GRAVE ENCOUNTERS 2

A YouTuber who reviews films discovers that "ESP – Paranormal Phenomena" is not a fictional movie but a documentary filmed in a real, cursed, and abandoned hospital. The guy, along with a small crew, decides to shoot a documentary in the mysterious hospital. In 2010, "ESP – Paranormal Phenomena" by the Vicious Brothers was one of the funniest mockumentary genre films seen in theaters since "[Rec]". And since if a movie is successful, a sequel must be made even if it is not needed at all, here comes this "ESP 2" which sees five guys following in the footsteps of the first film, which, in the fiction, seems to have been a real documentary and not a fictional feature film. Taking the subject at large, it can be noted that lately, in the various unsuccessful sequels of horror films, two possible directions are noted. One is to start from the original film and then completely subvert its plot and meaning by telling stories that would make films on their own, while the second is to end up retracing the original film line by line. In this case, we are in the territory of the "stamp" film but without the things that worked in the first chapter. Let's immediately mention the positive aspect of the film, which is the cameo of the Vicious Brothers as interns and fake directors of the first "ESP". That said, if this is the positive thing, imagine what kind of movie we are talking about! First of all, the initial part in which the guys start to doubt that "ESP" narrated real events is excessively verbose, with useless scene after useless scene (and crazy scene after crazy scene) with the guy first talking to an actor's mom, then to the producer (who has such an unreal and forced behavior that it makes you die laughing), then there's the trip out of town… with the result that what could have been a 5-minute prologue we have to endure for 40-45 minutes without ANYTHING moving forward. The guys then arrive at the abandoned hospital in question and start setting up, placing the cameras and thus another 15 minutes pass, with the result that the film starts to tell us something after almost an hour. Everything that worked in the first one is attempted here with the protagonists doing more or less the same things and receiving more or less the same treatment, but here too we go for addition, an addition of so much useless and stupid stuff that it makes you yawn most of the time and smirk the other times. We thus witness the crazy actor locked up in the hospital for years (with a very British and well-styled haircut) trying to get out by eating mice and who, despite believing he knows a way out, spends his days writing on the walls, to a demon who subscribes to YouTube and uploads videos, to a doctor (the one from the ending of "ESP" 1) so perfidious and cruel that he appears for about 4 seconds flat without his figure having any relevance to the rest of the plot… The attempts to scare are then tacky and ridiculous to the point of grotesque with the characters who position themselves blatantly in a suitable manner (that is, very unnatural) to favor the special effect, wrong timings, sound effects used poorly (or not used) with scenes that absolutely do not wake you up from the boredom in which you inevitably fall after the first poor half hour. Let's gloss over terms like "characterization of characters" or "psychology" because there is not even a shadow of it but in exchange the stupidity exceeds levels of decency quite surprising (above all the guy who gets up and goes to look for a bathroom knowing about the spirit infestation when the whole building is full of mice, mold and all sorts of filth). At a certain point, when they finally find the key that separates them from the long-awaited exit, the guys decide to take a nap before opening the door (!?). I strongly advise you to do the same and to avoid this stuff like the plague. Curiosity: Before the end of the credits there is a small additional video so useless and pathetic that if you managed to leave the room in time to avoid it, it's better.