Of all the holidays celebrated worldwide, no single day is more loved by the UTG staff than Halloween. With the arrival of the year’s best month, the time has finally come to begin rolling out a plethora of features and special announcements we have prepared in celebration of our favorite day, including the one you’re about to read.

Now in its third year, 31 Days Of Halloween is a recurring feature that will run throughout the month of October. The hope and goal of this column is to supply every UTG reader with a daily horror (or Halloween-themed) movie recommendation that is guaranteed to amplify your All Hallows’ Eve festivities. We’ll be watching every film the day it’s featured, and we hope you’ll follow along at home.

[Warning: the material within is likely NSFW]

Day 17: Grave Encounters (2011)

Ah yes, one of my personal favorite horror films, 2011’s Grave Encounters. The main reason I really love this movie is because it’s a very well-done “found footage” film that legitimately scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it. Sure, some people will scoff at the thought of another cheesy found footage horror movie, but there’s something to be said about this genre that will always make it a classic. This type of film is honestly a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, and I can’t be the only one. Just consider all the people who line up to see the annual Paranormal Activity movie.

Grave Encounters is actually a Canadian film, shot at a real-life psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam, BC, which has since closed – creepy stuff. You may actually notice the mild accent of protagonist, Lance Preston, in the way he pronounces the name of his crew member, Sasha, throughout the film.

Grave Encounters was written and developed by Collin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz, aka “The Vicious Brothers,” who reportedly made the movie on a slender budget. Though it never made its way to the silver screen, it did however develop a bit of a cult following, and even a sequel the following year.

The movie centers around a “ghost hunters” type show, made up of a group of young folks who don’t exactly believe in ghosts themselves. In the opening of the movie we meet the show’s producer, who explains to the camera that you are about to watch the unedited footage of the final episode of a series called Grave Encounters, which was cancelled after the events of the 6th episode.

The film then cuts to the Grave Encounters crew who are visiting one of the most haunted places in North America, Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. Proving that they have no fear, the crew decides to lock themselves in the abandoned hospital to survey paranormal activity (see what I did there?) and churn out some spooky footage for ratings. As you might expect, locking themselves inside the facility proves to be a big mistake for the Grave Encounters team who quickly find that they’re not the only ones roaming the halls of the twisted psychiatric hospital.

As time goes on, more and more unusual things begin to happen and it almost appears that some cruel pranksters have worked their way in just to mess with the TV crew. However, in time, the unexplainable begins to happen as the crew become lost in what feels like a maze of hallways and tunnels. Certain that they will be let out anytime, the team is nonetheless struggling to keep cool on camera. Over time the members of the team get separated as they flee in fear from moments such as this one:

One thing I liked about the film when I first watched it was the cast. Given their budget, the Vicious Brothers had to hire a bunch of unknown actors to play the Grave Encounters team, and for that reason it feels all the more real. Plus, the acting is as convincing as the genre normally offers, making their found footage increasingly believeable. Grave Encounters is a must for fans of the found footage style horror film, and definitely worth a watch if you’re looking for a good scare.

So, if you can force yourself to suspend disbelief for just an hour and a half; turn off the lights, put away your phone, and check out Grave Encounters this Halloween season. You won’t regret it.

Editorial Written by: Scott Murray
Last year’s Day 17 film: Eden Lake

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Scott Murray

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