Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Crying Dead’

Written by Scott Edwards

It is funny when you hear someone say, ‘if these walls could only talk’, because if they could, you would not be staying in that building. Some people are able to visualize what happened in places so many years ago from the stories that are put in front of them, while others get the pleasure of seeing some of the old inhabitants. While many of these people that say that they see these things are put on the spot and called crazy because there are no such things as ghosts, they know what they saw and stick to their stories. I still want to see a ghost at some point in my life, but not knowing what they really look like will leave me questioning myself and my own sanity.
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Getting ready to shoot a new ghost hunting show, the producer Becka is ready to rock, but her camera man Jeff is having a difference in opinion. Knowing that all reality shows suck, Jeff is not where he wants to be and is making sure that she knows it upfront. Not being detoured by her camera man and meeting her new cast members, the group is on their way to the old Ettersburg Hospital in Northern California to put an end to all of the rumors about the building being haunted.

On their nine-hour drive to the old building, the group of ghost hunters; Chris, Angelina and Callie all get to know each other along with their technical advisor Andrew. Getting some extra shots on their long journey, the group quickly finds out that Callie is looking for something grander than a reality show as she distances herself from everyone else. With all of the history surrounding the hospital, Chris has done his research and passes on everything that he knows about Ettersburg and its tainted past. Being very excited to be the first paranormal team to investigate the premises, the group has no idea what is housed within in the walls of the old building.

Arriving at the hospital and being greeted by the caretaker, the group is given a tour of the old building.  Not being a good storyteller, Jim tries his best to tell everyone what he knows and while he does not believe in ghosts, he will not enter the building at night, not anymore. After getting the tour recorded, the team is ready to set up for their night investigation, but there is a snag as Jim will not allow anyone to stay in the building overnight. Not being able to get her boss on the line, Becka and her group are forced to make the decision of the lifetime, to let the first episode of the show die, or break in and do their ghost hunt. Choosing the latter, the team enters the old building and gets set up to make paranormal history, but as members of the group start disappearing, they have to wonder if anyone will make it out of the Ettersburg Hospital alive.

I was rather impressed with how the story flowed and how much I started to enjoy the characters, that is until they were no longer seen. I liked the ghostly occurrences that happened around them and the tour was just too much fun as it was apparent that Jim was not used to telling stories but had an epic mustache. The group interaction was fun overall and when the spit started to hit the fan when members went missing, they tried harder to pull together, even though they were being pulled further apart.  With creepy ghost girls, plenty of ghost hunting technology, a group of strangers, lots of water and plenty of jump scares, this is not a bad movie to take you away from reality for a little while. Stay Scared.

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