Grave Encounters (2011)

   Grave Encounters is the story of Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson) and his crew of ghost hunters who plan to spend eight hours locked in an allegedly haunted, vacant psychiatric hospital.They film what is their sixth and final episode of the ghost hunting reality show Grave Encounters.
   The crew arrives at Collingswood Psychiatric Hospital and Lance begins by interviewing town historian Morgan Turner (Shawn Macdonald). Morgan reveals that from 1895 to 1960 when Collingswood was closed, it was basically a dumping ground for the mentally ill with disgraceful living conditions and no real determination to help the patients get well.Kenny (Bob Rathie) is the long time caretaker of the abandoned building and has had his share of paranormal phenomenon while taking care of the grounds (Okay it's time for a new job Kenny!). Lance also interviews a contractor and a local teenager that have had paranormal experiences in Collingswood.The resident gardener Javier (Luis Javier) is told by Lance to lie on camera and say that he's also experienced something when in fact he's never seen anything.
   Shortly before the 10:00 p.m. scheduled lock-down, Lance brings in fake medium Houston Gray (Mackenzie Gray) who puts on a good show for the cameras then laughs with Lance and asks him if it was too much when they stop filming.The crew sets up cameras in the hospital's supposed hot spots and roams around the building trying to make contact for the first couple of hours with no results.Cameraman T.C. (Merwin Mondesir) sets his camera down to answer his cell phone and misses the first real evidence that the hospital is really haunted. T.C. ventures into a room where the door slams and scares the crap out of him ( Not literally, thank goodness!). After he realizes none of the crew could have been the culprit responsible for slamming the door he calls them in and tells them what happened.The crew is skeptical until T.C. shows them the footage of it happening, but once convinced they try to initiate contact asking the entity to slam the door again.They get their door slam and much more ( I would have been out of there after the door slammed.I slept with my mother for a week once when I was eighteen because of a scary Ouija Board experience.I'm not crazy, okay maybe a little but that's beside the point,there were witnesses!).

   Grave Encounters was a really good movie in my opinion.Once the action really got going I was hooked and on edge for the rest of the movie.Great acting,excellent special effects ( I may have slightly peed my pants during a couple of scenes.). As far as I'm concerned Grave Encounters is a must see, it was like Paranormal Activity on steroids.Besides the frightening ghosts there was another spooky element that I won't go into, that added a really nice touch to Grave Encounters.You will have to watch it to find out what that is,Netflix gave Grave Encounters 3.5 out of 5 stars but I think it deserves a 4.5.