Grave and Ghostly Encounters
If you haven't seen Ghost Adventures, I suggest giving it a try; it's been one of my favourite shows for about 2 years now.
You may be familiar with paranormal investigation shows like Ghost Hunters or GHI, or even the highly researched and medium driven The Dead Files. Whilst the former are your typical paranormal investigation reality television programmes each in different locations with different crews and dynamics, the latter is much different and features what comes across more of a police investigation coupled with a psychic walk through. As we all know I'm a big fan of the paranormal and an avid believer in ghosts, these kinds of shows have been a staple for me since I stumbled across GHI in 2009, and been hooked ever since. In the following years I've watched a multitude of similar shows, including episodes set in places I've been to (like Port Arthur in Tasmania where I feel especially connected - google it), but I would have to say that of the ones I've watched Ghost Adventures is perhaps my favourite.
The premise consists of 3 guys (Zak, Nick and Aaron) who travel around the world (but mostly America) investigating reportedly haunted and historical locations. The show gets more polished as it goes along, the first season from 2008 having been so much more low key than it is now, but the dynamic that makes me love the show so much never changes. Zak, Nick and Aaron are just a bunch of guys with cameras and EMF recorders at the start and they never lose that Bro kind of charm even when they get more funding (and more equipment), the fans start rolling in and someone else takes over the film editing. Or it at least just gets better. The re-enactments and animations are also super terrifying.
At the beginning, Zak - who started investigating the paranormal due to his previous personal experiences - comes across as a kind of comedic, loveable douchebag from his gelled hair to his musculature, but he definitely grows on you and now (almost 2 years later) watching new episodes is like catching up with a friend. Not to mention that he's a pretty decent guy - he's passionate about what he does, treats his fans really well and even though he's not the brightest crayon in the box he makes up for it in charm and enthusiasm. Plus he just kind of adorable - and I don't just mean because he's attractive.
Nick and Aaron aren't as dear to me, but the trio are a package deal - this isn't the Zak Bagans show and they never try to make it so - and so these two are are as part of the fun as he is.
And what fun. Like I said, the trio are just a bunch of guys with cameras set to night-vision and as a result there is little polishing on what is actually filmed. The footage taken in cut for time, yes, but there's not a heap that doesn't get taken out when it comes to making the trio look like regular guys. For one thing there's so many occasions when (since they only use the light from the camera half the time) someone trips over furniture, or screams in terror at some shadow or loud noise, there's lots of scared man swearing (bleeped though), and so much guy pranking time that there's definite hilarity in practically every episode. My favourite is perhaps the time Zak calls for an incubus to come and get him, unaware that the difference between a succubus and an incubus is that the latter is male and that he's literally called himself a homo hookup. It isn't until the rest of the crew erupts into laughter at Zak's expense that he realises his blunder (Note: Zak is no homophobe, but he is an old school macho straight guy). That's not to mention all the blooper reels and in jokes that crop up over the seasons.
Then on the opposite side of the scale there's the terror; GA is one of the creepiest paranormal activity shows out there and there are thousands of instances over the 100+ episodes where something weird happens from doors slamming, to someone in the crew becoming ill, to injuries, ghost imagery, EVPs and EMF readings. Aaron, in particular, is probably the most suspect to being left alone and frightened by something but he is not the only one; at some point, Zak, Nick and Aaron all encounter something that freaks them out so much that they almost don't want to continue with the investigation. Even recently on the episode dedicated to the house Sharon Tate was murdered in in 1969, the trio considered pulling the investigation before it even started. It definitely humanised the trio more and was a nice homage to the horror movie fans who sit at home screaming 'don't go in there'. I don't know about this one guys, maybe we shouldn't go in there and provoke whatever could be inhabiting the house because it might end badly.
Obviously though, they did eventually.
But that does bring up another valuable point when you're talking about GA. The trio often use controversial means to provoke whatever may be inside the building or at the location they're investigating in order to derive a response - and quite a few times it has worked (if you believe their findings are as real as they do). It's the same sort of concept that has investigators on other programmes rolling marbles across the floor, producing stuffed animals for children, asking questions and for objects to be moved. The thing that makes what the GA crew does so different and controversial is the manner in which they go about it from time to time - they're brash, manly guys so they often yell abuse at the spirits, call them names, dare them to show themselves and sometimes bring in particular types of people that may connect better. For example for spirits that may only show themselves to or touch women, the crew might bring a woman in to the investigation, give her some equipment and leave her on her own. That being said though these people are always volunteers, they are given the choice, and when they're left alone Zak is too far away that he can't get to them in a rush. But their methods are still considered particularly controversial.
