Grave Encounters is a 2011 Canadian horror film about the crew of a fictional paranormal reality television program who lock themselves in a haunted psychiatric hospital. In doing so they hope to find evidence of paranormal activity…
Written and directed by The Vicious Brothers (Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz, It Stains the Sands Red; Extraterrestrial), the film premiered on April 22nd 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival to favourable reviews.
Television producer Jerry Hartfield describes how Grave Encounters, a paranormal reality television program directed by and starring ghost hunter Lance Preston was cancelled after five episodes.
Hartfield explains that the events about to be shown in the film is raw footage from the sixth and final episode filmed, edited only for time-restraint purposes.
The footage shows the crew of Grave Encounters – composed of Lance himself, occult specialist Sasha Parker, technical expert Matt White, cameraman T. C. Gibson, and guest starring psychic medium Houston Grey – preparing to investigate the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital where unexplained phenomena have been reported for years.
They receive a tour of Collingwood and its underground tunnels and also learn about Collingwood’s history, including a physician named Arthur Friedkin, who performed unethical experiments and lobotomies on the hospital patients before being killed by escaped patients.
The crew voluntarily lock themselves inside Collingwood for the night and begin their investigation, setting up camp near the hospital’s main entrance. Lance and his crew try to establish contact with the unseen entities responsible and are tormented by hauntings, which become increasingly hostile…
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Reviews:
“Grave Encounters is one of the better POV movies that have come out after Paranormal Activity. It’s well done and does get a little creepy at times. It’s got a lot of flaws, but also some great scenes that makes this very enjoyable.” Cinema Terror
“The movie also wastes little time getting to the “good stuff.” Usual “found footage” expectations consist of 70 minutes of filler before a 10-minute climax. Grave Encounters dials it up to 10 well before the halfway point and never comes back down. Best of all, Grave Encounters is frighteningly entertaining.” Culture Crypt
” …a film where you admire the ambition and technical competence of ingenue filmmakers at the same time as you find its lack of originality tiresome […] Alas, Grave Encounters does not have enough at its disposal to do anything breathtakingly original.” Moria
“…I strongly suspect that the filmmakers watched Paranormal Activity and, with dollar signs dancing in their eyes, decided to inject lots of gore, painful clichés and horrible characters. Oh and also the type of special effects most often seen in youtube videos.” Virtual Borderland
Cast and characters:
Ben Wilkinson … Jerry Hartfield; Sean Rogerson … Lance Preston; Ashleigh Gryzko … Sasha Parker; Merwin Mondesir … T.C. Gibson; Juan Riedinger … Matt White; Shawn Macdonald … Morgan Turner; Arthur Corber … Doctor Arthur Friedkin; Bob Rathie … Kenny Sandavol; Fred Keating … Gary Crawford; Max Train … Punk Guy; Martha Eason … Punk Girl; Luis Javier … Javier Ortega; Mackenzie Gray … Houston Gray; Eva Gifford … Demon Girl; Michele Cummins … Bathtub Demon
Technical details:
1 hour 32 minutes
Aspect ratio: 1.78: 1
Audio: Dolby Digital
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