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theholykael
Reviews
Underwater (2020)
Pleasantly surprised
When it comes to horror and sci-fi I can remain open to a certain degree. I won't find myself watching the bottom of the barrel slithering around the dark corners of streamers, but movies like "Underwater" and others you'd probably find on the "If you liked this..." section hold a special place in my heart. I'll at least give them a chance and I did with this.
I will say that I was, indeed, pleasantly surprised by this one. I enjoyed William Eubank's last movie "The Signal" and this one takes most of the good bits from it and expands on them. Obviously he had more of a budget with this and it shows, but the CGI leaves a little to be desired. That being said I was a fan of what he was trying to do here. I found myself getting immersed in the little world on display here.
You've seen this movie before. Eubank knows you have, but he still runs with it. I feel like this is a case where that sweet balance is struck. It's familiar, but the kind that you welcome. However, the third act completely took me by surprise. It's what bumped this up to a 7 for me. I was reminded of "Cabin in the Woods" but a good way.
The acting was all fine. Kristen Stewart and TJ Miller were the most enjoyable. You can tell the cast had some fun making this.
Grave Encounters (2011)
Solid Found Footage
Every so often, in a vast sea of s**t found movies, one appears that is either decent or surprisingly good. "Grave Encounters" falls somewhere in between as it is a few notches above most I've seen, but I wouldn't say it reinvents the genre.
What sets it apart, in my opinion, is that the Vicious Brothers seem to embrace all the standard FF cliches and have fun with them. It's not just objects moving, strange noises, and unseen ghosts terrorizing the cast. They make it a point to have them literally running up to the camera. There's also a few bits that are genuinely fun. A nod to Polanski's "Repulsion" and some cosmic horror in the vein of "House of Leaves" makes its way in.
The cast is decent and gets the point across. I wasn't overtly annoyed by any of them. Houston was my favorite as the D-Level medium you find on so many ghost hunting shows. I liked that they clearly had fun parodying a genre early on.
As far as complaints go, it really boils down to two things: the cameras glitching out every time something supernatural happens and the stretchy faced ghosts. Neither are scary or effective, just annoying. Those two things unfortunately happen a couple times too many.
Aside from those issues, I genuinely enjoyed the movie and occasionally will go back to it when I want a decent FF. If you want something that'll entertain you and not have you rolling your eyes every few minutes i recommend "Grace Encounters". It's a nice companion to the "Hell House LLC" series.