1. moviefreak91092

   10

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. It stuns me that people wouldn't be able to appreciate the raw terror put into this movie. For myself, I love scary movies and try my hardest to get as scared as I possibly can. The first time I saw Grave Encounters, it made me scream, and it made me so scared that I wanted to cry. This is the kind of scary that I look for in a movie. To really be scared, you have to understand that it's all psychological. The idea of being trapped with mentally unstable ghosts is enough to freak me out just by the thought. They give this idea life in the movie. It seems like nothing at first. The crew of ghost hunters can't seem to find any proof of ghosts. The first real occurrence of any entity is away from the characters, when the window opens. The next is the door slamming behind camera man TC, and after that Sasha's hair gets moved by nothing. Each thing gradually gets more and more scary. The events after that is that tech guy Matt goes missing, and the characters start to believe that the place is actually haunted. Nothing absolutely terrifying has yet happened. There is one part that completely changes the movie over. The characters are wandering the halls, looking for Matt, freaked out by this point, when they hear screaming. They run to it, assuming its Matt. They enter a room, and the cameras, still filming in night vision, catches a girl, facing the corner of the wall. She's wearing what appears to be a hospital gown, which blood stains everywhere and all ripped up. Paralyzed by fear, they are unsure what to do. At some point the girl, or ghost, turns around and her her face is like a demon's. At that point in the movie, I realized that the creators weren't afraid to shove the scariest things right in your face. Many scary movies unfortunately try to let you use your imagination to scare you more. This, so me, doesn't work all the time. I want to see things that scare the hell out of me. And this movie achieved that.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 3 users said Yes.
2. theahsanhaseeb

   8

   I watched this film at 3 in the morning and it was too quiet and after watching this film, I had to switch on the lights of my room (not because the film finished but because it scared the hell out of me). Grave Encounters is clearly one of the most terrifying found-footage films ever made. I don't usually get scared by watching films or TV shows because it gave me really good scares. Although it doesn't have a really good cast or much of an "awesome" plot but despite that it manages to deliver the horror to you. A few scenes were really lame and should have been eliminated at the time of editing but well, as they say that nothing can ever be perfect. I really appreciate the effort of the Vicious Brothers for writing and directing this film. I don't know why the so called critics have disliked this film, I think they got scared too much and were not in their right senses when reviewing this film. This is a must watch for horror fans. I know there are a lot of really good horror films out there but this film, at least, deserves a watch. I hope you won't be disappointed.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
3. Nobod3

   5

   I just watched this and I don't agree with any of the reviews currently on here. This movie was not a complete disaster, but it wasn't the best thing I've ever seen before. However, if you are a fan of those ghost hunting TV shows and some of the mansion/asylum horror movies that came out in the last 10 years (House on Haunted Hill comes to mind), then watch this movie. Its actually a really good combination of the two with some problems. Below are my lists of positives and negatives for the film.
   
   PLEASE NOTE: POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!
   
   Positives:
   +The set-up was perfect, the way they tour the asylum and mention spots was just spot on
   +Its resembles the TV Show Ghost Hunters, which really gives it that reality kick
   +The characters are a wide range and make it interesting
   +The location (Insane Asylum) was perfect for this type of movie
   
   Neutral
   =I would have liked to have seen some more characters, its just not a big enough cast to really get there
   =I'm disappointed that this was made with no view of a sequel in mind with a common character
   =I would have liked to have seen a bigger play on the asylum aspect, like at this time of day they'd unlock all doors or a dinner bell rings at this time. Something to really make the environment come more alive.
   =This one I almost considered a negative, but I would have LOVED to have seen the crew find files from the doctor showing what he did and his patients, again really playing up that this is a mental asylum. Kind of play on the Session 9 deal where this was once a working asylum. I would have loved to also have seen this type of stuff found throughout the film, like we start with a patient and a really nice sounding doctor and then as it goes on, we learn what he's doing to the patient and makes him seem sinister. The fact that this is totally skipped sort of loses the thrill of what could have been.
   
   Negatives
   -The ending is beyond predictable (though some of the steps along the way aren't so easily predictable)
   -It goes too far into the paranormal instead of trying to tie the line between reality and paranormal (IE crazy bloody patients, I would have preferred more subtle scare tactics)
   -Less cheap scares (the hands on the walls in the one scene, the constant "its a bad patient" thing, and what not.
   -Sometimes they just skip explaining, which kills the mood
   -The movie projects over too big of an area to actually get all of the original things just right
   -The ending fails to show how the cameras were picked up, kind of like a well-needed wrap-up instead of the "Just expect they were found" that we got.
   -No characters survive, so they've basically kills all good sequel plots since we'd have to get a new crew
   
   Conclusion
   Just to rehash what I said, this isn't a terrible film and it isn't a great one, but it does have moments that are worth seeing and it was a good concept that just went a little too far out of hand. I gave it a 5/10, though for a while I was balancing on a 6/10… Expand

   • Helpful? 4 of 4 users said Yes.
4. Belmsher

   3

   Though the plot is a total disaster, every scene too predictable and the dialogues being parodies themselves, I felt it'd be unfair if I rated it < 3 because, yes, there was a couple of scenes which made me jump out of my seat. Anyway, the trailer is way more frightening than the whole movie itself. What's not that surprising after all since, at the end of the day, most of the horror movies nowadays are predictably plain stupid.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 4 users said Yes.

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