#grave encounters 2

[quinnigallagherjones]

movie night with buffy [96/?]

⤷ grave encounters 2 (2012)

he opened a gateway, you know? friedkin did. he took the real world and the spirit world and he mashed them together

[disturbingstar]

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

Plot summary

For their ghost-hunting reality show, a production crew locks themselves inside an abandoned mental hospital that's supposedly haunted – and it might prove to be all too true.

Trivia

The show format and lead role draw influence from the real-life show Ghost Adventures

The script was written with plenty of room for improvisation.

It was filmed over 10 nights and 2 days.

Barely released theatrically, the first film somehow managed to build a large cult following online.

Similar to Cloverfield, this film's only soundtrack is played during the end credits.

The number '666' is hidden in the first portion of the film. During the introduction, we learn that this episode of Grave Encounters is the 6th in the series. While entering the asylum, Lance tells groundskeeper Kenny that the crew drove roughly 6 hours to get there. Lastly, Kenny was originally supposed to come unlock the asylum doors at 6 am.

Breakdown

The film opens with television producer Jerry Hartfield describing Grave Encounters, a paranormal reality television program directed by and starring ghost hunter Lance Preston, which was cancelled after five episodes. Hartfield explains that the events about to be shown in the film are raw footage from the sixth and final episode filmed, edited only for time-restraint purposes.

The footage shows the crew of Grave Encounters composed of Lance himself, occult specialist Sasha Parker, technical expert Matt White, cameraman T. C. Gibson, and guest-starring psychic medium Houston Grey preparing to investigate the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital where unexplained phenomena have been reported for years. They receive a tour of Collingwood and its underground tunnels from the hospital's caretaker. They also learn about Collingwood's history, including a physician named Arthur Friedkin, who performed unethical experiments and lobotomies on the patients at the hospital before being killed by escaped patients. The crew voluntarily lock themselves inside Collingwood for the night and begin their investigation, setting up camp near the hospital's main entrance, which is locked from the outside. No paranormal activity occurs for the first few hours until a door slams behind T.C. by itself while he is filming around the building. Lance and his crew try to establish contact with the unseen entities responsible and are further tormented by more hauntings, which become increasingly blatant and hostile.

With half an hour left before the hospital caretaker comes to unlock the front doors, the crew starts packing. Matt goes to retrieve the cameras stationed throughout the building but disappears. The others spend the next several hours looking for Matt without success, with the caretaker not arriving. They knock down the front doors to escape, only to discover they lead to another corridor, as do several other exit doors they find. They also notice that it is still night outside when it should be daylight. The crew continues searching for both Matt and an exit when they encounter a girl whose face contorts demonically. Fear grips the crew as they flee, but an unseen force separates Houston from the others and violently assaults him, killing him. While resting, the others find hospital tags bearing their names on their wrists. They eventually find Matt, who is wearing a hospital gown and has been driven insane, mumbling nonsense about his apparent psychological disorder and explaining that the only way for them to escape is for them to “get better” at the hands of the hospital's unseen residents.

Several apparitions continue to chase the crew through the hospital. T. C. is pulled into a bathtub filled with blood by a ghost and disappears, while Matt falls down an elevator shaft to his death as Lance and Sasha are attacked by a tongueless demon. Lance and Sasha enter the tunnels in search of another exit, where Sasha, who has become violently ill, disappears in a mist that appears while she and Lance sleep. Terrified and insane, Lance continues through the tunnels alone, surviving by killing and eating rats, until he finds a door leading to Friedkin's operating room that contains an altar and pentagram for a demonic ritual, showing that Friedkin had used black magic for medical practice. He turns to see the apparitions of Friedkin and several nurses, who drag a screaming Lance onto their operating table. The camera blanks out for a moment before showing a lobotomised Lance, who says he is now 'better' and allowed to go home and gives a few parting words to the audience before the screen cuts to blue.

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝟐

Plot summary

A film student who is obsessed with the movie Grave Encounters sets out with his friends to visit the psychiatric hospital depicted in the original film.

Trivia

The tagline for this film is “Fear is just a word. Reality is much worse.”

Right before the credits flash, there is a flash on the screen containing the numbers “49 14 122 48”. This address is the exact location of the building featured in the movie. It's named Riverview Hospital in British Columbia, Canada.

The first trailer for Grave Encounters 2 was a Shock Till You Drop exclusive and dropped on September 4th, 2012.

The Vicious Brothers wrote, produced, and even had a cameo, but they brought John Poloquin in to direct.

