41
Summary: A documentary filmmaker (Matthew Carey) shadows his college friends as they shoot a new episode for a ghost hunters TV show called S.P.I.T.
WHAT’S HOT: Can we talk about how almost every found footage movie starts with some sort of white text against black screen warning that says: “The footage you’re about to see is highly classified”. These warnings are hard to stomach, because I know very well that I don’t have anywhere near the proper clearance required to watch such confidential things, and neither do my fellow movie goers. Hollows Grove distinguishes itself among its found footage siblings by actually paying an actor to play an FBI agent who introduces the movie as part of an ongoing investigation, and what’s better, looks directly into the camera and reminds the audience that we were brought in by the FBI because they knew we could help. This is great! I am now an active participant in the movie, an FBI special consultant none the less. Hollows Grove also feels like somebody documenting the making of a TV show. Many things go wrong, there’s lots of film talk, there are retakes, and these are some nuances that movies of this nature never seem to capture. These are simple points, but kudos to Hollows Grove for taking the initiative.
WHAT’S NOT: I have a love-hate relationship with Hollows Grove, because when it comes down to it, it’s simply another found footage movie about people wandering around a supposedly haunted abandoned building and getting killed because they refused to listen to dire warnings. It’s 2015. Do we really need another take on the same old sorry tune?
*You may want to read the breakdown of my rating system or my glossary of terms before continuing.*
BASIC (9/25)
Plot: 2
Dialogue: 1
Setting: 1
Acting: 2
Uniqueness: 3
CHARACTERS (10/30)
Protagonist: 3 (Harold)
Antagonist: 4 (?)
Sidekick characters: 3 (Tim)
TIME LINE (8/15)
Opening: 4
Title sequence: 2
Ending: 2
THE “HORROR” (4/15)
Gore: 1
Suspense: 1
Special effects: 2
MOTIVES (7/10)
Protagonist motive: 5
Antagonist motive: 2
Was it scary: 3
Overall: 41
This House is Haunted 