Grave Encounters 2
| Grave Encounters 2 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | John Poliquin |
| Produced by |
Twin Engine Films Pink Buffalo Films Shawn Angelski Martin Fisher |
| Written by | The Vicious Brothers |
| Starring |
Richard Harmon Leanne Lapp Sean Rogerson Dylan Playfair Stephanie Bennett Howie Lai |
| Music by | Quynne Alana Paxa |
| Cinematography | Tony Mirza |
| Edited by |
John Poliquin The Vicious Brothers |
| Distributed by |
Tribeca Film Festival Arclight Films |
Release dates |
(VOD or iTunes) |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country |
Canada United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,400,000 |
| Box office | $8,211,000 |
Grave Encounters 2 is a 2012 Canadian-American horror film, directed by John Poliquin, written by The Vicious Brothers and the sequel to the 2011 film Grave Encounters.[1] It is shot in found footage style like its predecessor and follows a group of devoted fans who break into the same psychiatric hospital to investigate whether the events of the previous film actually happened, quickly becoming the targets of the hospital's malevolent entities. The film was released on iTunes on October 2, 2012 and received a limited theatrical release on October 12, 2012. Grave Encounters 2 became a commercial success, but was a critical failure.
Plot
Film student Alex Wright and his friends want to produce a documentary about the original Grave Encounters movie. Alex believes that the first film was real. He posts an online plea for any information about the film and receives a message from someone named "DeathAwaits666." The message leads Alex to the mother of Sean Rogerson, the actor who played Lance in Grave Encounters. She believes that Sean is still alive but they discover that she has severe dementia.
Alex finds out that the cast from the first movie are all missing or have died. He gets a mysterious message leading him to meet the producer of the original film. The producer confesses that the film was actual found footage. Discovering that the Collingwood Mental Hospital from the first film is actually an abandoned asylum in Canada (the name of which is censored throughout the film), Alex and his friends travel to the hospital to meet DeathAwaits666, where they discover a Ouija board. Using it to communicate with the spirits, they realize that their online contact is not a person, but a paranormal entity.
The spirit turns violent and the group flees. A panicked Alex finally agrees to leave but not until they gather all the cameras. Jared is killed by the entity. After reviewing the footage of his death, the group frantically tries to find a way out. However, as in the original film, they are met with walls where the exits should be. Tessa is then separated from the group and killed. The surviving students discover the security guard from the grounds strapped to a gurney, hooked up to an electroshock machine, used to give patients seizures. He is electrocuted. While fleeing from one of the spirits, they escape the hospital and return to their hotel room. However, when they use the elevator to get to the hotel lobby, it instead opens onto the tunnels beneath the hospital, revealing that their escape was an illusion, and they are once again trapped.
They meet the actor Sean Rogerson, and discover that he has been trapped in the hospital for over nine years, subsisting on rats and water from the hospital toilets. Rogerson has been lobotomized and driven insane, but he shows them that the building's layout is far bigger than a city, and that he has made a map. He claims to be able to communicate with the building's entities due to the lobotomy performed on him by Dr. Friedkin, and states that the reason the hospital is like this is due to experiments and rituals by Dr. Friedkin. Sean shows them a freestanding red door in one of the rooms and tells them it is the only way out, but it is wrapped in chains.
While they sleep for the night, an invisible entity picks up a camera and films them. Sean kills Trevor, claiming the entities made him do it. Alex and Jennifer discover Sean and their equipment have disappeared. Sean cuts the chains on the red door with the team's tools and enters, only to realize the door leads nowhere. Frenzied, he begins talking to the entities, who instruct Sean to "finish the film" so it will draw more curious thrill-seekers to the hospital. But only a single survivor will be allowed to leave.
Alex and Jennifer see Dr. Friedkin's satanic altar and hide as the doctor performs a lobotomy. The nurses then present an infant to Dr. Friedkin, who sacrifices it. The couple flees and Sean demands they hand over their tapes. Alex refuses and Sean tries to kill him. During the struggle, a void opens up on the wall and sucks Sean in. Alex realizes that Sean was being honest in how to escape so he smashes Jennifer's face in with the camera. He then turns the camera on himself, promising that he will finish the film.
He exits the hospital through the red door which leads him to a field on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and he is soon arrested while walking down the street at night. The last scene shows that the footage has been made into a film, with Alex and producer Jerry Hartfield claiming that everything the public sees has been staged and that it is 'just a movie.' However, Alex tells the interviewers not to go anywhere near the hospital because 'it's not worth it'.
Cast
- Richard Harmon as Alex Wright, a university student and filmmaker who becomes obsessed with the previous film.
- Leanne Lapp as Jennifer Parker, a fellow student who is in love with Alex.
- Sean Rogerson as himself/Lance Preston, having survived, he has gone insane after being trapped in the hospital for nine years.
- Dylan Playfair as Trevor Thompson, Alex's best friend and cameraman.
- Stephanie Bennett as Tessa Hamill, Jennifer's friend.
- Howard Lai as Jared Lee, Alex's second cameraman and Tessa's boyfriend.
- Sean Tyson as the guard stationed at the hospital.
- Ben Wilkinson as Jerry Hartfield, the producer of Grave Encounters.
- Arthur Corber as Dr. Friedkin, a doctor at Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital.
- Brenda McDonald as Mrs. Rogerson.
- Collin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz as The Vicious Brothers, the directors of Grave Encounters.
- Dalila Bela as Kaitlin, a former patient at Collingwood.
- Roy Campsall as the emaciated demon.
- Melissa Valvok and Brenda Anderson as nurse demons.
- Dale Hall (IV) as operated patient.
- Maddox Valvok as baby.
- Merwin Mondesir (uncredited cameo) as himself/T.C. Gibson, the cameraman for Grave Encounters.
- Mackenzie Gray (uncredited cameo) as himself/Houston Grey, the psychic for Grave Encounters.
- Juan Riedinger (uncredited cameo) as himself/Matt White, the technical expert for Grave Encounters.
- Ashleigh Gryzcko (uncredited cameo) as herself/Sasha Parker, an occult specialist for Grave Encounters.
- Reese Alexander and Meeshelle Neal as LA Police Officers.
- Satan as Satan.
Production
Grave Encounters 2 began production in late 2011 and was released on October 12, 2012. Early in production it was revealed that the film would be directed by John Poliquin, and only written by the Vicious Brothers. The first trailer was released on September 4, 2012.[2] The film's budget was $1,400,000. It was released on October 12, 2012 in a limited theatrical run, but released earlier in the month on iTunes for download.
Critical response
Grave Encounters 2 received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 14% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 10.