“Grave Seekers” (actors: Sean Rogerson, Ben Wilkinson, Mervyn Mondeser, Mackenzie Gray, Ashley Gryzko, Juan Riedinger) is a typical horror movie about a haunted house, made in the already somewhat annoying style of moquimentaries. Everyone knows that pseudo-documentary horror films bring the creators fabulous profits, but not all of them have the necessary levers of psychological influence on the audience. But the creation of directors and scriptwriters Colin Minichan, Stuart Ortiz, the Vises brothers, despite the unpretentious plot and its simple embodiment, scares and delights at the same time. The authors perfectly felt the material underlying the horror film “Seekers of the Graves”. Actors and roles were selected by them with special attention.
Canonical plot
The plot narrative of the picture is inspired by what the horror master Stephen King described in the unforgettable Dance of Death described as “The Story of a Hook”: a collective image of urban legends, scary stories, myths that frighten you when they are told on a dark night near the fire. He is literally canonical. At the center of the story is a team of seasoned television people specializing in debunking myths around various abodes of spirits, whether they are mansions, abandoned factories, or mental hospitals. The members of the group are guided as one by one only by skepticism, cynicism and the complete conviction that there is nothing paranormal in our reality. And so the group will have to go on a new task to an abandoned mental hospital, in which, according to urban legend, the head physician was fond of illegal experiments on insane patients, which provoked their rebellion, which turned into a bloody massacre. The film “Seekers of the Graves” has such a tie. Actors often improvised during the filming, contributing to the development of the plot.
Intrigue
Arriving at the destination, the permanent leader of the scandalous project Lance Preston, after consulting with the producer of the TV show, decides to resort to the help of a hired psychic-charlatan and all sorts of special effects, since the situation in the clinic is not at all frightening, and it will not work to create a show without auxiliary means. However, all his doubts were dispelled with the onset of darkness, when after dusk in the hospital something inexplicable, but definitely ominous and frightening, intensified. In addition, the film "Seekers of Graves", the actors of which exclusively got used to the images of their characters, will familiarize the viewer with the internal cuisine of such television shows and the internal conflicts of the film crew.
Then begins the active running around first for the ghosts, a little later - from them. One of the most exciting moments was when the heroes, trying to get out of the hospital, break the lock on the front door, but find themselves only in the next labyrinth of corridors. Labyrinths simultaneously fascinate and scare. This moment is one of the main advantages of the picture. The actors of the film “Seekers of Graves” look somewhat faded in comparison with the frightening atmosphere and scenery.
The final in the style of "Prohibited Reception"
Paradoxically, the first part of the movie, in which there are no ghosts, is of the greatest interest to the viewer. The team’s work on a streamlined scheme for filming “paranormal” TV shows, bribery and confidential conversations with the local population, brawls, jokes and jokes - all this will not leave the audience indifferent and will surely make you think about television, to understand how much it is self-serving, false and simulated.
The subsequent transformation of team members into new inhabitants of the psychiatric hospital has ancient genre roots. It is thought out well, but its design leaves much to be desired. Will make the viewer think and the finale of the horror "Seekers of the graves." Are the actors (or rather their characters) alive? What is their fate? This will help to figure out the sequel of the picture with the uncomplicated title "Seekers of the Graves 2". But even such a climax (in the style of "Forbidden Reception") does not save the movie from some kind of stereotyping.
It's hard to be an innovator in horror
In general, this attempt to create something, albeit not new, but at least original, on a field of horror dug with funnels, can be called more or less successful. Despite the fact that in the film "Seekers of the Graves" the actors were involved those who before that worked only in television projects, they created rather charismatic images. For an exemplary horror film, the picture lacked moments of logic in the narrative, the tricks of the operator, and costly sound effects. But given the fact that the movie was shot in just 12 days, the viewer should be condescending. And true fans of pseudo-documentary films can safely be recommended for viewing.