"Grave Encounters of a Third Kind", or rather, like, "Seventy-Eighth Kind", because this type of film has been done death. Eh, whatever, it's still a decent film, even if one of the best things about it is the name of its directorial team. Oh no, I'm not… More
"Grave Encounters of a Third Kind", or rather, like, "Seventy-Eighth Kind", because this type of film has been done death. Eh, whatever, it's still a decent film, even if one of the best things about it is the name of its directorial team. Oh no, I'm not saying that most everything else is weak, I'm just saying that the directors' team name, The Vicious Brothers, raises something of a standard, because, I don't know about y'all, but that is a pretty cool name to me, though that's probably because of the only two Viciouses that I can think of, - both of whom have the first name Sid - one's a professional wrestler and one was the bassist for Sex Pistols. Granted, the bassist died at 21 and the wrestler's in his 50s, but hey, the point is that they were pretty intense at one time, and sure enough, these Vicious Brothers kids know how to make some intense stuff, like this film, even if it does overuse the distorted face effect in the second half more than some teenaged boy who just got a copy of Sony Vegas or something, though not quite as much as it overuses those annoying camera technical faults to dilute some of the effectiveness of the freaky imagery. Whatever, it still freaked me out enough to where I'll have trouble looking through an abandoned insane asylum, which is a shame, because I was really looking foward to doing that this weekend, seeing as how, evidently, all young white people have to work their way into something abandoned and ominous at some point. No, but seriously though, this film has a good excuse for why these people find themselves stuck, yet that's not to say that this film, as decent as it is, dismisses all conventions.
Now, the film isn't quite as conventional, let alone cliched, as I expected, yet there's only so much you can do with this kind of found footage horror format and it's been done time and again, and with little breaks in between, so it's only a matter of time - of which, there's not much - before this film hits its fair share of points in which it collapses into the same-old-same-old within this trend. Among the familiar aspects is the film's going a bit too far with its simulation of documentation, for although this film, as I'll discuss further later on, has more atmospheric bite than plenty of other found footage films of its type, cinematic atmosphere often suffers from the first-person perspective's blowing this film's cover as a movie, rather than its own little world, thus leaving some blandness to set in. This blandness is at its most intense during the first act, which expends development and consists all but of bland b-roll footage for the film's titular faux show, and if you think that I'm exaggerating this film's early act's do-nothingness, maybe I am a touch, but believe me, the first nearly thirty minutes of this film, even with the charisma of the performers, is every bit as exciting as watching actual raw footage of a paranormal activity reality show roll on and on. Certainly, as the film progresses and all of this TV talk turns into "real" people in "real" danger, things pick up, but surprisingly not too much, because among this film's biggest problems is its taking way too long to get started, as the second act of this film goes almost entirely comprised of repetitious footage of people hanging out and walking around, witnessing some creepy stuff, but no ghosts, and by the time ghosts, or rather, true conflict and consequence finally come into play, we're - no joke - "an hour into this hour-and-a-half-long film", which would be easier to forgive were it not for the fact that the first thirty minutes of this film was total nothingness, with the subsequent thirty minutes being not much more than a tiny bit less nothingness, and the very aforementioned conflictory last thirty minutes still having more than a few points of nothingness. For numerous reasons that I'll touch upon later, the film isn't even mildly as dull or even as disengaging as I make it sound, yet at the end of the day, the core problem with this film is that it is limited in the way of conflict, and by extension, plot, for although this film isn't devoid or even borderline devoid of narrative structure, it does drift on and on with its extended periods of nothingness. It is this that holds this film back, for although the film's compellingness builds in progression, and never descends too low at any point in the film, the many strengths that could have made this film a relatively upstanding one of its type, as well as a strong film by its own right, find themselves undercut by the film's do-little story structure, thus leaving the final product to fall as a bit underwhelming. However, with that said, when this film hits, it hits hard, whether it be with the scares, or performances, or, to a certain degree, the story concept.
