Grave Encounters - Review

Film Review

As a paranormal film lover, Grave Encounters did not disappoint me! Grave Encounters was officially released in 2011 and in my opinion, it is a successful horror film as it follows and conveys horror conventions in the film. The plot of the film is very clear and I understood what was going on instantly and the film successfully kept me drawn in the whole time. The title itself shows that the film is obviously horror with the sub-genre of paranormal and it focuses on capturing ghosts on camera. The film starts of with the main character called Lance Preston and his crew who are all called Grave Encounters. They try to capture exclusive footage of ghosts as they have a ghost-hunting reality television show. The movie is an exclusive episode inside an abandoned mental hospital that had been reported haunted for several years. The crew then decide to lock themselves in the building for the night and start putting cameras up to record everything that will occur overnight. They eventually begin the paranormal investigation which is soon to be filled with a lot of unexpected surprises. 

The movie is filled with a lot of twists that will literally make you jump which made the movie more intense and interesting to watch. Every part of the film was filled with entertainment and as a horror film, I truly believe Grave Encounters is a great paranormal film to watch as it builds a lot of tension and it builds up its scares in such a slow pace which overall makes the film more enjoyable to watch. Also, characters reactions to moving objects and the strange noises also made the film look and seem more realistic. It had also made me more scared and worried due to the sudden vanishing of members. Throughout the film, we are also shown camera footage of what other members can't see and this makes us more anxious as we know what to expect as it acts as signs and warnings towards the crew. 

Grave Encounters has very similar themes to Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity and I believe this movie is more realistic and believable as the setting of the hospital and the past experience about the mental hospital made it more exciting to watch. Moreover, the unfamiliar actors and actresses also made the film tenser and there was also a combination of hand-held camera work with limited lighting, which also added more fear and tension. it made me look over my shoulder for hours after watching the film itself as the film starts off as a normal documentary with the confident crew not expecting to find anything but it turns into something they could have never imagined. Suddenly, we see there is a never-ending path and the hospital is impossible to get out as the crew realise that the hospital is alive with the ghosts of the former mental patients who end up terrorising them. 

Overall, I found Grave Encounters to be a very good and entertaining film packed with a lot of scares. The acting is believable and the plot is the best feature of the film as it had a lot of depth to it. The setting of the film also made it a lot scarier as the past history of the mental hospital gave a sense of realism to the film. The demon/ghost imagery made the film even more creepy as a paranormal film because I personally like the idea of exploring the unknown and the realism of being terrified by something you cant explain makes a film more intense and realistic.