Personally, I don't think anything they've done has been so bad - they pull out if things get hectic or someone suggests they stop and so they do. I do however sometimes think they have a sort of death wish because half the things they get up to in general turn out to be dangerous and occasionally life-threatening. Things like investigating in old asbestos buildings, small islands, and the sheer fact that they're always roaming around at night with no lights on someone is bound to get hurt eventually - and they do. Or something scares the crap out of them and they retreat to home base. Plus I don't think that always screwing around with the paranormal is such a great idea if you're going to be actively trying to contact them. Seances and Ouija boards are never a great idea, in my opinion, but so long as the GA crew don't start reading aloud from books they find on location or bust out the candles and salt, then I think they'll be alright. At least for now.
So, check out Ghost Adventures if you can and you're interested because its definitely entertaining if nothing else whether you believe (as I do) or not.
But that brings me on to the next half of the post: Grave Encounters.
Unless you've been living under a rock or in the middle of the wild since 1998, you're probably familiar with the 'found-footage' sub-genre of film which is effectively just that - what appears to be a real documentation of some event much later by a third party (usually the police). Notable examples include the Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Quarrantine with Paranormal Activity that sort of fits in along the same lines as having been reviewed security camera footage. Well, Grave Encounters fits the bill, too, and acts as both an homage and a spoof of Ghost Adventures as well as the entire paranormal investigation industry. It pretty much fits so much on par that I wish I could find somewhere on the internet that would say whether Zak had seen it or not - I'm not sure if he'd love it or hate it and I'm dying to know.
Anyway, the premise of the film revolved around the fictional crew of the Grave Encounters television show led by Investigator Lance Preston, a very Zak-esque kind of guy down to the tone of his voice and the way he interviews his guests. The crew head to what they call the 'Collingwood' institute - an old mental asylum somewhere out of Vancouver that has been reportedly the location for various hauntings over the years since it shut down before.
Since the film is done almost entirely with handheld cameras and standing security footage, there is very little added music or added scenes that may take away from the film genre. The only exceptions occur much later on when entities, demons and ghosts start popping up on camera and since this is actually a movie and not a documentary as it pretends to be the special effects come in to make the spooks look...well, like spooks.
You may be familiar with paranormal investigation shows like Ghost Hunters or GHI, or even the highly researched and medium driven The Dead Files. Whilst the former are your typical paranormal investigation reality television programmes each in different locations with different crews and dynamics, the latter is much different and features what comes across more of a police investigation coupled with a psychic walk through. As we all know I'm a big fan of the paranormal and an avid believer in ghosts, these kinds of shows have been a staple for me since I stumbled across GHI in 2009, and been hooked ever since. In the following years I've watched a multitude of similar shows, including episodes set in places I've been to (like Port Arthur in Tasmania where I feel especially connected - google it), but I would have to say that of the ones I've watched Ghost Adventures is perhaps my favourite.
And there's no one reason why.
The premise consists of 3 guys (Zak, Nick and Aaron) who travel around the world (but mostly America) investigating reportedly haunted and historical locations. The show gets more polished as it goes along, the first season from 2008 having been so much more low key than it is now, but the dynamic that makes me love the show so much never changes. Zak, Nick and Aaron are just a bunch of guys with cameras and EMF recorders at the start and they never lose that Bro kind of charm even when they get more funding (and more equipment), the fans start rolling in and someone else takes over the film editing. Or it at least just gets better. The re-enactments and animations are also super terrifying.At the beginning, Zak - who started investigating the paranormal due to his previous personal experiences - comes across as a kind of comedic, loveable douchebag from his gelled hair to his musculature, but he definitely grows on you and now (almost 2 years later) watching new episodes is like catching up with a friend. Not to mention that he's a pretty decent guy - he's passionate about what he does, treats his fans really well and even though he's not the brightest crayon in the box he makes up for it in charm and enthusiasm. Plus he just kind of adorable - and I don't just mean because he's attractive.
Nick and Aaron aren't as dear to me, but the trio are a package deal - this isn't the Zak Bagans show and they never try to make it so - and so these two are are as part of the fun as he is.
And what fun. Like I said, the trio are just a bunch of guys with cameras set to night-vision and as a result there is little polishing on what is actually filmed. The footage taken in cut for time, yes, but there's not a heap that doesn't get taken out when it comes to making the trio look like regular guys. For one thing there's so many occasions when (since they only use the light from the camera half the time) someone trips over furniture, or screams in terror at some shadow or loud noise, there's lots of scared man swearing (bleeped though), and so much guy pranking time that there's definite hilarity in practically every episode. My favourite is perhaps the time Zak calls for an incubus to come and get him, unaware that the difference between a succubus and an incubus is that the latter is male and that he's literally called himself a homo hookup. It isn't until the rest of the crew erupts into laughter at Zak's expense that he realises his blunder (Note: Zak is no homophobe, but he is an old school macho straight guy). That's not to mention all the blooper reels and in jokes that crop up over the seasons.Then on the opposite side of the scale there's the terror; GA is one of the creepiest paranormal activity shows out there and there are thousands of instances over the 100+ episodes where something weird happens from doors slamming, to someone in the crew becoming ill, to injuries, ghost imagery, EVPs and EMF readings. Aaron, in particular, is probably the most suspect to being left alone and frightened by something but he is not the only one; at some point, Zak, Nick and Aaron all encounter something that freaks them out so much that they almost don't want to continue with the investigation. Even recently on the episode dedicated to the house Sharon Tate was murdered in in 1969, the trio considered pulling the investigation before it even started. It definitely humanised the trio more and was a nice homage to the horror movie fans who sit at home screaming 'don't go in there'. I don't know about this one guys, maybe we shouldn't go in there and provoke whatever could be inhabiting the house because it might end badly.