Sure, this film's story isn't too strong, and certainly isn't too terribly inventive, yet there are a couple of certain unique touches that refresh a certain degree of intrigue within this premise, and that, among other things, is what keeps you going even when the film is at its relative weakest. Of course, once the film picks up, the intrigue within this premise goes intensified, and quite considerably, for although this film does, as I said, periodically get to be too reliant on its first-person simulation, to where traditional and effective storytelling goes obscured, directors Collin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz, or rather, The Vicious Brothers (Seriously, that is a cool name), on the whole, manage to incorporate enough traditionalist sensibilities of amtospheric bite to make their presence, as well as their potential, clear as day. Sure, the film's cinematic atmosphere undermines the first-person feel around which this film's found footage format is built, thus creating a degree of thematic unevenness that is slightly off-putting, yet there come times where The Vicious Brothers put the first-persion perspective to good use by intensifying this film's immersive atmosphere, which is already pretty intense to begin with. Where the first act is carried by the charisma of the perfromers, the second act, - thoroughout which our performers fall too close in between charisma and genuine acting power to carry thing all on their own - which consists all but entirely of creepy happenings without anything really happening that could have fallen as borderline tediously montonous so fast in the hands of lesser filmmakers, goes carried by an effectively ominous and immersively claustrophobic atmosphere that may not bite too consistently, seeing as how we're going through thirty paceless minutes of nothing but build-up, but definately lets you know that things are heating up, and once things blow, or more precisely, once that crazy ghost girl in the corner roars, you wake up, albeit a bit too little too late to make this film, as a whole, thoroughly rewarding, yet to where you'd be hard pressed to not find yourself either on the edge of or sinked into your seat with true tension, supplemented by genuinely clever jump scares and, in the final act, imagery that is genuinely disturbing and scary (A random scene within the last ten minutes in whichSean Rogerson's Lance Preston character beats a rat to death with a pipe is messed up enough). The Vicious Brothers' first big outing may not hit quite as hard as it should, or at least not quite as consistently as it should, yet shows true potential within in its makers, though not as much as it shows potential within these performers, because no matter how strong The Vicious Brothers' atmosphere gets at times, it's the performers who truly carry this film through thick and thin. As I said, one of, if not the biggest strengths behind this film's first act that keep things going through all of the blandness is the across-the-board charisma from the performers, - particularly charming leading man Sean Rogerson, who does indeed make for a convincing TV show host - but when things go down, acting material goes up, and that's where our performers really shine, and more than you would expect, with each person displaying distinct yet equally profound layers and emotional range, and whether it be Thomas Haden Church, Jr.-I mean, Mackenzie Gray as the faux psychic who's unprepared for everything he's been pretending to see, Juan Riedinger as the traumatized slave of evil, or Ashleigh Gyzko as the concerned and take-action yet terrified lady of the group, Merwin Mondesir as the man who wants out (in other words, the black guy in a horror movie), or leading man Sean Rogerson as a competent man who's in way over his head, everyone convinces enough for you to find yourself truly compelled when the film needs you to be most. Now, with all of my compliments to the film, things really do kick in much too late, with a strong twenty or thirty minutes succeeding an hour or so of material that's not much more than just decent, yet, at the same time, never below decent, for although this film does stand to hit harder, it makes up for the lack of hits with charm, if not a bit of effectiveness, while delivering on some pretty hard hits when things do in fact start to hit, and at the end of the day, you won't walk away from this final product disappointed, even if you won't walk away too rewarded either.
To sign off, the film is never short on conventions, yet gets off to a limp start that transitions into a do-little body and, finally, a final act that still only does so much, thus creating a paceless limiting in narrative structure that slows down enough momentum, on the whole, to leave the final product to fall a bit short of its potential, yet not too short, having enough unique touches to its concept to keep you intrigued, especially when tension comes into play and goes very well-handled by The Vicious Brothers' genuine and tense atmosphere and, eventually, imagery, thus creating a consistent engagement value that goes intensified by across-the-board either charming or dynamically layered and emotionally-powered performances within this cast of talents, who do perhaps the most in making "Grave Encounters" a consistently enjoyable and, at times, penetrating thriller, even if it does stand to cut a touch deeper.
2.5/5 - Fair
