Grave Encounters (2011) Ending Explained

Last updated on October 3rd, 2024 at 10:23 pm

Grave Encounters (2011) is a found footage supernatural horror film written & directed by The Vicious Brothers. The movie is very popular for its well-thinking plot and excellent work, which hooked people to the end. Grave Encounters deserves a lot more attention than it got because it is a great piece in the horror category.

Grave Encounters Ending Explanation and Plot Story in Details

* * * Spoiler Alert – If you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now! * * *

At the beginning of the movie, we see a man named Jerry Hartfield. He is the executive producer of a ghost-hunting reality TV series show called Grave Encounters.

The show closed in 2003 after five episodes. Because during the shooting of the sixth episode, all the members of this show mysteriously disappeared somewhere. No trace of them was found after this incident. But later a 70-hour video of them was found.

In 2010 Jerry mastered the 70 hours of video and released it as the sixth episode of the Grave Encounters series. He assured everyone that no editing was done in these videos.

The movie then begins the sixth episode of Grave Encounters reality show. The title of this episode is ‘Haunting Asylum’.

There are five leading characters in this show. These included Lance presenting the show, Sasha a spiritual medium and occult specialist, surveillance operator Matt White, cameraman T.C. and Houston.

They arrive at Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital for the shoot. Where is Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital located? Is it real life haunted? These types of questions arise in peoples’ mind. But let me strictly clear you that Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital is none but a fictional haunted place, created for twisting the plot. The real filming location was at Riverview Mental Hospital, Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Back to the story, here we find out that this team has fake ghost haunting episodes in the previous five episodes. That is, they have not seen any ghosts before but on TV they are shown that they have actually encountered spirits.

They interviewed a historian who said the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital was opened in 1873. The condition of the hospital at that time was very poor. At that time many mental patients were admitted here, but the standard of care and treatment wasn’t enough. The authority was not given proper food, medicine, treatment, or clothes to patients.

At that time there was a doctor named Arthur Friedkin in this hospital. He performed all sorts of strange and terrible experiments on patients. Many patients were crippled and often died.

In 1948, a fatal accident occurred at Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. A patient stabs Dr. Arthur to death and escapes. The hospital was then closed.

But after that local people started complaining the hospital became Haunted. They began to say the spirits of the dead patients roam in this hospital intoxicated with revenge.

When people enter the hospital, they don’t let them out. Tend to feel like a sick patient. To get out of the hospital one has to recover completely or die.

As in every horror movie, Lance and his team take this hilariously and start laughing. They then decided to enter the hospital. They tell Kenny, the night guard at the hospital, to close the front door after entering the hospital building. Under no circumstances should the door be opened at night. He was told to open the front door at six in the morning.

Accordingly, Kenny allows the team to enter the building and locks it from the outside.

Read more, 1BR (2019)

Inside the building, Lance and his team set up cameras in different parts of the building and check if they were working properly. They noticed the windows of the building were fastened with hand railings, which were almost impossible to break out. In other words, they can’t get out of this hospital until the main door is opened in the morning.

For the first four and a half hours after entering the hospital, everything was normal. Then the first abnormal incident was caught on camera, where a window opened loudly alone.

After a while, T.C. began walking around the hospital. He finds a toilet and enters it. He feels very cold inside there. Suddenly the door to the lab behind him slammed shut alone. The incident was captured on T.C.’s camera.

After a while, the rest of the members arrive at the place, and they each feel quite agitated. Because this is the first real ghost event in their program that has been captured on camera. According to Lance, it is a good event for the show. But in that time, he didn’t know what is waiting for them.

They then witness some more ghostly events and they are captured on camera. As Sasha’s hair blows into the air by an invisible entity, a smoky human figure was captured on the screen. Everyone is terrified and admits the hospital is really haunted.

They all gathered in a room and waited for six in the morning. At some point, their clock reads 6:15 but no one opens the door from outside.

They realized that they are trapped inside this hospital and no help is coming from outside. So they started looking for a way out of the hospital on their own.

Here also issues arise. They began feeling that the hospital building was changing its structure now and then. At first, it seemed an unusual thought, but in no time, they were convinced that it was indeed happening. Because the team finds the main door and breaks it down. Unfortunately, they find another room on the other side. They went up the stairs of the fire exit again and saw a sheer wall there. The arrows on their compass spin in random directions.

They realize they are trapped in a maze. In this way, they spent about 40 hours. Over time, their mental condition deteriorates due to severe stress and adverse environment. Meanwhile, Houston is separated from the group and is killed by the ghost.

All stopped for some time to rest and there they fell asleep. When they wake up, notice that they all have medical stickers on their hand. That is, they are now patients of the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. The hospital sticker is stuck on their wrist, and their name is written on it.

That is, they now have to go through the painful treatment of Dr. Arthur.

After a while, they meet Matt. He is now acting like a complete mental breakdown and also wearing hospital clothes. He informs them that Dr. Arthur is coming to treat them and won’t let them out until they recover. That indicates that Dr. Arthur’s spirit was still was there.

After a while, they all see a bathtub. Matt looked at it again and again. TC wants to know what he is seeing and goes to the bathtub. Suddenly the bathtub fills with blood, and a female ghost emerges from it. It grabs T.C. and is in a bathtub of blood in no time. Within moments of this, the very ghostly T.C. disappears.

They found an elevator but it was jammed due to long disuse. They were trying to open it when a tongueless ghost attacked them. They somehow escaped from there. But Matt couldn’t take it anymore and committed suicide.

Lance and Sasha then descend the elevator stairs and emerge in a tunnel. They continue walking thinking that maybe they will find a way out. But after walking for 24 hours, they find nothing. The tunnel doesn’t want to end. They again came into a maze.

They feel numb while sitting in one place. This time on camera we see a layer of fog coming off them. After some time, when the fog cleared, Sasha also disappeared. When Lance wakes up, he is devastated.

After a while, he enters a room and realizes it is Dr. Arthur’s study room and operation theater.

Lance sees several medical books and the surprising thing is that there are many materials of black magic scattered there. Like dead human skulls, pentagrams, black magic books, etc.

From this Lance realizes that Dr. Arthur was not only an oppressor but also a member of the Secret Cult Society. And perhaps this is why the spirits of those who died in this hospital are trapped under the influence of his magic.

Suddenly Lance sees Doctor Arthur and a few nurses behind him performing an experimental operation on a patient. At the next moment, Dr. Arthur’s spirit attacks Lance, and the camera turns off.

After a while, when the camera is turned on, Lance was on the screen. He told the audience that Dr. Arthur had treated him. He is OK now and the doctor has allowed him to leave. Lance then gives the signing-off dialogue of his show and turns off the camera. And the movie ends here.

Summary

Original Title: Grave Encounters

Genre: Supernatural Horror/ Found footage

Runtime: 01hr 32min

Original Language: English

Written & directed by Colin Minihan, Stuart Ortiz, The Vicious Brothers

Tagline: They were searching for proof… they found it

Release date: September 09, 2011 (USA)

Origin Country: Canada

Cast of Characters

Grave Encounters Movie List

1. Grave Encounters (2011)

2. Grave Encounters 2 (2012)