There is an edit to the security video from the elevator, and it shows that nobody was currently filming with a camera.

This movie was first screened in Canada at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

Breakdown

Film student Alex Wright and his friends Jennifer Parker, Trevor Thompson, Tessa Hamill, and Jared Lee decide to produce a documentary about the original Grave Encounters film, which the entire public aside from Alex believes to be fictional. Alex posts an online plea for any information about the film and receives a message from someone named DeathAwaits6. The message leads him to the mother of Sean Rogerson, the actor who played Lance in Grave Encounters. She believes that Sean is still alive, but they discover that she has dementia, and she does not realise that her son is dead.

Alex realises the cast and crew from the first film are all missing or have died—except for the directors, The Vicious Brothers, who are actually interns of the first film's producer, Jerry, and were not directly involved, thus sparing their lives. Alex meets Hartfield, who confesses that the film was actual found footage. Discovering that the Collingwood Mental Hospital from the film is actually an abandoned asylum in British Columbia, Canada, Alex and his friends travel there to meet DeathAwaits6, where they discover a Ouija board. Using it to communicate with spirits, they realise that their online contact is not a person but a paranormal entity, which turns violent. The security guard stops the group as they make their way out. As the group and the security guard argue, they hear a noise. The security guard tells them to stay put. As the security guard goes to check out the noise, the group hears gunshots. They go to check what has happened and find that the security guard has disappeared.

The group tries to escape, resulting in the deaths of Jared (who is violently hurled out of the window) and Tessa (her head crushed by an invisible force). The survivors manage to escape the hospital and return to the hotel. To their dismay, the hotel's elevator leads them right back to the tunnels beneath the hospital. There, they meet Rogerson and discover that he has been trapped inside, surviving off toilet water and rats in the darkness for over nine years, lobotomised and driven insane. Rogerson explains that the reason the hospital is like this is due to Dr Arthur Friedkin's satanic satanicexperiments and rituals which merged the spirit world and the physical world. He shows them a chained red door and says it's the only exit. Sean provides a map he created of the dimension, explaining how it is bigger than a city, and explains the “building” constantly shifts and changes. The surviving members retrieve a chain cutter left in Trevor's tool bag with Sean's aid.

While the group sleeps for the night, Rogerson, compelled by Dr Friedkin, strangles Trevor to death, then steals the team's equipment to cut the chains on the door. He goes through it—only to realise that the door leads nowhere. The entities instruct a deranged Rogerson to continue killing. Alex and Jennifer wake up and stumble upon Friedkin's satanic altar, where he is performing a lobotomy and preparing to sacrifice an infant. The couple flees and encounters Rogerson, who demands they hand over their tapes in order to finish the film, which is the only way to escape the hospital. During the struggle, a void opens up on the wall and sucks Rogerson in, pulling him towards an unknown fate.

Realising that Rogerson is being honest about how to escape, Alex kills Jennifer by smashing her face with a camera, thus completing the film. He then exits the hospital through the red door, which leads him to the outskirts of Los Angeles. While strolling down the street at night, he finds himself under arrest. The last scene shows that the footage has been made into a film, with Alex and producer Jerry claiming that everything the public sees is “just a movie.” However, Alex tells the interviewers not to go anywhere near the hospital, as it's not worth it.

[elliot-amy]

Japanese posters for the Grave Encounters movies

[queenofthekings]

So @quinnigallagherjones and I were watching Grave Encounters 2 and something seemed oddly familiar

[gorewound]

The Grave Encounters duology is like actually baller as hell and neither film deserved the reputation they got for being bad movies.

The first one is a really great premise and also a love letter to the horror genre.

The second one might actually be one of the best horror sequels I've ever seen in terms of what it does with the set up from the first movie.

Deeply underrated classics in my opinion

[notastranger]

[thehorrormoviechick]

31 Days of Horror

Day 23 - Grave Encounters (2011)

Day 24 - Grave Encounters 2 (2012)

[samwiselastname]

sean rogerson and the collingwood mental hospital exploring each other's bodies

[blackcatfilmprod]

Hi Guys,

Tonight Boys 'n' Ghouls Film Review Podcast reviews Grave Encounters 2 here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I14r5KWqwDo via YouTube

[hannahwatcheshorror]

GRAVE ENCOUNTERS 2 (2012) REWATCH

😿Dead Rat

To love Grave Encounters 2 or to be wrong. The way they build on what they already have is commendable and SCARY. It made me worried I was going to open one of my doors at home and it would open to the asylum. Sheesh! I could care less for the creature they love to have on the cover photo and am more afraid of the actual location!

