# Does this movie exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415 "2020-03-27T12:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/1 "2020-03-27T12:37:43Z")
We were watching _Ghost Nation_ the other day, and I came up with an idea for a horror movie that I thought is so obvious that I’m certain it’s been done. I’m not a fan of the genre though, but if I describe it then maybe someone could tell me the name, if it exists. The basic premise is that there’s a team of ghost investigators filming one of these shows, then the ghosts start taking them out one-by-one. It would probably be done in a found footage style. The characters would be a few investigators, maybe they have a psychic expert, and a small production crew. So, what movie is most like that? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/2 "2020-03-27T12:55:46Z")
theres dozens with that plot dating back to the 60s or earlier ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/3 "2020-03-27T14:03:32Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > theres dozens with that plot dating back to the 60s or earlier Interesting, I wasn’t aware of “Ghost Hunters”-type reality TV shows existing before the early to mid 2000’s. Can you name some examples from the 60’s that use that premise? Were they done in a documentary style? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/4 "2020-03-27T14:15:12Z")
Isn’t that _precisely_ the plot of the Blair Witch Project? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/5 "2020-03-27T14:26:35Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Isn’t that _precisely_ the plot of the Blair Witch Project? That was my first thought as well. They weren’t filming for a reality TV show but otherwise it pretty much matches the premise. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/6 "2020-03-27T14:30:01Z")
Almost, but not quite. The premise I have in mind is that they are a regular TV show’s hosts and crew, there to film another episode of “Ghost Hunt USA” or whatever. It starts out with stuff typical of those shows, like talking about the history of the place (“This old farmhouse was used as Army HQ during the Civil War and may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad. A local historian explains…”), setting up their IR cameras and EVP recorders and all that, then things go south from there. Maybe there isn’t a movie like that, but the premise seems so obvious, there should be. I’m not a creative person, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/7 "2020-03-27T15:21:47Z")
This is pretty much the exact plot of **American Horror Story: Roanoke**. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/8 "2020-03-27T15:36:04Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > theres dozens with that plot dating back to the 60s or earlier Second. This is almost an entire genre of horror movies. I’ve watched at least half a dozen of these just in the last year. Some take place in an old jail, an abandoned mental hospital, a disturbing old house, etc. Strangely, the cameraperson always manages to survive right up to the point where he/she can drop the camera on the floor in just the right position to see the last surviving member of the party get got. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/9 "2020-03-27T16:07:10Z")
Try **Grave Encounters**. From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Grave Encounters is a 2011 Canadian found footage supernatural horror film. The footage follows the crew of a paranormal reality television program who lock themselves in a psychiatric hospital in search of evidence of paranormal activity as they shoot what ends up becoming their final episode. If I recall, at least some of the crew believe the whole premise is bullshit and have joined the “scam show” for either $$ or just shits and giggles. As the movie progresses, they come to regret thinking the paranormal is all BS. Yes, they regret it very much. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/10 "2020-03-27T17:09:14Z")
I seem to remember starting to watch a movie on TV a few years ago that hews pretty closely to OP’s description. It was the presenters and the crew for a TV show looking for evidence of the supernatural, it was a big old house they went into, and pretty soon things started to go wrong, people going missing or equipment malfunctioning. Stuff like that. I also have a vague sense that there were a few recognizable names in it, but I don’t remember who. I don’t think I watched it until the end, and I have no idea of the name. In a sense, the archetype for this kind of film is The Haunting, except that it wasn’t reality TV people but an academic researcher and his “sensitive” subjects testing out the house. It was not done in found footage style but like a regular movie. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/11 "2020-03-27T22:41:42Z")
I’ll mention **Halloween: Resurrection**. The premise in the OP combined with a **Halloween** film. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/12 "2020-03-27T23:04:35Z")
Agatha Christies ‘Ten Little Indians’ is about the one by one demise of a group of people. Not by a ghost, but an unseen ‘U.N. Owen’ ‘Hell House’ is a movie about people going into a haunted house and horror ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/13 "2020-03-28T11:41:59Z")
There’s a BBC movie Ghostwatch that’s like that. It’s a mockumentary kind of like the Orson Welles War of the Worlds. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/14 "2020-03-28T14:22:51Z")
I don’t remember the name so maybe it’s already been mentioned but I saw a movie recently where a group of 20 somethings ran a ghostbusters type business (except fraudulent because they didn’t believe). They are hired by an old lady in a large mansion. Ghost death ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/15 "2020-03-28T15:09:02Z")
> [@Cabbage](#): > > There’s a BBC movie Ghostwatch that’s like that. It’s a mockumentary kind of like the Orson Welles War of the Worlds. [Ghostwatch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwatch). This is the best fit to the OP’s question. It was a TV movie, scripted and filmed in advance, but presented in the style of a live broadcast. The stars of the production were [Michael Parkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parkinson), [Sarah Greene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Greene), and [Mike Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Smith_(broadcaster)). All three are known as real life broadcasters, presenters in non-fiction shows and documentaries. Presented as an investigation into an alleged haunted house it shows apparent poltergeist activity with cups and plates moving by themselves. Finally, the ghost abducts most of the cast, leaving Parkinson alone insanely babbling nursery rhymes. This was 1992, before \*Ghost Hunters \*was actually a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/16 "2020-03-29T04:31:05Z")
Thanks, everyone. Based on summaries I’ve read, I think **Grave Encounters** and **Ghostwatch** , with an honorable mention to **American Horror Story: Roanoke** all fit my plot description. Like I said, I’m not a creative person, so if I think of an idea then there are only two possibilities: 1. It’s been done already. 2. It’s a terrible idea. Looks like #1 is the case this time. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/17 "2020-03-29T04:47:20Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Isn’t that _precisely_ the plot of the Blair Witch Project? And every _Call of Cthulhu_ campaign I’ve ever seen. Player: “So my investigator opens the door…” Keeper: “A swarming mass of bubbling black ooze and tentacles consumes your character with a wet squelch, and all other investigators make a Sanity Check…” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/18 "2020-03-29T04:48:38Z")
But here’s the best part - now you get to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/19 "2020-03-29T11:41:09Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [Ghostwatch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwatch). > > This is the best fit to the OP’s question. > > It was a TV movie, scripted and filmed in advance, but presented in the style of a live broadcast. The stars of the production were [Michael Parkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parkinson), [Sarah Greene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Greene), and [Mike Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Smith_(broadcaster)). All three are known as real life broadcasters, presenters in non-fiction shows and documentaries. Presented as an investigation into an alleged haunted house it shows apparent poltergeist activity with cups and plates moving by themselves. Finally, the ghost abducts most of the cast, leaving Parkinson alone insanely babbling nursery rhymes. > > This was 1992, before \*Ghost Hunters \*was actually a thing. I only learned of it a few years ago, myself. The thing I liked about it was they present the ghosts as actually entering the camera and threatening to come out of YOUR TV. As I understand it (though I expect this has been exaggerated somewhat) there was a lot of controversy in the UK because it scared children so bad. I heard some blamed the movie for causing the suicide of a young schizophrenic. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-movie-exist/850415/20 "2020-03-29T11:57:30Z")
That’s not exactly the plot of _The Haunting of Hill House_, but it’s very close. That book, FWIW, is scary as hell. It’s the scariest thing I ever read. I don’t personally think the movie from the 60s does it justice, but it’s critically acclaimed. The movie from the 90s, of 00s, or whatever is total crap.