Grave Encounters (2011)

Grave Encounters

• As a big fan of reality ghost hunting shows (mostly ‘Ghost Adventures’), I was very excited to watch this. I’ve had it on my list for awhile, so to finally be able to watch it made me happy. For the most part, I enjoyed it, except for a couple of things. It’s obviously not a high budget film, so that occasionally had its downside. However, because it’s a found footage film, it doesn’t need a high budget. The at-home/reality look is what makes this what it is. In many ways, it feels like it’s almost making fun of a lot of the reality ghost hunting shows, and if you’ve seen any, then you know what I’m talking about. However, the movie definitely takes itself seriously. There are many times where I was basically on the edge of my seat, as well as a couple decent jump scares. Now the story was literally just a ghost hunting crew experiencing more than they bargained for, so it’s nothing crazy. It’s very simple, but that’s what makes it creepy. The acting was not very good, with some very forced and exaggerated moments. Some were on purpose, but others weren’t, and it was obvious. The special effects were pretty good for the most part, and even though it wasn’t the best, they were spooky. Overall, the majority of this was pretty good, although it definitely has some weaknesses. I’d probably recommend it to most horror fans, especially (and obviously) if you like found footage.