Children of the Grave

I had hoped that the Booth Brothers would have matured as film makers, and ceased depending on cheap theatrics, constant "scary" and quick cuts, since Spooked. They haven't. I'm upset that I'll never get that time back, as it was wasted. I could have spent the time watching paint dry, and been far more entertained.

The investigations shown are minimally sound. This could be due to the poor editing, but I think it's a combination of bad editing and poor investigative process. These are supposed to be "experts" but there is nothing cutting edge, progressive or redeeming in regards to the investigative techniques. The use of child actors was unnecessary. Most of the evp's I would never present as evidence of any kind, as they are just too ambiguous and indistinct. And what is the deal with the pseudo-commandos of PTF/MPR. No one is going to take a 350 pound wanna-be ghost commando seriously.

The Booth Brothers need to get back into the porn industry, it's apparent that they have no talent filming a documentary of any kind. Value your time. It would be better spent watching Pee Wee Herman.

Anyone watching this movie in the hope of some fascinating insights into the world of the paranormal investigator or perhaps just for a few scares is going to be sorely disappointed.

If the intent of the filmmakers was to convince us that the EVP recordings, photographs and video footage were real they did a very poor job. The editing jumped all over the place, at first I thought it was just going to be like that at the start of the film and then it would get down to the proper investigations, but sadly it continued right up to the last minute.

There was not one moment when I was even vaguely convinced any of the footage was of a real supernatural event, they jump cut so quick you were left feeling like they were trying to hide something, interspersing it with staged footage of little children and dramatic or heavy metal music took you further away from feeling like this was a serious documentary.

If they wanted to make a point they needed to slow down, focus on one happening at a time, show us the footage of things actually happening - not just say something happened.

Overall the whole thing pretty much bored me, there wasn't even a hint that this could actually be a real investigation and at no point did it stay still long enough for you to actually get creeped out.

Children of the Grave (2007)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely creepy documentary that takes a look at various places said to be haunted by children. Using re-enactments, experts as well as on the location shooting, this documentary takes us to various locations said to be haunted and this includes a creepy orphanage in Indianapolis where 699 children were buried together. Another location is an orphanage that was used to interrogate Nazis during WW2. Finally, one of the last stops is in St. Louis on a place called "Zombie Road" where there have been multiple murders, drownings, deaths and perhaps Satanic sacrifices. Once again a film like this should have one goal and that's to make the viewer feel creeped out. This film pretty much had my blood turning cold from start to finish because there's some pretty creepy stuff here that's also mixed in with a lot of sadness because so many of these children were either physically or sexually abused. Hearing thoughts on why children might not "pass on" was rather interesting and I found the entire documentary handled the subject matter with care. We have "modern technology" that's suppose to bring us closer to hearing voices of the dead and I personally don't buy into this equipment too much. I've seen it in various shows and personally, I don't but it but this didn't take away from the film. The stuff on Zombie Road was extremely creepy especially some of the photographs captured. There are several photos of actual ghosts that were taken including one of JonBenet Ramsey that I had never seen.

Children of the Grave did seem interesting, so I checked it out, and if I were to be honest I am still not entirely sure what to make of it. Sure it is reasonably entertaining, with a resolutely creepy atmosphere particularly in the Zombie Road segment, great shots of the graveyard and buildings, the whole orphanage/lost children idea was interesting and did make me emotional thinking about it and reasonably convincing child actors. On the other hand, there were a number of times where I didn't buy the "evidence"'s credibility(especially the supposed ghost evidence), coming across as vague, the editing jumps around all over the place, there are scenes that felt like overlong filler rather than evidence and the music is overbearing. All in all, not a bad way to pass the time I suppose, but I am still perplexed as to what I actually think of Children of the Grave. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This "documentary" was very entertaining as well as informative. I loathe the scene recreations rampant in these types of movies/shows, but I suppose it's something one has to live with in order to watch these things. I seriously doubt that some of the footage was 100 percent untouched - but then again - I'm one of the biggest skeptics around. Having said that, parts of the documentary - most especially when they got to the Zombie Road section - gave me the willies and I will admit (shamefully) that I slept with my bedside lamp on that night. Now I am determined to do my own investigation of Zombie Road and I cannot wait (I say as I sit in a well lit & locked house). I'd love to see more of this from these guys!