Thanks for the recommendation tom, really enjoyed this.
Interestingly (or not) I’d just seen a 2010 south korean film called “Deserted House”, which is almost exactly like Grave Encounters, only terrible in every way. Do not recommend, but maybe worth a look for how bizarrely similar they are and how weird it is for what seems like it might have been an american remake being vastly better than the asian original horror movie.
Arise!
I’m one of the folks that saw this on a whim and wound up liking it a lot more than expected. The “turn” moment was really well done. I thought the creature stuff was goofy, and the end was kind of dumb, but I thought it had some clever bits that tipped this into the + column.
Anyway, there’s a sequel trailer out now. http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/169647-exclusive-trailer-premiere-grave-encounters-2
I guess they’re going with a Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows type meta plot.
I really enjoyed the first one, so I will be seeing the sequel. And I will probably be really disappointed.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s even being directed by the same guys.
It is being written by the same guys who wrote and directed the first.
Trailer looks terrible, right down to the obvious Blair Witch crying scene.
I just watched it, and I didn’t like it at all. The original is a low budget horror gem, the sequel is just cheap and quite honestly doesn’t even make sense. The characters are all morons*, and at no point did I want them to do anything but die. Even the “holy shit”* scene falls on its ass. 1.5 out of 5, with the original being a 3.5.
[spoiler]Seriously, the lead character believes that Grave Encounters really happened, and wants to go to the location where it occurred to film a student documentary. What kind of moron would want to go within 20 miles of that place?
The “holy shit” moment in the first film was when the characters smashed thier way out of what had been the front doors, but is now a hallway. A very effective scene, and a great example of filmmakers being clever with a limited budget.
In Grave Encounters 2 we get the morons escaping the hospital and returning to their hotel. They are in a rush to leave and get on an elevator. The elevator doors open and… The camera is positioned behind the characters long before the doors open and you can see what was going to happen a mile off.[/spoiler]
Awww. That’s too bad. I held a sliver of hope that the sequel wouldn’t completely suck.
Thanks for diving on the grenade Dr. Quasius.
I was listening to the Best of 2013 podcast and heard Tom mention this movie offhandedly, if I remember correctly he said he and Kelly both liked it. I remembered this had been in my Netflix queue forever, so I just fired it up to see if it might be a good time. I am always in the mood for a good horror movie. A bad horror movie, too. And Grave Encounters is … neither. It was so thoroughly average in pretty much every respect that I can’t even muster up any kind of feelings about it. The actors seemed competent enough, I like the idea behind catching ghosts on camera in a dilapidated asylum (hey, Session 9 was awesome!) and the effects were, you know, pretty good. But the movie telegraphed its scares and seemed to be in love with that CGI effect where a person open their mouth to scream and their mouth expands to freakish proportions - this is right behind Japanese girls with their hair in their face on my list of things that are ludicrously un-scary. Having seen Banshee Chapter recently and quite liking it, this just feels like an extra disappointment. And there’s a sequel too, huh? No thanks.
The effectiveness of the movie requires thinking that you’re going to watch one of those found footage movies too cheap to show any monsters. It’s been spoiled by so many people putting so much CG in their found footage over the last few years. And, yeah, avoid the sequel. It’s just a retread.
-TomI just have to chime in and say I loved this and it continues to be one of my favorite found footage horror movies. The conceit is perfect, and hilarious.