I love horror films, especially the paranormal sub-genre, and Grave Encounters is the newest on the list of impressive low budget indie films. The premise is very similar to something like House On Haunted Hill, people go into a house, or in this case a mental asylum to investigate paranormal happenings and things get nasty.

Grave Encounters isn't original in any way, while watching it I was thinking "oh I've seen that happen in this movie or that movie" , it seems to have taken a lot of factors from a lot of other paranormal horror movies and rolled them all into one which I thought was excellent, the fact that it's not overly original isn't a bad thing at all, Hollywood isn't well known for it's originality, it uses formulas that have worked well before in a non direct wAy. The pacing of the scares is great, it's slowly built up so that its more intense when there finally is a genuine scare, I hate when horror movies just have cheap scares just to try and keep people interested, this movie builds tension so well, I was in the edge of my seat most of the time. The asylum where the film is set is terrifying, the whole place just has an overwhelming sense of dread, it's the last place I would ever want to spend the night.

The acting is rather decent, except for a few times when the lead male had me cringing, the dude who plays the "psychic" is awesome, he brought a little bit of a comic edge which was nice.

So yeah, not the most original horror film but it still delivers genuine thrills, if you're a horror fan I doubt you'll see a better paranormal horror this year. To me it was like Blair Witch with a dab of Yellow Brick Road and a sprinkle of House On Haunted Hill.

Highly recommended, just don't expect lots of originality.

Grave Encounters, brought to us by the young Vicious Brothers, is not the pinnacle of Haunted House Horror. Neither is it pushing any new boundaries in that particular sub-genre, but does it need to? Here's a film made expressly for those that are prepared to invest completely in the viewing experience, to do as my lady partner and I did, turn off all the main lights, light a couple of candles for ambiance, switch the phone off and turn the volume up on the TV. Scene set, helps, too, that my lady is like a cat on a hot tin roof with a film like this, puts me on edge, love it, in fact we both love this sub-genre, it's our favourite. Gore and torture bores me, I want things that go bump in the night and things that suddenly jump out and make me jump. Grave Encounters does this exceptionally well; but I invested fully, I'm not over analysing it or sitting there comparing it to films released previously, and I'm certainly not one of those who deliberately sits there determined not to be scared. And yes! There are many out there who do that, a test of toughness maybe?

Grave Encounters has problems, without a doubt. As with many other films of the type, dumb decisions are made by characters, one particular character is actually too over the top during the preliminary set-up, and a couple of scenes involving hands and a rat are badly placed within. However, it's a pant soiler because it's great at the scare tactics, is deftly paced by the Vicious boys and unfurled in the atmospherically perfect setting of a Mental Asylum. As characters wander off into darkened corridors or peer off into the gloom, if you are invested fully you will feel the dread, your body slowly sinking in your set, your nails ripe for chewing. Or are you someone sitting there with arms folded fully expecting a jolt? Or maybe humming a tune in your head so as to make sure the mood isn't right? If you are expecting something new in this field of horror, you are always going to be disappointed.

Session 9, a brilliant and intelligent movie from 2001, went the other way, set in an Asylum it chose psychological scares and atmospherics instead of boo jumps, yet looking at reviews and message boards for that one you see many moaning about boredom. Recently Insidious and The Woman In Black, the former tried to bring a new astral aspect to the formula and got slated for it, the latter kept it traditional and got accused of bringing nothing new to the table! Maybe, just maybe, these films are better left to Haunted House fans who are willing to invest their being into the experience? Only then can Grave Encounters be a rewarding time. The rest of the horror faithfuls can keep searching in vain for something new in the formula for the next twenty years or so.

Thank you Vicious boys, the missus and I had a right old scary time with your movie. Now about my laundry bill..... 8/10

'Found footage' movies have really taken off in the last few years; it took about a decade since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT kickstarted the genre off, but now the floodgates are really open. No sooner have I watched an APOLLO 18 than I find myself sitting down in front of GRAVE ENCOUNTERS.

This is an entirely straightforward spook-fest, presented as an episode of a documentary TV show in the style of MOST HAUNTED. The story sees a film crew spending a night inside an abandoned asylum which has the reputation of being haunted. There's no more story to it than that: after ten minutes or so of set-up on the outside, things move inside the building where we stay until the bitter end.

GRAVE ENCOUNTERS starts off well, playing things out subtly and with plenty of menace. The initial scare scenes are very effective and in the vein of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, with inanimate objects moving in the background of shots and the occasional bit of levitation. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, it starts getting more explicit in terms of the spooks on offer, and by the end it's become completely ludicrous.

Unfortunately, the decision was made to employ some highly cheesy CGI effects of morphing faces for the ghosts, and they look ridiculous; they had me in fits of laughter, which I'm not sure was the intention. Plus all the Satanic plotting of the climax, which is just a lame attempt to explain what's going on; keep it unexplained, it'll be more effective that way. That, and the fact that the script gets increasingly profanity-laden and repetitive as the film progresses help to scupper this one's chances; it's a shame, as it could have been up there with the greats otherwise.