Review:

Grave Encounters is yet another generic found footage film. I liked the first fifteen to twenty minutes where our Zak Baggins wannabe is seen talking about how they've had to fake paranormal activity in their previous episodes and paying a gardener to lie about what he's experienced around the premises. The acting is pretty good (minus Ashleigh Gryzko) and I love the idea of the film, even though it is incredibly generic. The problems start as soon as the hauntings do. The pacing is a huge issue as we are constantly starting and stopping. There are long stretches where nothing happens and we literally just sit with the crew in a closet. When we are moving quicker, nothing makes sense. We don't have any real explanation of who the ghosts/spirits/demons/whatever are or what they want. There are so many scenes that raise thirteen more questions and answer none. I never understood what was going on and by the end, I'd long since given up. The terrible pacing certainly played a role there too. In a way that eerily mimics what happens in the film, the movie is only an hour and a half, but it feels like so much longer. I didn't mind that things took a while to get going, because I like the jabs at paranormal investigation shows and the characters are kind of fun for those fifteen of so minutes, but once the grave encounters begin everything slows down as we spiral through unexplained situations towards a finale that only further confused me. If I had to watch it again, I'd much prefer to stop 20 minutes in; at that point you've experienced all of the positive things about the movie.