mattwaterhouse

This film centers around the cast of a fictional ghost hunting show filming an episode in an abandoned asylum. In the name of good TV, they have arranged to be locked in the asylum for eight hours with their cameras, all to see what they find. Naturally, things turn nasty.

Really, I don't want to go any further than that, this film is best viewed cold. There are a few surprises amongst quite a few clichés, and several of the horror set pieces work very well. The real star of Grave Encounters is the asylum itself, the Vicious Brothers (directing) create a strong atmosphere of trauma and dread with the set up and the direction. The actors themselves do their job with a bunch of initially unlikeable characters who are basically frauds.

But is it scary? Yes, but only after about forty or so minutes. When things start kicking off, and kick off they certainly do, the film really works. The first half is marred by exposition, which is necessary and essential to the premise, but slows the pace to a crawl. Even early on in the asylum there are the usual slammed doors and slightly moving furniture that Paranormal Activity and others have done before. What Grave Encounters does and does well is escalate and pile on the tension, and for the most part you end up rooting for the characters as they are pushed further and further out of their depth. Naturally there is a black stereotype who is pretty insufferable, but if you ignore him he goes away.

So Grave Encounters is worth a watch and if you stick with it you'll probably end up having a good time.

As documentaries go, I admit I don't have a lot of viewing experience. As Star Trek goes however, I found this to be very enjoyable.

Shatner comes across as a pretty decent guy and his interviews with the various actors who have sat in the captain's chair are revealing, often funny, and occasionally very touching, and it is in these moments where The Captains really shines. The contrasting discussions with Scott Bakula and Patrick Stewart over their divorces and the discussion between Shatner and Stewart over their legacies on the show are both fantastic moments. Throughout the documentary there is a lot of insight given into the construction of the captain characters.

My one major complaint is that Avery Brooks gives pretty much nothing. He sits at his piano and plays jazz in a lot of his scenes, which is OK I guess, but we don't really find out anything about his relationship to the Sisko character. The first twenty minutes is also a little tedious.

Really, if you're a Star Trek fan, even in passing, this is worth a look. I definitely recommend it.