This film is absolutely crazy. Outside of the running around and cameras not showing much at times this movie definitely hits home around spooky season. I absolutely love the vibe this movie gives.
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tart-437368 September 2021
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HotHamlet22 September 2022So this movie is not at all as bad as people say it is. On this website (IMDB) the score is far too low. I'm specifically here talking about the Metascore and not the IMDB user score. It's 33/100 or 3.3/10 and for me that is too low. Now this movie is by no means a masterpiece even when we are strictly speaking about horror, but it's not a bad movie.
The story of this movie.... well it doesn't really have one to note. By this i don't mean there isn't one at all but rather there is very little to talk about when it comes to this movie. That is what i mean by "to note". The movie starts off with the introduction of the cast and what their deal is (they're a paranormal type TV show). But after their introduction into the movie everything else you need to know just happens as the movie progresses and there isn't really any deeper lore. It's simply a movie intended to scare and be uncomfortable and that's it. If you're looking for a horror movie with lore or really any story at all then skip this one.
The horror in this movie is actually ok. There are quite a few jumpscares however i actually though those were the least scary part of this movie (obviously this isn't including the first minutes of the movie). By this statement i simply mean that i found other parts more chilling and uncomfortable. The part that made me feel uncomfortable first was the fact that the building kept changing around them making for an uncomfortable experience for myself personally. I do not want to say more for fear of spouting spoilers, but this movies horror (for a found footage movie) is actually not bad. The place they are in isn't of our plain it seems. Nothing to blow you away i can assure you but at the very least it's average.
The cast of characters in this movie are my favourite part of the movie. I'm kinda surprised myself to say that i thought the acting in this movie was great. Compared to 99% of horror movie is watch, this movie has some of the best acting of them all. I truly believed that they were in this abandoned Asylum. Ever single actor was great in this film. The only one i didn't think was as good as the rest was Matt (played by Juan Riedinger). He wasn't bad at all just not as good as the rest of the cast. I really enjoyed their reactions and i felt like i was watching what real people would act like in this situation. Not perfect but very close too for a found footage.
Story - N/A
Horror - 6
Cast - 9/10
CGI/Monsters - 4/10
Compared to MOST found footage movies i believe this is one of the better ones, 6/10. -
pzct30 June 2020Solid Concept The movie is one of them found footage horror flicks. It's kind of like when YouTubers make a video about exploring an haunted building and records it. It's pretty much this film except they're filming for a show called Grave Encounters. They explore an haunted asylum and capture the footage of ghost activity. Except things go wrong for the worse cause the ghost will never let them leave. I enjoyed the film but there are problems with it. My opinion: when people die, I couldn't tell if they died because the deaths happened off screen and there's barely blood around. And it just seemed rushed and things are slow as well. And the ending was just...What? But I did enjoy the film and it was a solid concept
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azathothpwiggins9 November 2021GRAVE ENCOUNTERS starts out as a parody of those "ghost hunter" reality shows, complete with an overly-dramatic host, a psychic, and an occult expert. The humor comes from the raw, unedited footage, where the stars mock and condemn the fakery of their own show.
The real fun begins when these same paranormal investigators take a film crew into an abandoned, supposedly haunted mental institution. After having themselves locked in for the night, our fearless adventurers settle in for what they expect to be a long, dull evening.
What follows is a slowly-spiraling descent into terror, madness, and death.
The best part of ENCOUNTERS is its midsection, which is nearly perfect in its tense buildup. By comparison, the finale is abrupt and a bit of a buzzkill. Still, as "found footage" films go, it's a damned good one.
As with most such films, it's best viewed in total darkness... -
gianmarcoronconi17 June 2022Fake documentary film that scares enough and carries a nice enough theme in the middle of all the others. Don't expect much, it's a decent mobile camera horror that entertains and frightens the fiend.
