Halloween 2012 Day 3: Grave Encounters (2011)

Things you should/probably already know about me: I'm a sucker for cinema verite, I'm a sucker for abandoned buildings specifically hospitals, I'm a sucker for women with multiple facial piercings. Things you might not know but will now learn: I watched Paranormal State religiously in high school. I watched it every Tuesday in a huge block with American Gladiators, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Intervention. Grave Encounters is Paranormal State with a payoff.
The film starts with a cast almost exactly identical to Paranormal State, Chip Coffey included. It continues in predictable found-footage style as the crew investigates a closed down asylum, chanting incantations and using "science" while the cameras roll and listening to hip hop and making fun of ghosts while the cameras are off. Things start to quickly spiral out of control when the caretaker locks them in for an eight hour ghosting session. Time begins to pass inexplicably, hallways seem to lead in circles, and crew members begin to disappear. Soon the crew, lead by Ryan Buell stand-in Lance, realize that something supremely messed up is happening.
Cinema verite is used most of the time to hide budget issues, like in the Blair Witch Project. Its easy, and Lovecraftian, to look terrified and let the audience imagine what horrible things are on the other side of the lens. Grave Encounters is not that film. It attacks its set-pieces stronger than many bigger-budget fall horror films and it accomplishes its scares in fine order.
There aren't a ton of issues with this film. The plot is thin and a vehicle for parody and scares, but to expect more isn't really appropriate. The effects are generally well-done but some shots look fairly cheesy and clearly just "one guy wearing a big glove in front of a green screen."
In short, if you don't love cinema verite, haunted asylum films, and Paranormal State, you're probably not going to get a whole lot out of this film. Imagine REC and Session 9 with a PRS gimmick and you've got this film. It's not groundbreaking, its not earthshattering, but its definitely worth a watch.