17.10.11

Forgotten Frights, Oct. 17: Grave Encounters





GRAVE ENCOUNTERS (2011)

Section of the cinematic cemetery: Ghost hunting-turned-haunting mockumentary

Cause of (premature) death: Its a low-budget Canadian horror, that premiered at Tribeca but wasnt given a following release. It promised a DVD release that never happened and is now only available on video-on-demand online. As for the reviews? What reviews?

What its tombstone would read: A crew of ghost hunters planning to stage a haunting in a shut-down psychiatric hospital found what they hoped they would never actually find.

Why it should be revived: If you love or laugh at ghost hunting shows, this ones for you. It starts out as a parody of Ghost Adventures? Ghost Hunters? Paranormal State? (You know I could go on forever.) And it turns out to be a strange and violent chase through a maze-like psychiatric hospital, sending the ghostbusters into a psychological spiral themselves. It plays tricks on the viewers, toys with sound and silence cleverly and, above all, is actually scary. Frights slowly escalate to a chilling, perfectly-fitting and very grave encounter.


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