SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Tockinit not horrible nor great

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

ksaiken-62143 I was so surprised at how good this movie was! The first half does an excellent job of building suspense and the story has substance. Although the lead actress overacted a bit at points, the others were above par for a made for TV flick. I especially enjoyed how intense the horror became in the latter half and the special effects were really good (warning: more gore than you expect). I was expecting the usual over dramatic stuff and was glued to the TV instead. (The only thing I felt disappointed with was the name given to the man they meet at the beginning of their journey - it made it too obvious what part he was going to play if you know anything about the mythology). All in all a very entertaining horror film.

Claudio Carvalho In Japan, the college student Maiko (Kaitlyn Leeb) grieves the loss of her mother, who committed suicide two weeks ago in the notorious "suicide forest". Maiko is seeking out her body and her friends Amber (Cassi Thomson) and Terry (Dejan Loyola) decide to make a documentary about her quest as school project. Terry invites his friend Kyle (Graham Wardle) to shoot their documentary and they head to the forest. On the arrival, they meet the lonely hiker Jin (Hiro Kanagawa), who asks them to leave the dead in peace and go away and stays with them. However they decide to search the spot and soon their college mates Skylar (Tom Stevens), Brody (Jesse Wheeler) and Craig (Jeffrey Ballard) play a prank on them. While returning to their car, the trio finds a dead body and Skyler steals a Rolex from his wrist. When Jin finds what they have done, he advises that they are doomed."Grave Halloween" is a horror movie with careful production, gloomy cinematography and good acting. Aokigahara, also known as the Suicide Forest or Sea of Trees does exist in Japan and "lies at the northwest base of Mount Fuji and has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology and it is a notoriously common suicide site" (see Wikipedia - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara"). This place might be known by Japanese but is totally unknown for Westerns. Unfortunately the lead story explaining why the Japanese mother of the Western Maiko committed suicide does not work well. The explanation of her suicide is totally unreasonable. Further, if the characters were Japanese, the plot could work better; but the Japanese college shows only American students living a Japanese legend and gives the sensation of a phony plot. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): Not available on Blu-Ray or DVD.

brianskeet A genuinely creepy movie that captures some of the best bits of "Blair Witch" but with very good acting particularly from the leads.I like the fact that it captures some of the Japanese horror sensibility with an American spin.The scenes towards the end are genuinely creepy and the living dead have never been so unwelcoming.I genuine recommend this film which is better than the overrated "Shrooms" and the last "Hatchet" which did not deliver.As a film maker myself (www.joanproductions.com) I am currently making a horror film and know how hard it is to pull it off and I think this director did and extremely good job. Not and excellent job

Michael_Elliott Grave Halloween (2013) * 1/2 (out of 4)A young woman (Kaitlyn Leeb) agrees to be a part of a documentary covering a mysterious forest in Japan known as "Suicide Forest." This place is known for countless suicides that have happened there including the girl's mother but while the group tries to determine the cause, they soon realize that angry spirits are there. GRAVE HALLOWEEN, on a technical level, is actually rather impressive and supports some rather gory death scenes and some fine performances but there's still no doubt that it's just a weak imitation of some much better movies. This pretty much plays like a cross between THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE RING and just about any other Japanese ghost movie. The biggest problem is that the thing just isn't scary and all the "jump" scenes just don't add up to anything. There are countless times in the film where the documentary makers spot something on their camera and these scenes are meant to make us jump. Well, they never do and instead of being scary they just seem rather forced and eventually boring. As the film moves along we get to some rather bloody death scenes and these are especially gory when you consider this was made for television. Another thing working against the picture is that once the mystery starts to play out you realize that you simply don't care about anything going on or anyone involved. As I said, the performances are better than average with Cassi Thomson really standing out among the cast. Hiro Kanagawa is also very good in his role as a man who leads the group through the woods. Director Steven R. Monroe (I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE) knows how to shoot a film and make it look profession, there's no question about that but hopefully his talents will be used for a better picture.