9 Found Footage Fates Worse Than Death

5. Grave Encounters - Embracing Insanity And Lobotomization

Megan Is Missing
Tribeca Film

Given how the found footage subgenre was one very much associated with serving up dross by the time the 2000s rolled into the 2010s, 2011's Grave Encounters was a proverbial diamond in the rough.

Sure, this Vicious Brothers' vehicle isn't a flawless piece of chilling cinematic perfection, but it is so much better than the majority of similar found footage offerings being served up at that point.

The premise of the picture sees ghost-hunting TV presenter Lance Preston take his crew to the phenomena-laced Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital for the final episode of his 'Grave Encounters' series.

Intending to spend the night at this spooky locale, Preston and his cohorts find themselves trapped in the dark, never-ending corridors of the hospital - with their fate a wince-inducing one.

As Grave Encounters hits its final act, our explorers realise that they've become patients of Collingwood, with some of the group becoming deranged. Literal blood baths and elevator shaft falls befit some of the team, but the worst fate awaits Lance.

Wandering endless tunnels, feeding on rats, Lance stumbles upon an old operating room where he is snatched by a gaggle of demonic nurses and forced to undergo a lobotomy.

Skip ahead to 2012's Grave Encounters 2, and Lance has embraced the insanity and become a murderous beast who stalks yet another film crew exploring the supposed 'set' used for Collingwood.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.