Grave Encounters

Grave Encounters is a 2011 Canadian found footage supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by the Vicious Brothers. It stars Sean Rogerson, Ashleigh Gryzko, Merwin Mondesir, Mackenzie Gray, and Juan Riedinger as the crew of a paranormal reality television program who lock themselves in a supposedly haunted psychiatric hospital in search of evidence of paranormal activity, as they shoot what ends up becoming their final episode. Grave Encounters premiered on April 22, 2011, at the Tribeca Film Festival. Prior to its premiere, its trailer went viral online, generating over 30 million views. The film had a limited theatrical run in select theaters in the United States, and was released on video-on-demand on August 25, 2011. Two months prior, the film had its Italian premiere via distributor Eagle Pictures under the title ESP Fenomeni Paranormali. The film received mixed reviews, was a box office success, spawned a sequel in 2012, and has attained a cult following since its release. Plot Jerry Hartfield is the producer of Grave Encounters, a paranormal reality television program directed by ghost hunter Lance Preston. Hartfield explains that the show was cancelled after five episodes following the disappearance of its crew, and presents raw scenes from recovered footage of the sixth and final episode. The Grave Encounters crew consists of Lance, occult specialist Sasha Parker, surveillance operator Matt White, cameraman T.C. Gibson, and fake medium Houston Grey. The crew is invited to examine the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital, where unexplained phenomena have been reported for years. Kenny, the hospital's caretaker, takes the crew on a day tour and informs them of the hospital's history, particularly of a doctor named Arthur Friedkin, who performed unethical experiments and lobotomies on the hospital's patients before being killed by them.