⭐⭐⭐

Trigger Warning R-Word, Baby Death

Our sequel is about some college students in film school who receive some cryptic messages about the Grave Encounters movie. At first it doesn’t seem like much but then they receive the actual coordinates to an asylum in Canada, could this be where the Grave Encounters crew supposedly went missing? When one of the students tries to reach out to anyone who was involved with the original movie he cannot find anyone. They meet up with the original guy, Lance’s, Mom to try and get the scoop on what is going on and what/where her son ended up. The mother had advanced dementia though so wasn’t too much help. Randomly while reporting on his findings a call sheet prints out for a music video being produced by the same guy who produced Grave Encounters so Alex flies out to LA to meet up with the guy! When they meet Alex secretly records the conversation and confirms that what happened in the movie was true and that the people starring in it are dead.

The gang is told that they will meet with someone inside the asylum in the middle of the night, all they have to do is go there. So what do they do? They hop in a car and head to Canada! Wack! This time there is a security guard outside of the asylum. The gang is able to avoid the guard and slip inside the asylum and start filming. They find evidence of the old crew (dead half eaten rats) on their way to meet up with the stranger who is late. They find a spirit board (or Ouija board) carved into a table and use it to try and contact the spirits who end up being the contact that brought them out in the first place. It instructs them to “FILM EVERYTHING.” The security guard finds them and tries to get them to leave but he hears a suspicious noise and makes them wait for him while he investigates.

The gang hears gunshots off screen and try looking for the guard but he is gone. They try to gather up their equipment but one of them finds himself being launched through a window on the top floor of the asylum. Absolutely freaked out, the rest of the gang try to escape quickly but instead find themselves falling into the same traps that their predecessors fell into, the exits just don’t appear to exist. They come across a patient who has an extreme face like from the first movie and have to run away quickly. One of the girls gets separated from the group and is lost completely before getting the Paranormal Activity drag and then getting killed. 

Alex understands now that he will never see that lost friend again because that is the nature of this building he just doesn’t understand why he was called here. Alex tells the last girl standing, Jennifer, that he isn’t going to let anything happen to her… Do we believe him folks? The security guard makes a return just to get electroshock therapy and then he bursts into flames. A big scary monster starts to chase them and it brings them to the front entrance that they go through and are outside of the asylum (wack) and when the monster/patient tries to follow it evaporates into ash. The gang, or what is remaining of the gang, return to the hotel, terrified, pack up their stuff and get in the elevator to leave… but the elevator doors don’t open to the hotel lobby. They open up to the asylum. THEY NEVER LEFT. 

They are in the basement of the asylum and are even worse off mentally than they were before. Surprise! Lance is back from the first movie! He never died! He wants to help them stay alive but also isn’t all there mentally (you know, because of the whole lobotomy thing). He takes them to a red door (Insidious much?) and says they need to go through it. First they have to backtrack to get the bolt cutters they used to break in. Trevor, the roommate, is off recording a message to his folks when Lance bursts in and kills him, saying he was made to do it. Bummer city for sure. Also there is a lot of whispering going on and the cameras are starting to be lifted up and floated around recording “by themselves” so that is something important to note.

They all meet up at the red door to have a final battle because just opening it wasn’t enough to let Lance escape. Things are pretty intense and then the building opens up a black hole that sucks Lance in! But it is too late for Jennifer because Alex has been listening to what the asylum wants and says he will give it the ending it deserves so HE kills Jennifer. She is so sure he won’t do it she barely fights back, it is very sad. Then Alex declares that he will finish the movie for the asylum and that people will come to it, that Alex will be essentially feeding it. This means the asylum lets him leave so out the red door he goes and back to the real world. We see him with the slimy producer saying that this is the in-no-way-real sequel to the in-no-way-real first movie. Right before the credits, Alex tells us all not to go to the location and then the location coordinates flash on the screen for a split second. AND I TELL YOU WHAT IT MADE ME WANT TO GO THERE. There is also an after credits bonus where we have the two girls talking about Alex and how Jennifer only went on this trip because she liked him which makes him killing her even more devastating. 

-----------------------HANNAH WATCHES HORROR--------------------

[imaxyxia2]

[strawberryspooktacular]

Grave Encounters 2 (2012) 18/10/23

Rating before seeing the movie: Nic: 10 Vic: 8.5

Rating after seeing the movie: Nic: 10 Vic: 9

What you did like about the movie:

The special effects were incredible.

The jump scares were pretty good. There wasn’t really any lead up to them showing on screen.