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Theo Robertson12 March 2014A TV production team decide to make a show featuring the paranormal . Knowing of a disused lunatic asylum with a reputation for hauntings they decide to visit there one night and investigate . Not taking anything seriously they explore the asylum but hear noises and begin to wonder if they might have made a mistake visiting the place
Yet another lost footage film and the hoary old criticism of when you've seen one of these movies you've seen them all comes in to play . That said GRAVE ENCOUNTERS plays the formula very very well and I'm probably not alone in stating that this is the best movie in its sub-genre . Before watching it I had a quick glance on this page and did find a lot of comments with adjective phrases like " I was terrified " and " Me and my friends had to switch the lights back on halfway through " and " I literally jumped out my seat " and my cynical response was yeah of course you did , so I put the lights out , put my headphones on and watched it on my laptop . It says something of its quality that several times while watching GRAVE ENCOUNTERS I was very tempted to put the lights back on and I too literally jumped out of my seat
Okay let's be honest . Having some characters walk around the dark using night vision and having loud sounds coupled with shock horror imagery appear from nowhere is a very cheap trick but the startle moments are very effectively done . . If there's any problem with the movie it's like all lost footage films where it takes a long while for things to get going . That said even at the start of the film there's an element of satire where the production team bribe someone to lie that they saw a ghost and bring in an actor claiming to be a psychic so the innuendo that all these paranormal shows like FACT OR FAKED are fraudulent are at the very least embellished or exaggerated is much appreciated by me . It also contains a good structure and tonal shift where the terror builds up slowly and while like other similar films the build up is a little bit slow once the horror element kicks off it is very compelling and superior to its peers -
This is your stand alone hand camera found footage ghost film that we've seen many times before. But it puts a spin on those films when including a cheesy but interesting ghost hunting team, and an absolute terrifying set at an abandoned haunted asylum full of some of the most haunting ghosts. While it may still have some issues, this is a pretty solid ghost movie.
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guineabees23 October 2014This started out with enough tongue-in-cheek humor that I was really hopeful it'd go well. It didn't.
We have a premise that starts with an asylum that has the general "unsettling but normal" history with regards to people who are in or around it regularly and a team of ghost hunters that are more than willing to fake it for the cameras. Laughs are had leading into the investigation, and then things go very wrong.
They really could have stopped at jump scares--most of the team startled like they were kids, it doesn't take much of a leap to think spending 8 hours being messed with by ghosts would have them all leaving much more worse for the wear. Instead, the movie dragged on long past its welcome coming up with nonsensical and disjointed ways to kill off the cast while they were inexplicably trapped in some alternate ghost dimension where it is always nighttime. One is apparently taken in as a "patient" for who knows how long before he finally kills himself, another is almost choked to death only to ultimately be killed in what I can only describe as an invisible landmine accident, another gets pulled into a shallow tub of blood and mysteriously vanishes, the lone female is abducted by a cloud, and the final "victim" gets lobotomized before probably getting finished off just to tie up loose ends.
Literally nothing they encounter lines up with the experiences of people that regularly spend time alone in the building. I'm not sure that the writers cared, though, as they seemed more concerned with mashing in as many tropes as possible. From spooky ghosts with unhinged jaws to buildings spontaneously changing their structure to surprise black magic circles--all of it lacks cohesion. I suppose we can blame the almost intentionally generic history of the place as the starting point for the rest falling apart. There was nothing built in to work with, so it became a free for all.
Save yourself the time and frustration of sitting through this. It isn't scary, it isn't original, and it isn't worth it. -
nephythys31 August 2011It's a waste of time to complain that movies like this have been done before. Yes, they have and if you don't like them, don't watch them. I don't think I will ever understand why people watch a movie like this expecting something totally new and different and super high art to fulfill their overly pretentious taste and make them feel like true film critics- Please.
We watched this movie last night via On Demand. A roomful of horror movie fans ranging in age from 11 to 39- and we had a great time. A wall crawling, giggling, screaming at the top of our lungs good time.
-and that's the point! Having a good time.
I don't need to have everything in a scary movie make sense, or be explained to me. I am not in school, I am having a laugh and a good time freaking out with the poor saps trapped in the haunted mental institution.
The story was tight enough to be good, loose enough to allow for the insanity that ensued. The characters were not cliché and the ending was not totally cookie cutter.
