31 Days of Horror: Day 31: Grave Encounters 2

I loved the original “Grave Encounters” movie.  While not the most original, it was by far one of the better horror films of 2011, and it definitely deserved more attention than it received as VOD release and subsequently on DVD and Blu-ray.

When I saw that “Grave Encounter s 2” was available VOD, I was excited and chose to save this film for Halloween, thinking I’d get the same thrills as I got from the original.

Maybe I had unrealistic expectations; but “Grave Encounters 2” is little more than a pale imitation of the original film, and I was pretty disappointed.

The sequel begins with youtube reviews of the original film – most going on about how scary it is, but with the last one by a film reviewer named Alex (Richard Harmon) trashing it.  The next day, Alex receives a video from someone called DeathAwaits6 that features the star of the previous film Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson) dressed in a gown and looking confused.   Alex becomes obsessed with the film and starts to believe that it wasn’t a movie, but an accounting of the actual events.

Alex and his friends (Leanne Lapp, Dylan Playfair, Stephanie Bennett, and Howie Lai) drive to Canada to the asylum where the original film was made.  They are expecting to meet DeathAwaits6 there, but instead come up against the same force from the first movie.

Instead of simply focusing on the scares, the film tries to out-think its audience and becomes a jumbled mess in the process.  I was so busy trying to figure out what they were trying to say with the film that I completely forgot that I was watching a horror film.

It might offer some cheap thrills, but overall it’s a sad retread of the first film.  It’s too bad, too, because it’s a solid cast that is far better than the material they were given to work with.  There was so much potential in this film, but it takes too long to get the cast to the asylum and then doesn’t know what to do with them once it gets them there.

For my Halloween movie, I’m really wishing I would have found something that actually gave me goosebumps.  “Grave Encounters 2” just gave me the blues.