Grave Encounters/Grave Encounters 2

After hearing about these for some time I finally decided to set down and watch them this weekend.

Grave Encounters

The Plot:
The cast and crew of the ghost hunting show Grave Encounters spend the night in the supposedly haunted  Collingwood asylum. They get more than they ever bargained for at Collingwood though. 

My Thoughts:
While I generally don't like the found footage genre, I was surprised with Grave Encounters.  The start of the movie is a great send up of every ghost hunting show you've ever seen.  Watching the crew bribe gardeners, coach the fake psychic, and stage the "scary" shots was great.  When the ghost inevitably arrive there are quite a few good scares. 

and that's a wrap!

The crew avoided doing typical horror movie cliches and they reacted realistically to the ghosts. The only complaint I have is that the last act was too long.

Grave Encounters 2

The Plot:
A group of film students sets out to prove that the film Grave Encounters  actually happened.

My Thoughts:
As much as I enjoyed the first one, the sequel left me flat.  It was to meta for my taste. Starting the movie off with people reviewing the first movie just killed it for me.  They took the shaky camera to the extreme too.   Motion sickness does not endear a movie to me.  Also I'm pretty sure  film students wouldn't record themselves buying pot.

They should definitely stop here and not try to squeeze any more life out of this concept.