Obviously though, they did eventually.
But that does bring up another valuable point when you're talking about GA. The trio often use controversial means to provoke whatever may be inside the building or at the location they're investigating in order to derive a response - and quite a few times it has worked (if you believe their findings are as real as they do). It's the same sort of concept that has investigators on other programmes rolling marbles across the floor, producing stuffed animals for children, asking questions and for objects to be moved. The thing that makes what the GA crew does so different and controversial is the manner in which they go about it from time to time - they're brash, manly guys so they often yell abuse at the spirits, call them names, dare them to show themselves and sometimes bring in particular types of people that may connect better. For example for spirits that may only show themselves to or touch women, the crew might bring a woman in to the investigation, give her some equipment and leave her on her own. That being said though these people are always volunteers, they are given the choice, and when they're left alone Zak is too far away that he can't get to them in a rush. But their methods are still considered particularly controversial.
Personally, I don't think anything they've done has been so bad - they pull out if things get hectic or someone suggests they stop and so they do. I do however sometimes think they have a sort of death wish because half the things they get up to in general turn out to be dangerous and occasionally life-threatening. Things like investigating in old asbestos buildings, small islands, and the sheer fact that they're always roaming around at night with no lights on someone is bound to get hurt eventually - and they do. Or something scares the crap out of them and they retreat to home base. Plus I don't think that always screwing around with the paranormal is such a great idea if you're going to be actively trying to contact them. Seances and Ouija boards are never a great idea, in my opinion, but so long as the GA crew don't start reading aloud from books they find on location or bust out the candles and salt, then I think they'll be alright. At least for now.
So, check out Ghost Adventures if you can and you're interested because its definitely entertaining if nothing else whether you believe (as I do) or not.
But that brings me on to the next half of the post: Grave Encounters.
Unless you've been living under a rock or in the middle of the wild since 1998, you're probably familiar with the 'found-footage' sub-genre of film which is effectively just that - what appears to be a real documentation of some event much later by a third party (usually the police). Notable examples include the Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Quarrantine with Paranormal Activity that sort of fits in along the same lines as having been reviewed security camera footage. Well, Grave Encounters fits the bill, too, and acts as both an homage and a spoof of Ghost Adventures as well as the entire paranormal investigation industry. It pretty much fits so much on par that I wish I could find somewhere on the internet that would say whether Zak had seen it or not - I'm not sure if he'd love it or hate it and I'm dying to know.
What transpires is then a cornucopia of creepy moments starting from the initial behind the scenes paranormal investigaton it starts with to the totally crazed shock horror fest it turns into. It should come as no surprise that the plot follows along the lines of the investigators stumbling across much more than they bargained for during their lockdown at the asylum when members of the team start being picked off one at a time.
Since the film is done almost entirely with handheld cameras and standing security footage, there is very little added music or added scenes that may take away from the film genre. The only exceptions occur much later on when entities, demons and ghosts start popping up on camera and since this is actually a movie and not a documentary as it pretends to be the special effects come in to make the spooks look...well, like spooks.
Grave Encounters was particularly awesome for me not because it was scary, which I thought it was, but because it preyed on an idea I'd had a hundred times when watching GHI or Ghost Adventures in the past: what if they see something...tangible? As opposed to the usual EVPs or EMFs, doors slamming, scratches, photos or similar. What if one day a full scale apparition or spectre jumps out and scares the living daylights out of Zak Bagans?
Grave Encounters takes a pretty good crack at answering that question in a fictional context, though as much as I liked it, it never really satisfies that urge to really know but I get that it probably never will. I guess it's just not the sort of way that things happen in the real world - its a big mystery as to whatever does lay beyond the veil and the laws of the universe (or what have you) don't allow for that kind of thing to be caught on camera in the way that we wish they would. Who knows, it's all open to opinion and speculation.
To sum up: if you're interested then give them a try and see how you like them. I'm going to keep on watching until Zak stops investigating.
Oh and there's also a fun little comic series on DeviantArt dedicated to the hilarity that Zak, Nick and Aaron get up to on location. Check it out here: http://violetthepanther.deviantart.com/gallery/30059854
Oh and there's also a fun little comic series on DeviantArt dedicated to the hilarity that Zak, Nick and Aaron get up to on location. Check it out here: http://violetthepanther.deviantart.com/gallery/30059854
Sam xox
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