Grave Encounters 2

Grave Encounters 2 (2012)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: John Poliquin

Starring: Richard Harmon, Dylan Playfair, Leanne Lapp, Stephanie Bennett, Howie Lai

From: Death Awaits Cinema/Twin Engine Films/Pink Buffalo Films

Oh, I really should have listened to what other people said about this film... this came out rather quickly after the first film was released and that is usually not the best sign. They went a different route by making this really meta. They also spent a lot of time saying that the first Grave Encounters was not a good film. Curious.

To steal the plot description from the IMDb: "For people who don't believe the events of Grave Encounters, film student Alex Wright is out to prove them wrong. Alex is as obsessed with the first film as the 20 million people who viewed its viral trailer on YouTube. While he and his friends research the events and visit the real psychiatric hospital depicted in the original film, they find themselves face-to-face with unspeakable evil, banking on the hope that their knowledge of the original film will help them survive the sequel." To elaborate, this movie says that the first Grave Encounters movie (yes, the thing I watched and reviewed last night) was real (!) and Alex Wright and his buddies try to prove that this is the case, which is why they go to the location where it was filmed in British Columbia (the Riverview Hospital, which always gets bleeped out when its name is said). Like I said this is real meta.

The rest of this review is taken from my Letterboxd review, only it's augmented:

Earlier in the night I watched the first Grave Encounters and to be brief, I rated it as a 3 star affair. (I rated 2 as only 1 star) I took a break to review the first film here, then I started up the second one, as it's also on Netflix Instant.

A few times before here, I've used the word "asstagonist". I got it from the Bad Movie Fiends podcast and their review of 80's teen sex comedy Pinball Summer (incidentally, also a Canadian production), where the "heroes" of the movie are awful repugnant people. It's a great term and unfortunately, I've had to use it more often than I like when describing films I've seen.

Folks, this movie is full of asstagonists! From the two leads to the rest of the cast, the characters you see are horrible vile douchebags. I couldn't stand any of them. The movie starts off with our two lead "protagonist" guys, who are Alex the pretentious arrogant wannabe film maker and Trevor the pot-smoking doofus. Both are A-holes. You see Alex get so obsessed with the case that he ignores his potential love interest Jennifer; real lovely. You see those guys and their friends and they're all obnoxious loud douchebags. It takes time getting to the main setting; before that you see them party and do stereotypical college meathead things.

Like many of you, I am tired of remakes, "reimaginings", and all that other baloney. This sequel certainly had a different idea. "Different" doesn't always mean "good", though, as this proved loud and clear.

A terrible story, awful characters, a lot of stuff that makes zero sense, the scares meaning nothing because they're used wrong/too often... then that ending... everyone involved in the production might as well have mooned the camera like Trevor mooning people from the passenger seat of the car.

If you enjoyed the first one, please avoid this meta bulls***, as it just sucks. Some of the ideas were wacky but they didn't work as well as they should have and while I did chuckle at some of the juvenile humor, this is still a must-avoid. There's a fart joke involving thermal cameras and Trevor walks in on Alex pulling his pud as he's watching porn on his laptop. I was amused by those gags but otherwise... never see this film.

I shall return Monday night. As today is my birthday, I want to relax this weekend.