Bottom line- this movie was fun. There were moments when we laughed at it, but there were also moments that made us freak out and want to turn on the lights. Just stop over-analyzing, relax and go with it and have fun. If you have to nit-pick a movie to death you have way too much time on your hands.....HAVE FUN! -
michaelRokeefe7 November 2015For Tribeca Films, The Vicious Brothers direct this horror flick about a group of paranormal-investigators trying to boost ratings for their TV show. Lead investigator Lance Preston(Sean Rogerson)is to the point of even paying for fake interviews and evidence. This sixth episode they are filming will take place in a derelict psychiatric hospital. Hoping rumors are true, they should be able to capture things that go bump in the night while the cameras are rolling. The film crew is disappointed that nothing has happened; that they know of. Soon the ghost hunters become the hunted and trapped by lobotomized spirits.
The location(in Vancouver, Canada)is eerie, even with the lights on. If you don't scare yourself, there is enough atmosphere and creepy scenes to raise the hair on the back of your neck. Some of the characters get very irritating; but the stars of this reality show don't stay together for long. Surprisingly worth your time.
The cast also features: Ashleigh Gryzko, Shawn Macdonald, Ben Wilkinson, Juan Riedinger and Bob Rathie. -
Omne11 March 2012This movie had potential and it worked for the first 1/2 hour or so. Then it rapidly disintegrated, it's the only word I can think of that fits.
The beginning was genuinely creepy, the characters were terrified by relatively benign events, things moving by themselves etc. I thought it was a great idea. Show how REAL people would react to even minor activity. There was real suspense and I thought it was going to be pretty good. It takes so little to cause so much terror in real life. They should have run with that idea.
Then... it completely falls apart. They go for the big stuff. I'm sorry but when they change the rules, like they did here, violating all of the laws of physics and literally making anything possible it simply becomes "magic". Once a film is at the "magic" level it becomes a simple fantasy with no connection to reality and the fear vanishes instantly. There's no way I can relate to what's going on any more than I can relate to a movie like Hellraiser. If literally anything can happen then there's no real suspense, it's just a matter of finding out the details of the story and seeing how it ends.
I'm not even going to touch the "forever" batteries in the cameras and computers. Reminded me of the infinite repeating guns in the old westerns.
All in all a real disappointment for a movie that could have been so much more and a fresh new look at an old idea. -
Booster7716 August 2011I was fortunate enough to see Grave Encounters last night, a movie I have been waiting for, for a long time. And because I know there are a lot of people out there who still have to see it, I will not spoil anything, which makes it a bit harder to review the movie at this time, but I'll give it my best.
I loved the beginning of the movie, especially as a 'ghosthunters' and 'ghost adventures' fan. It is very clear that the makers of this movie have at least watched 'ghost adventures'. The cast is legit, this could've seriously been a new paranormal show, or at least it could've convinced me.
I loved it even more that the makers of 'Grave Encounters' (I mean the show in the movie) actually prove it is almost impossible to capture evidence each episode. This while that's what's required to keep a ghost hunting show interesting all the time, and how they are planning to deal with that in case 'once again' nothing happens, this was the only time I had to laugh during this movie. After that, the lockdown (that word sounded very familiar to me ;) began and the laughing stopped...
In contrary to what other reviews said, I DID find it very very scary at times, even the parts that were already in the trailer. There were moments that I literally jumped off my seat. If you're going to watch a movie about ghost hunters, of course you can expect slamming doors and stuff like that, I don't think one of my previous reviewers are very honest about that and I actually wonder what YOU were expecting. Of course there are screaming people all the time, giving the events of the movie (or even only half of them) I would've liked to see you in a situation like that!
I do however admit that the movie made some turns towards the end that I didn't expect and would rather have seen differently. Once again, without spoiling anything because I would hate to do that, I would rather have seen the makers keeping it ehm, a little less explosive and a little less revealing. Once you see the movie you'll understand what I mean.
I would have been more satisfied if the only thing that I had seen the entire movie are slamming doors and flying things for instance. But I guess that's also a matter of what you are willing to believe CAN happen.
So my only reserves are that the only reason that this will not be a new blair witch project, is because there is too much visually revealed. Metaforically speaking: keeping ghosts invisible is usually scarier.
Overall, I was greatly entertained, this was the first movie to seriously scare me while watching in over a decade, which says something coming from a die-hard horror fan (check my history). It has been worth my wait and I hope I see more from this crew in the future. -
mistywater-3979522 January 2021I never heard of this movie but I was bored and thought I'd give it a try. It's well worth the watch. The end is a little long and there are a couple lame jump scares but if you want to be entertained give this watch
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morten-b-lau4 October 2013As this is my first review on this site I beg the reader's indulgence, even if I can't bring myself to do this movie the same favor. Because "Grave Encounters" (2011) unfortunately stands out for all the wrong reasons.
