On the surface, Grave Encounters looks like an ultra-cheap cash-in on the 'found footage' horror sub-genre, with the twist this time that the camcorder wielding heroes are making a TV episode akin to Most Haunted or Ghost Hunters. But as with most films of this type, it works rather well.
Picking an abandoned Mental Hospital (obviously a Vancouver building seen a million times in episodes of The X-Files, The Outer Limits, etc) from which to film this weeks episode, the intrepid team get the caretaker to lock them in and they set about trying to find something vaguely creepy from which to construct their show. But something nastier finds them.
The handheld style adds realism and immediacy to the drama, the amateur shooting style creates a excited, frenzied feel in the moments of brief, violent action and there's some strong jump scares to be had in the dark corridors of the hospital. It's also great the way it gently sends up the TV programmes on which it's based from the eccentric psychic trying to communicate with the spirits to the hammy presenter trying to bribe a groundsman to make some supernatural story up for the camera.
Unsettling, disorientating (it pushes the situation into surreal territory at times) with a few well placed spectres to make you shit your pants, this is a surprisingly welcome addition to the still expanding found footage club.
1 comment:
Yeah, it was not bad at all. Some of the fx were pretty obvious cgi but luckily they were only glimpsed quickly so were pretty effective. Loved the arms through the ceiling bit. Creepy and Day of the Dead-ish.
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