- Directed by The Vicious Brothers, Colin Minihan, Stuart Ortiz
- Written by Colin Minihan, Stuart Ortiz, The Vicious Brothers
- Stars Sean Rogerson, Juan Riedinger, Ashleigh Gryzko
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEmuFgHZZK0
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a good found footage movie and pretty realistic. We all know from the start that things are going to go badly for these folks, and it’s entertaining watching it get worse and worse for them. We both give it a thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on Jerry, who runs a production company for reality shows, and he talks about a new one called “Grave Encounters” where paranormal investigators go to supposedly haunted places and investigate. We watch the show’s opening, starring Lance Preston and his team of investigators. It was all going well until episode six… What we are about to see has been assembled from the crew’s real footage.
Lance comes out and introduces the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. He tells us about the many mentally ill patients and its closure in 1963. He interviews Morgan, a local historian who explains the history of the place. Dr. Arthur Friedkin was the doctor in charge, and he did a lot of experimental brain surgery and lobotomies. Six patients broke out of their rooms and killed him.
They go inside and talk to Kenny, the old caretaker. Kenny shows them a room where a patient spent years writing on the walls; “There are demons in the walls,” says the writing. The various buildings of the campus are connected with underground service tunnels. Lance pays the gardener to make up a story about seeing ghosts. Houston Grey, a psychic medium, comes to participate in the show; he’s a fake too. Technician Matt sets up night vision cameras in various places in the building.
Night falls, and they have Kenny lock them all inside for the night. The various characters walk around calling out for the ghosts to appear, but nothing happens at first. They soon laugh, give up, and break for lunch.
Lance wants to do one more walkthrough to get some B-roll footage. TC runs into a door and wheelchair that seem to move on their own. Could it be kids in the building? Sasha wonders if it could be something real– she’s soon convinced, and most of the crew want to bug out immediately, but they can’t because the door is locked.
Matt goes off alone to pack up the static cams and doesn’t come back, so the others go looking for him. Something pushes TC down the steps. They call Kenny to let them out early, but Lance suddenly can’t get a signal; none of them can. They break down the front door to leave, but though the front door is… another hallway. Outside the “Exit” door is… another hallway.
Lance mentions that it’s still night outside, but it’s 8:30 in the morning. Why hasn’t the sun come up? They all take a nap, and now it’s 8 p.m. Maybe not– the food they brought is all rotten. They keep looking for a way out, but the building keeps changing like a maze.
They eventually run into a girl dressed like a patient. She turns around, and she’s some kind of demonic ghost. Everyone freaks out. Houston gets separated from the others and something invisible attacks him in the hallway. Lance, Sasha, and TC all wake up wearing patient ID bracelets. They eventually find Matt, but he’s very confused and wearing a patient gown. “We can all leave as soon as we’re better,” he says.
A ghost makes TC vanish in a tub of blood. Lance pries open an elevator door to climb down into the tunnels in the basement. Matt jumps to his death down the shaft.
Lance and Sasha walk through the dark subterranean tunnels that connect the buildings. She starts vomiting blood; she had complained about having a fever earlier. They walk all day, but they never get anywhere. Fog rolls in, and when it fades, Sasha is gone, leaving Lance alone in the dark tunnel.
Lance eats a rat and takes a nap. He eventually finds Dr. Friedkin’s lab, where he used to do his surgeries; we see that he did a lot more than just lobotomies. The doctor’s ghost lobotomizes Lance.
Commentary
I like the whole reality TV angle. Several of the people Lance interviews do the umms and ahhs and act like they’ve never been on camera before, which is more realistic that a lot of other found footage films.
These guys are supposed to be professionals shooting a TV show, but they all swear every other word. I’m not the language police, but this seems unrealistic, as it would take a ton of editing and bleeping to make it appropriate for TV. Later on, when things get hectic, it seems natural, but not so much in the beginning.
They supposedly were in the asylum for many days, but everyone’s batteries kept on going. Also, it seems like there’s plenty of junk they could have used to pry open the bars on the windows, but they never made a serious attempt at that.
We liked it!