Going into Grave Encounters, I wasn’t expecting much. I’ve seen my fair share of mocumentaries, staged “reality” horrors and ghost hunter films. This one starts off like any other by claiming to be unedited footage where something went terribly wrong but somewhere in the middle of this movie, something went terribly right. The build up escalates to the climax beautifully while you ponder if you’re still sitting in the same theater watching the same ghost hunters. By the end, you won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen but have to because you’re too scared to watch! Grave Encounters lures you in with its skeptical comedy and then traps you in for a haunted fright.
Grave Encounters is a typical paranormal TV show where the crew goes to various “haunted” locations to try and find ghosts. They’ve filmed 5 episodes and haven’t seen any real activity yet. For episode 6, they visit an old psychiatric hospital and decide to lock themselves in and film an entire night. The day before, they explore the campus, set up cameras and interview locals to learn about ghost stories. Led by host Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson), you can quickly tell that the cast and crew take everything is a joke. The only one with an inkling of belief of the other side seems to be Sasha (Ashleigh Gryzko) who just wants to see something cool. Houston Gray (Mackenzie Gray) is an actor brought on to play the role of an expert psychic who can interpret signs from spirits. T.C. (Merwin Mondesir) and Matt (Juan Riedinger) are just cameramen doing their jobs.
The "Grave Encounters" TV Crew
Since this is supposed to be a reality TV show, there are tons of different camera shots and angles to scare you to pieces. If you’re tired of the one guy holding a shaking camera shot, you’ll be relieved to know that this one has a lot more to work with. The stationary cameras start to pick up small little occurrences around the hospital but no one thinks much of it until Sasha has her hair “manipulated.” That’s just the beginning. The presence of ghosts become stronger and the group realizes that the building itself is in on it too! They start to get lost in the maze of hallways and dead ends as they find themselves trapped in a totally different building then they thought they entered.
Would you lock yourself up in this building for a night?
The movie gets ridiculously scary quick. You have to make it past the passive beginning which just annoys you with typical banter and fake personalities. But that set-up is the perfect guise to surprise you with the rest of the film and really expose you to some dark feelings. It’s like it comes out of nowhere and you don’t remember when it started. Events become more and more random as you realize that this building isn’t letting go. The filmmakers pretty much throw the kitchen sink at you which fits because it’s set in a crazy house, right? This is the directorial debut of two young filmmakers calling themselves The Vicious Brothers. Their name is a bit cheesy but their film definitely is not so I’m looking forward to seeing what else they have to offer. You can catch Grave Encounters as the Closing Night Film tonight at Another Hole in the Head. Buy tickets here!
This post is part of our ANITH coverageEvery year, the ANOTHER HOLE IN THE HEAD FILM FESTIVAL unleashes the best dark fantasy, horror/comedy, sci-fi, bizarro-vision cinema in San Francisco. 2011 is no exception — AHITH, PART 8 will throw up 26 features and 15 short films onto the screen at the Roxie Theater, the beating heart of horror starting June 2 through June 17.Visit SF INDIEFEST’s Official Website
Tags: AHITH, Another Hole in the Head, Part 8, Ashleigh Gryzko, Grave Encounters, Juan Riedinger, Mackenzie Gray, Merwin Mondesir, Part 8, Sean Rogerson, The Vicious Brothers
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
