAVE ENCOUNTERS yet?  Three different people I recommended it to watched it, and all of them loved it - although one girl at Hasting's told me she had to sleep with her light on afterward!

Anyone?

[InformationGeek]

Just curious - has anyone else seen GRAVE ENCOUNTERS yet?  Three different people I recommended it to watched it, and all of them loved it - although one girl at Hasting's told me she had to sleep with her light on afterward!

Anyone?

Not yet.  I have a few more horror films on the plate to see before this one.

[indianasmith]

My daughter, age 17, is getting more and more interested in horror films, and wanted to watch something "really scary."  So tonight we rented this one and I sat and watched it with her.  She absolutely loved it, and I found it, if anything,  even scarier the second time around.  Coulda done without the gratuitous language, but that just goes with the territory in horror films anymore.  This is one more terrifying thrill ride, and I will second my recommendation from the initial post.  If you like horror movies, this one is a must-see!

[Mofo Rising]

This is why I commend indianasmith for his choice in movies. His taste in little known films is really impeccable.

The movie does start out slow, although I give it credit for really capturing the lame "reality television" vibe. The cynical ghost hunters are played very well, but then it becomes obvious they've bitten off more than they can chew.

Single most horrifying moment, after some very unpleasant happenings they kick open their moment of egress from the hellish hospital only to find... more hospital.

This is a very well done piece of low-budget horror. It reminds me a lot of House of Leaves.

This movie is well worth checking out.

[BakuryuuTyranno]

I'd heard stuff that implied the movie featured too much action to be scary

The House of Leaves comparison kinda makes me think of watching Grave Encounters when its UK theatrical release comes

[Trevor]

I saw this last week in Cape Town:  very scary indeed. Thanks, Indy!