Plot : Grave Encounters is a found-footage supernatural horror film set in a supposedly haunted, abandoned psychiatric hospital. The premise is simple – a group of hoax paranormal reality show basic TV crew lock themselves in the hopital overnight to search for ghosts, equipped with various gadgets. The film is spliced footage from all of the different hand-held cameras they bring with them. The film itself relies heavily on night-vision, so the grainy green/black footage can mask the cheap special effects better. It’s obvious but it’s successful!

The horror itself :
Scares come in the way of exactly how you’d expect – creeping around pitch-black desolate rooms, knocks, clangs, swooshes, and the malevolent spectre(s) become increasingly violent. Ghosts busy doing something, stop, look up at you, OH MY GOD! So your standard shock-startling.

Positives?
There are some really neat ideas – like the night lasting 30+ hours, and rooms and hallways changing where they lead. Physical impossibilities (eg getting pulled into a wall) are also pretty cool.

Anything else?
The film’s haunted ghost element is -for some reason- supplemented by inhumane medical experiments and ALSO black magic! No nudity, little gore, this is a low-budget film. But they make do with what they have. People disappearing into smoke works well.

Overall : This is a cheap horror budget film that is pretty by the numbers, they throw in needless “this is evil” bits towards the end. Not recommended, but I did enjoy it. However the next review might twist your arm…