The meta in the meta cause the meta does the meta

The first movie was happening inside the second movie. Inception.

The concept was cool.

The reappearance of Sean! 

What you didn’t like about the movie:

Vic: The jump scares. I get spooked easily, okay? And my website wasn’t right on time.

Sean’s wig.

Particularly memorable scene: Vic: The Tall Man chasing them. Nic: THE RED DOOR

Would you watch it again: Vic: NO. Nic: Yes and I do

Reflections: Vic: “While I don’t really like jump scares, this movie was pretty good. The characters were pretty good and the ending was certainly a twist I wasn’t expecting.” Nic: “It’s a good horror movie. Don’t watch if you don’t like jump scares but it’s an actual good sequel to a horror movie.

Final quotes: Vic: “I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS WHITE MAN SUGGESTED SPLITTING UP” Nic: “LONG MAN. AH HES SO LONG.”

[ironcmoniker1]

Grave Encounters 2, Rewatch and Reaction

Since Grave Encounters was better than I remembered it, I figured I'd roll right into Grave Encounters 2.

The original kicked off with a very good sartorial take on the ghost hunting realty shows. This one kicks off with the equivalent of era specific YouTube videos that capture the aesthetic and vibe of the time as well.

The entire scene in the Halloween party is unfortunate, in pretty much every way. It's comical and a little disappointing that this was made in 2012, but the entire rant about the state of horror films, in the middle of the party, while this very pretty girl is clearly looking for his attention, feels all too real, as does the vomiting and humiliation that follows.

The obsession with a supposed conspiracy has unfortunately become even more believable/topical in the last decade too. The way this is all coming together feels like a stretch though. The "spirits reaching out through the computer" almost always feels like a reach or like its shoehorned in, because it both doesn't make sense, but isn't far enough out of the norm to feel supernatural. It also leads inevitably to the questions about why the "spirits" wouldn't be luring as many people as they could to wherever they're looking for victims.

Bringing the producer back from the original is smart, and making him a very stereotypical Hollywood douche bro is good for effect, if not a little on the nose.

It's also a funny bit when Alex and Jennifer, go so quickly and easily into the same melodramatic, over the top on camera delivery as Lance in the original when he starts filming his "documentary."

Though it takes longer to get into the hospital, this one kicks into high gear even more quickly than the original, thanks to a conveniently placed spirit board. Where the first one took its time introducing the idea of time and space being warped, this one immediately jumps into that and the introduction of spirits/ghosts in camera. There isn't any consistency though, because we also see someone attacked by something that can't be seen within minutes.

There may be a bit too much of the ghosts on camera in this one. I also can't nail down why I felt more invested in the sense of threat the characters were facing in the previous movie. These kids all feel like cannon fodder.

The security guard showing back up to get electrocuted was unexpected.

This bit of the building letting them think they got out and were going to make it home was an interesting twist.

Lance (the protagonist of the first film) showing back up, looking like a Robinson Crusoe extra was unexpected as well. The Red Door bit is a little on the nose, but the bit with the door that doesn't go anywhere until the third time they open it is cool. They're playing with the rules of time/space warping in some interesting ways this time. This bit with the camera floating up out of the bad by itself seems kind of unnecessary. We already know that they're not alone, and whatever is there is malevolent. As an excuse to wake someone up, it seems a little extra, given the situation. Who's going to sleep all that well in the first place?

Trevor wandering off alone is also a little much, given what we've already seen. Characters in horror movies do dumb shit all the time, but these people have seen som serious shit already. Sean/Lance taking him out was unexpected. Feels like some Shining shit. The camera floating around by itself is taking things a little far. Are ghosts really that interested in being recorded and making sure they're message is going to get out? I don't know man. The hospital or whatever is in the hospital being obsessed with finishing the film also feels like it's a little much.

Well, I remembered correctly. This feels like a pretty inferior sequel.

[thevideodungeon]

Grave Encounters 2 (2012)

A sequel the plot of which revolves around the popularity of the original and an investigation into whether or not it was real. So basically the same general concept as Book of Shadows, but done in a way that actually feels like a sequel to the original. Overall, it is a little "more of the same." And while that does mean that it does well the things that the original did well, it also falls short in the same areas. Unfortunately there is just a bit less of the good, and more of the bad. Especially the ghosts that still look like a badly Photoshopped image that would accompany a derivative middling creepypasta.

5/10

[briarrosefromthedead]

Grave Encounters (2011) dir. Colin Minihan, Stuart Ortiz [Rec]² (2009) dir. Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza