October means different things to many people. It’s when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest, pumpkins line the steps of front porches, leaves turn from shades of green to various oranges and reds, and haunted houses are at their prime. Haunted houses also mean different things to people. For October, we’re taking a look at haunted house films and there really isn’t a better time to do it! From House on Haunted Hill to The Haunting of Bly Manor, countless films and shows explore the idea of manmade haunted houses to the haunted houses that are actually haunted. And you can’t discuss haunted house horror without talking about one of the greatest of all time: Grave Encounters.
Grave Encounters follows a ghost-hunting crew as they embark on a paranormal investigation in the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. Led by Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson), he and his team of intrepid investigators, Sasha Parker (Ashleigh Gryzko), T.C. Gibson (Merwin Mondesir), Houston Gray (Mackenzie Gray), and Matt White (Juan Riedinger), take on this supposedly haunted asylum with exuberance and enthusiasm. After resident expert Kenny Sandoval (Bob Rathie) locks them in for the night, things start to get…frightening. Soon, the team finds themselves trapped in this labyrinthian nightmare where time moves at its own accord. Will anyone make it out alive?
To a lesser extent, Grave Encounters starts with a similar opening to The Fourth Kind, as producer Jerry Hartfield (Benjamin Wilkinson) reveals he received all of these tapes in the mail. “What you’re about to see is not a movie,” Jerry plainly says. This would be easier to believe if there weren’t a few continuity errors, but that’s neither here nor there. Films that tend to go to huge extremes to prove their ‘authenticity’ can really go either way for genre fans. Some people enjoy the ‘based on a true story’ forced perspective, and some get frustrated by it. I could go either way with Jerry’s opening, but I appreciate it for what it is.
A few things make Grave Encounters work well for me, and very few aspects of the film don’t. As someone who grew up watching Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and Paranormal State, it almost feels like The Vicious Brothers wrote and directed Grave Encounters just for me. The film starts with the usual talking heads and exposition about the location the team will be exploring, though Grave Encounters takes a shot at some of these ghost hunting shows. Lance talks with groundskeeper Javier Ortega (Luis Javier), who just wants to be left alone to do his work. When Javier doesn’t give Lance the bumper quote Lance wants, he pays Javier to say something intriguing. As much as I love those shows I grew up on, I know there is a level of producer interference and Hollywood-ification to them. I appreciate how this show handles the fraudulent aspect of ghost hunting television, so that when the crap hits the fan, it’s even more impactful.
Lance Preston’s crew is fascinating. The Viscous Brothers crafted each character perfectly, giving everyone their own unique take on the events unfolding. T.C. just wants to get back to his family, Matt is Matt, and Sasha is the human conduit for ghost communication. Then you have, who I would consider, the two main players. While he doesn’t have the most screen time, I could argue that Houston is the top-billed supporting character. He’s the psychic who comes to fill in the crew, and us, about the ‘feel’ of the asylum. Houston is an interesting guy, who wears thick glasses and a leather coat, which accentuates his ‘coolness.’ Once the wall breaks, figuratively, and we learn Houston is no more reliable than Javier, he goes from a tough and respectable psychic to nothing more than a badly dressed huckster who is soon to get his just desserts.
The ghost hunting crew is interesting on their own, but it’s lead investigator Lance Preston who steals the show. His Hot Topic-styled attire and garishly intense acting check all of the boxes for me. He’s Zak Bagans times a thousand. It’s unclear if Lance was always the type to fudge experiences for quality TV, but once he realizes the stakes are life and death, he becomes a true leader. Even if he keeps his air of exaggeration throughout, if you’re not a fan of the Zak Bagans-like character, then Lance Preston will come off as grating and incredibly annoying.
Once the horror starts, it doesn’t stop. The team quickly finds themselves stuck in a neverending loop of terror as they get separated one by one. Doors fly open, people get lifted, hallways change, hallways are blocked off, time is its own entity, and bathtubs of blood suck in unsuspecting investigators. Even if there are a few moments of awful-looking digital enhancements, Grave Encounters takes the ghost hunting television formula and turns it into something truly terrifying.
Since 2012, Grave Encounters has been on my October watchlist, and that won’t end anytime soon. This film came out at the perfect time as Ghost Hunters was well in its prime, and Ghost Adventures was in the process of taking over the ghost hunting television audience. Part parody, part terrifying exploration into what could go wrong, Grave Encounters takes audiences on a wild ride of fright. We can forget the existence of Grave Encounters 2, though. I like to pretend the deleted scenes of Kenny showing up in the morning to find the front door busted open with the gurney overturned out front and [spoiler] being institutionalized is the true ending of this film. And you should too!
