I realize this admission will probably cause a ton of eye rolls in the heads of snobby film buffs across the globe, but I'm just going to say it — I absolutely love the "found footage" approach to horror filmmaking. That's right. All you film buffs can suck it!
This minimalist filmmaking style, which has now basically become an official subgenre of horror, has a sense of realism to it that allows for a very eerie and unsettling atmosphere that most polished Hollywood films fail to produce. Films like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and [REC] are perfect examples of the "found footage" approach being used to its full, scary-as-hell potential.
Grave Encounters, unfortunately, follows the blueprints of its predecessors a little too closely, feeling like a very obvious collection of recycled bits from the aforementioned films and even others like Session 9 and House On Haunted Hill. I'm not one to dismiss a film solely based on its lack of originality, but Grave Encounters totally misses the mark by forgetting what really makes these films work.
The plot revolves around a group of paranormal investigators who lock themselves up in an abandoned asylum to film an episode for their reality TV show. At first, the crew only seems interested in building up the asylum's history with a lot of juicy lies, courtesy of paid "witnesses" and a phony psychic. After having a few odd experiences while wandering around the decrepit building, the crew soon realize that faking the evidence won't be necessary at all.
This minimalist filmmaking style, which has now basically become an official subgenre of horror, has a sense of realism to it that allows for a very eerie and unsettling atmosphere that most polished Hollywood films fail to produce. Films like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and [REC] are perfect examples of the "found footage" approach being used to its full, scary-as-hell potential.
Grave Encounters, unfortunately, follows the blueprints of its predecessors a little too closely, feeling like a very obvious collection of recycled bits from the aforementioned films and even others like Session 9 and House On Haunted Hill. I'm not one to dismiss a film solely based on its lack of originality, but Grave Encounters totally misses the mark by forgetting what really makes these films work.
The plot revolves around a group of paranormal investigators who lock themselves up in an abandoned asylum to film an episode for their reality TV show. At first, the crew only seems interested in building up the asylum's history with a lot of juicy lies, courtesy of paid "witnesses" and a phony psychic. After having a few odd experiences while wandering around the decrepit building, the crew soon realize that faking the evidence won't be necessary at all.
Having seen a lot of the ghost hunting shows on TV, I know how fake some of them can be, so I thought it was rather refreshing to see this film poke fun at the unreality of reality TV. But at the same time, this obviously made all of the characters instantly loathsome. They're money hungry frauds decieving their audience. The host of the show, Lance, is fairly convincing as a parody of a typical reality show host and I appreciated that. But in order to accomplish this, he had to be incredibly pompous and irritating beyond belief. This of course is a major issue, considering he was given the role of carrying the entire film. The rest of the characters are just as annoying as they do absolutely nothing but childishly bicker back and forth for the majority of the film. If we hate the characters and can't relate to them, how are we expected to be entertained or thrilled by their situation? Simply put, we just won't care. And I didn't.
At first, I was actually somewhat entertained and intrigued by Grave Encounters on a very basic level and I enjoyed the reason behind the crew's inability to escape the building. Instead of their confinement simply being a result of locked doors and barred windows, there was a supernatural twist added that made things rather disorienting and stressful. I will admit that it did affect me. This cool idea, however, seriously overstays its welcome and becomes rather tiresome. Unfortunately, this is also true of every other aspect of Grave Encounters. The bickering characters, the running around, the apparitions with CG'd faces — it all gets extremely old and tiring very quickly and I found myself constantly checking the time to see how much longer the movie would last.
Grave Encounters marks the filmmaking debut of a duo who call themselves The Vicious Brothers, and this pretty much says it all. They're inexperienced filmmakers who like the prosaic and ostentatious (as proved by their name). The "found footage" approach is meant to be subtle and realistic and that's not exactly what we're given here. Grave Encounters may not work as a whole, but it does have its moments and it will be enjoyed by some. For me, however, it was a total chore to sit through. The Vicious Brothers are not totally without talent, they just clearly need a lot more practice.
RATING:
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