The setting itself seems promising at first; a camera team recording a reality show about ghost hunters during a night in an abandoned mental hospital, only to find more proof of the afterlife than they bargained for - a fine setting for any horror movie or video game. Disregarding the painfully obvious intro, with a producer who comments on the found material and even giving a looking-directly-into-the-camera assurance of the veracity of said recordings, the problems of this flick begin almost immediately. The stiff, unconvincing and decidedly "unrealistic" acting of the main characters, members of a freelance reality show group called "Grave Encounters", is only partially offset by the constant change in perspective from the "authentic behind the scenes" footage and the "part of the TV show" footage. This effect does present some entertaining details, such as the presenter of the show being a fame chasing non- believer and the crew trying to bribe a random gardener into claiming haven seen a real ghost, and it goes someway to excuse the presenter character, who has to switch constantly between being himself and the overly dramatic ghost chaser persona. But soon after, during the day time tour of the site, the dialogue starts to falter and the forced acting turns out to be less of an ironic statement and more of an impeding condition for the movie itself.
Now, I have seen many a horror movie that suffers the same acting and scripting issues as mentioned, but that are nevertheless enjoyable for some reason. Some have amateurish but ambitious effects, others have loads of self irony. Some have fantastic CGI creatures others have papier mâché puppets on strings and are more funny than scary. Some are drawn out master pieces of suspense and some explosive and action packed originals. This movie has none of the above.
I know one cannot invent the proverbial wheel all the time, but this movie is one of the most cliché ridden and poorly executed examples of a failed spin off in recent times. I still haven't gotten over the fact, for instance, that the supposed original footage is interlaced with archive material showing some very unconvincing "actual footage" from the 1930s, even if the "executive producer" just told us, that the found material has only been edited for time. I find the entire premise of the stationary camera / documentary style is being violated, when the unmanned cameras pan and zoom in on the creepy window opening by itself. Likewise, when the character puts down his camera in a panicked frenzy and subsequently puts down and slightly adjusts a portable spotlight to illuminate the exact spot he's going to, any amount of tension inherent in the scene evaporates like the ghostbusters-green "ectoplasmic residue" that shows up under the UV lamps in an earlier scene.
Having forfeited not only script and acting quality, but also stylistic integrity, the hope for this movie then seems to ride on either originality, chilling effects and/or a well thought out ending. With respect to originality I can safely say that there is absolutely nothing here that hasn't been seen before, even if the combination of scares and effects is equally novel and puzzling. Without giving away the ending, or even too much of the plot, I might warn potential viewers to expect a bewildering mixture of demonic possession, digital camera glitches and pixel errors, black eyes, white eyes, meat hooks (!), bloodstained altars, runic writing(!?!) and the to be expected doctor, conducting human experiments. The sheer amount of potentially interesting ideas crammed into one flick is so overwhelming, that if the previous grievances and clumsy teen-slasher-boom-noise-scares haven't given you a headache yet, trying to make sense of the back story certainly will.
The CG effects are thankfully few and far between, consisting largely of raccoon-eye makeup and contact lenses combined with the overextended gaping mouth, screaming with a demonic voice. As such this works alright, particularly the second time around, but again the application seems random and unnecessary; an empty room suddenly containing a lone, shuddering figure in a hospital gown with its back turned should be scary enough without having to resort to relatively cheap and seen before tricks like this.
