Sunday, August 16, 2015

Hollows Grove (2104)

When Harold gets dumped, his friend Tim allows him to make a documentary about Tim's ghost hunting show.  Per the exposition (which Tim shouldn't have to tell Harold since they're friends), we find out that the show has been on the air for five years.  In the entire time they've been investigating haunted locations, they've never encountered any paranormal activity. When Harold questions the footage he's seen on the show, Tim explains it's all done by Bill their effects guy.  He and his co-host just play along and act scared.

The teams next investigation is an abandoned orphanage where ghosts are rumored to walk the halls. One of them is said to be a seven year old child who likes to slit peoples throats.

When Harold and Tim arrive at the location, the caretaker bars them from entering the building.  Even though they have the proper permits, he won't allow them inside because the place is truly haunted and they shouldn't risk their lives.  But I guess he's not totally committed to their safety since Tim is able to convince the caretaker that everything will be fine.

On their first foray into the building, they hear strange noises and assume Bill is doing a bang up job with his effects. This is a strange assumption since the caretaker already mentioned that he refused Bill entry to the premises.

Based on the obnoxiousness of the hosts, its hard to believe this show could be successful.  But not as hard to believe as a successful ghost hunting show allowing a behind the scenes documentary maker to film them talking about how everything on their show is fake.  It's the kiss of death for their career and puts at risk any future revenue from the convention circuit, dvd sales and re-runs.

The movie is bookended by an FBI agent who sternly explains that the found footage is all that is left. No one knows exactly what happened.  The movie contains it's fair share of video glitches to simulate that it's truly hand shot video.  This is incredibly annoying and I wish found footage movies would stop doing this.  Also does digital filming have these same glitches, or it is just video tape?

Also if you can see a herd of ghost children while using the night vision on your camera, why wouldn't you use said camera to see if they are still in the hallway?  If you've locked yourself in a room, you don't just walk out using your naked eye to see if the ghost kids are still there. You can only see them with

Oh and did I just see Lance Henriksens seventy year old ass as he reenacts a talking butt that is a cross between Ace Ventura and goatse?  Yes...yes, I did.  It was horrifying before the realization that it was Lance, but it left us all asking why Lance, why?

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