Director: Krisstian de Lara
Writer: Rolando Vinas, Krisstian de Lara (Screenplay) Clay Smith (Story)
Starring: Meg Foster, Stephanie Hernandez, Patrick Flanagan, Robert Paget, Giordan Diaz, David Hernandez
Plot: A group of science students have discovered how to scientifically explain the paranormal. Their goal is to present their findings to their school board and petition to launch the very first parapsychology credited course at their university. Their thirteenth and final investigation lands them at Black Grove Psychiatric Asylum where they look into the urban legend of ,The Mole Man, an ex-patient of the asylum who is thought to live within its walls.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Just Another Paranormal Investigation Movie
Story: Investigation 13 starts when a group of students Melanie (Hernandez), Jerod (Flanagan), Nate (Diaz), Ernie (Ramos) and Terry (Alexander) get permission to investigate an abandoned psychiatric asylum for one night, one that saw another team simply vanish.
Arriving at the asylum the group are given the tour by Layla Parrish (Foster) with much of the focus on the infamous serial killer known as The Mole Man that escaped the asylum and with his escape saw a big change in everybody else in the asylum which led to the closure, can the students uncover the truth.
Thoughts on Investigation 13
Characters – Layla Parrish is the owner of the asylum, she will welcome the guests in to investigate, give the warnings and the history to the building. Melanie is the leader of the team, she has put in the requests for the investigation, brings the team together and is the one trying to prove the most for her class. Jerod is the other lead on front of the cameras in the investigation and like the rest of the team, we are getting Ernie and Nate who are the generic cameraman, while Terry is the one operating the remote cameras.
Performances – Stephanie Hernandez in the leading role of the investigation team is fine, which is going to be said for the whole cast, nobody does anything standout and most just struggle to make the true impact needed to make us understand the fear they are going through. Meg Foster does give us the creepy landlady performance, which is mostly explaining what has happened before in the asylum.
Story – The story here follows a group of paranormal investigators that are looking into an abandon asylum in an attempt to redeem their own reputation after the last investigation went wrong. Well, where do we start with this one, for the most part this is everything we have seen in any and all paranormal investigation in an asylum movie, we get next to nothing original in this story, mainly because it is a location and story that has been done way too much before. We get the routine, set up the cameras, walk around a lot, watch the cameras, hear noises, before something big happens after one of the team goes missing. While this story does have an element which does come off original, it is the fact we have to get through the usual material to get here. We do get animation used to fill the back story, which is strange to watch at times, though it does give us the unsettling feeling the live action side lacks.
Horror – The horror side of this film does rely on how you react to people trying to investigate an abandon asylum, it isn’t something we haven’t seen before when it comes to the horror though.
Settings – The film is set in the asylum which is filled with the rooms we would expect to see, it does only have one way in and out, which does leave us wondering why they would agree to investigate a place without knowing the escape.
Special Effects – The effects are limited, we don’t need to many, with a lot of the scene that do involve the animation, which covers up any effects needed.
Scene of the Movie – The animation spices up the generic story.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t get much new for the paranormal investigation side of the film.
Final Thoughts – This is a by the book paranormal investigation in an asylum movie, with the exception of the animation filling in the history of the asylum, we are given nothing new to type of movie.
Overall: By the book paranormal investigation movie.