If all this negativity hasn't scared you away yet, and you are hell bent on watching this movie, you deserve to do so without me droning on about the ending. Suffice it to say, that it's better than I feared it would be. Whether you'll find it good enough to redeem the previous 1½ hrs of waste of time (I honestly could not believe my eyes when I looked at the time and saw just 50 minutes had passed) I can't say, but my final opinion would be this: If you want a good documentary style horror movie watch "The Blair Witch Project", "Paranormal Activity" 1 or 2 or "REC"/"Quarantine". If you have done so already, chances are that "Grave Encounters" will do nothing good for you. -
Well it definitely has more in common with The House On Haunted Hill than REC. or Paranormal Activity when it comes to impact or freshness and believability but it sure knows how to frighten you frozen in your seat as them. It starts off as a somewhat mockumentary similar to The Last Exorcism that was pretty clever and entertaining as a phony ghost hunting reality show crew willingly lock themselves inside an abandon mental hospital only soon do the realize that it has a mind of its own. The way the movie escalates the terror, suspense and intensity was unrelenting and I have never had to cover my eyes as much or be sleepless after watching a horror movie since I saw the first Paranormal Activity and though Paranormal Activity was more effective with its scares this one was a heart pounding frightfest with ghoulish ghosts and activity around every corner as though you feel like you're right there with them in a never ending haunted house ride. The films direction, plot and theme is nothing new or ground breaking and the acting not as raw as some of the better found footage movies but once this sub-genre dies out this one will not be lost and forgotten and might be named as one of the best found footage film of all time, it is sure on the top of my list. Overall this definitely deserves a wide release as it's one of the scariest, entertaining horror movie of 2011 and sure it doesn't have originality on its side and ends on a predictable but still chilling note but I got to tell you Grave Encounters will get under your skin and it gives me another reason why I love the found footage horror movies so much because they're involving and terrifyingly raw which makes most of them unforgettable. Keep them coming because I for one can't get enough of them. Highly recommended! 7.7 out of 10
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EtherealMind15 August 2011This film ticked all the boxes in terms of how a scary movie should be made. I thought the film captured the atmosphere of the Psychiatric hospital extremely well and there were certainly moments that made you nervous and anxious. The film starts off quite slow (which I like) and builds suspense brilliantly without the use of over the top music like many horror movies do these days. I felt this film was at its scariest when nothing obviously scary was shown. The camera shots down the long, dark corridors did it for me - the not knowing of what was in the shadows was sufficient in delivering the terror - but some may disagree. The film lost some of its scary-ness when it began to throw the scares in your face. E.g. the hands coming out of the ceiling, or the girl who turns around with the demonic looking face. These scenes, while scary for most people, were not required for the film to be scary; its atmosphere did that already I feel. There's nothing particularly ground breaking or original about this film but it does have an extremely nerve-wracking atmosphere that will make you anxious as you watch.
7/10 -
BA_Harrison26 November 2014The Blair Witch Project meets Paranormal Activity meets The House on Haunted Hill in yet another low budget, found footage/mockumentary style horror that is short on originality yet genuinely high on atmosphere thanks to an effectively eerie setting: an old abandoned asylum.
While the characters—a group of ghost hunters filming a reality show—are wandering around the deserted, derelict building looking for proof of supernatural activity, Grave Encounters is surprisingly unnerving stuff, the abandoned building's deep, foreboding shadows and rooms full of creepy ephemera (old wheelchairs, rusty gurneys, broken shower stalls, and grimy bathtubs) ensuring a palpable sense of dread.
Where the film disappoints is with its actual scares: the encounters with the ghosts aren't as anywhere near as bowel-loosening as the makers had obviously intended, the shocks being very predictable, with the use of rather ropey CGI seriously weakening their overall effect. -
caylamflynn-9631517 April 2020Pretty good. it looked funny at the beginning and it kinda went on too long at the end. but it was really scary and i probably won't sleep tonight ha
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jpurits-604-55921724 September 2011How to sum up this movie ? If Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity had a mentally handicapped love child this movie would be it.
Right from the beginning you get the feeling that this movie is going to be sub par even by low budget film standards. From shaky camera work, with unneeded zooms, during interviews by a supposedly professional cameraman to more than silly looking "archive" footage of the mental hospital should have been clues to stop watching the movie and do something more worthwhile like watch the grass grow. But, like a real trooper, I decided to soldier on. My mistake.
Bad acting, to the point of laughable. But do not get me wrong, it is not "so bad it's good" type of laughable. Typical low budget scares, some very similar to Blair and P.A., that really do not scare any more because you have already seen their likes. Typical shaky camera running around through the dark. And, a more than predictable ending.
This movie lacks everything that a low budget horror needs to have in order to be good = originality and believable acting. The setting of the movie, mental hospital, opens up a lot of possibilities that could have made for a much better / scarier movie than this turned out to be, even on a shoe string budget.
Do not waste your time if you are looking for something original or scary unless you have never seen Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity, then you might find this to be, at best, half decent but, because of the acting, I doubt it. -
Stanley391 August 2022I am a sophisticated adult. I have seen thousands of movies. I can watch zombies, vampires, serial killers, sharks, alligators. Snakes, demons,live beheadings without batting an eye. But holy crap this movie scared the bejeesus out of me to the point of having to pause it, going for a walk and a drink to calm down, before resuming watching. This is serious blood curdling stuff. You have been warned.
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jaimellester19 April 2021This is a pretty darn good movie, y'all! I wasn't scared, but there were absolutely some great little jump scenes. The characters are pretty great at acting like regular Joe's, but when they start getting scared, the acting improves ten-fold. They seem incredibly, truthfully terrified. It isn't a happy ending kind of movie, so be warned happy end lovers. Still, a great found footage horror and I look forward to GE2.
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charleebrambleby20 June 2014This movie was very disappointing, i was very much looking forward to a terrifying fright fest but i am sad to say that this is sadly not the case. The filming is quite frankly tacky, uninteresting and unoriginal and the special effects were laughable. If that wasn't enough to put you off the acting is incredibly flat with none of the characters having any depth nor relatable or redeeming qualities nothing new or exciting going on. It adds nothing new to the genre and does not help horror movies credibility. I spent the majority of the film longing for the end to save me during from boredom. If you are looking for something worth watching in the "found footage" genre i suggest you watch something like Blair witch, probably not Blair witch as that sucks too bit something like it...
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phanatic198920 September 2011OK to save us all some time I will start with why you wouldn't like this movie. You would NOT like this movie if you are the kind of person who is looking for something "new." Most of the reviews from people who did not like this movie complained about it using stuff from other movies. May I remind everybody that the horror genre has been around for quite awhile and nearly every new movie has something an older movie has used at some point. The fact that it may seem cliché to some does not make it any less scary. A person doesn't get off a roller coaster and say "wow that was lame! It went just as fast and crazy as that other roller coaster!" The point is while the movie may use "common scare tactics", I still found it very suspenseful. If you are looking for a horror movie with believable acting, a freak show style exhibit of horrors, and a "OMG here it comes" feel, then I definitely recommend this movie. But if you are the kind of viewer who would rather criticize than sit back and be entertained, I suggest you stay home and see if you can come up with a genuinely "new" horror story.
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theholykael7 April 2020Every so often, in a vast sea of s**t found movies, one appears that is either decent or surprisingly good. "Grave Encounters" falls somewhere in between as it is a few notches above most I've seen, but I wouldn't say it reinvents the genre.
What sets it apart, in my opinion, is that the Vicious Brothers seem to embrace all the standard FF cliches and have fun with them. It's not just objects moving, strange noises, and unseen ghosts terrorizing the cast. They make it a point to have them literally running up to the camera. There's also a few bits that are genuinely fun. A nod to Polanski's "Repulsion" and some cosmic horror in the vein of "House of Leaves" makes its way in.
The cast is decent and gets the point across. I wasn't overtly annoyed by any of them. Houston was my favorite as the D-Level medium you find on so many ghost hunting shows. I liked that they clearly had fun parodying a genre early on.
As far as complaints go, it really boils down to two things: the cameras glitching out every time something supernatural happens and the stretchy faced ghosts. Neither are scary or effective, just annoying. Those two things unfortunately happen a couple times too many.
Aside from those issues, I genuinely enjoyed the movie and occasionally will go back to it when I want a decent FF. If you want something that'll entertain you and not have you rolling your eyes every few minutes i recommend "Grace Encounters". It's a nice companion to the "Hell House LLC" series. -
sallyalsaqaf15 August 2012the movie started so slow noting scary for at least half of the film and i remember only 2 scary figures through the entire movie. when i first saw the rating and the reviews i thought it was going to be the best horror movie ever but it wasn't it tells the story of fake ghost hunters who enters a mad house that turns to be hunted the place was creepy but the thing is that they didn't focus on showing more scary figures just 2 and the people kept running through the entire movie also seeing such a movie from only one point of view( the film was showed through the hunters camera) wasn't that good there were too many details hidden like did people came to search for them ? did they found there bodies ? was time really passing fast or did the ghost manipulate the time ?