Ghost Hunters International

My husband and I are DIE-HARD fans of Ghost Hunters. TAPS is the ONLY show that I've seen thus far that provides a scientific approach to Ghost Hunting, free from Psychic or religious use in their investigations. We've grown to truly love the family that is TAPS, and look forward to each and every episode with a fever.

When we found out that Ghost Hunters was going "International" well, we couldn't contain our excitement. We live in England, and know well the haunting and history over here are centuries old. I have to say that we were taken back by some of the veteran cast's attitudes while in Europe. Rob was fabulous. He was professional, and kept things in order to the best of his ability. He was wonderful. Barry, who had guest starred in previous episodes with the TAPS team was one of our favourites, had once taught other investigators to respect entities. Brian who has been through a lot of emotional stuff with the former TAPS crew, had finally been given his "DUE" we thought. Donna, the wonderful and professional "family" case manager, was a perfect touch to this team, and Shannon seemed to have wonderful prospects. Andy is Andy, and always will be.

What ended up happening, I don't know. But rosary beads came out, less equipment was being used, peoples personalities got crazy with each other and with potential spirits. Propery was not respected either. We would make a bet as to how many shadows Brian would see in each episode. My husband and I ended up watching the show to have a laugh. Something that didn't make us feel good about ourselves or the show.

Then again, we still tuned in, and they did have some amazing EVP recordings. We do hope there will be a "reunion" episode where Jason and Grant will give them ALL a "dressing down" for their behaviour in Europe. (*Except Rob- who always remained professional).

Thanks.

Sadly, they try to project themselves as doing scientific investigations but there is nothing really scientific in their procedures aside from the fact that they are using technical gadgetry.

They spend a few hours investigating a particular location and base their conclusions on whatever they experience or capture on their equipment within that short window of time. Not scientific at all. First of all, in most stories of hauntings, occurrences don't happen every night or all the time. They happen once in a while. So granted that a place might actually be haunted, do they expect that the ghosts must pay respects to their presence and show themselves just in the few hours they are there? Shouldn't an investigation take more time? And then they have the hubris filled proclamations that the place is not haunted based on their investigation as if they did a thorough and extensive investigation. At the very least they should be more objective and less arrogant in their conclusions and stop making their definitive statements that a place isn't haunted - they actually have no basis. Its actually insulting to people who might have actually had legitimate experiences in those places overtime. Its like a patient coming to a doctor saying he doesn't feel well and the doctor uses his stethoscope for a few minutes and then proclaims the patient is perfectly fine. Yeah right!?!

I've been watching the show while working from home, marathon experience basically, which gives me a real sense of what works on the show and what doesn't.

I think the main problem with the show is two-fold...

The techniques feel lacking creativity and thought, really undeveloped techniques, very formulaic... one thing I do like about Ghost Adventures is that they get very creative in their techniques, they are always trying new things, sometimes very silly things, but they do bring a lot of uniqueness and creativity to their show, and I find this missing from GH and GHI in a big way.

One way GH and GHI does shine is in likable people.

I thought the best thing about GHI would be the locations, ancient castles and locations with thousands of years of history makes for some really great back story, history, and atmosphere...

But I fond the episodes wanting, they were okay as background while working, but I couldn't imagine actually looking forward to watching the show, nothing really stood out for me.

My favorite episode was in season 2, "Hell's Gate"... I thought that back story was so good they could have turned it into a feature length horror film.

In fact I bet a bunch of these could be made into horror films, just need to be fleshed out more.

Anyway, my rating: 5/10

Let me state, for the record, that I am a fan of paranormal/ghost hunting type shows, and my opinion here is not based on personal beliefs.

That being said, I hated "Ghost Hunters International." Not only does it lack the tension and excitement of the original, but it seems that Barry Fitzgerald and co. draw their conclusions from a minimal amount of investigation.

They'll wander around a haunted location for a few hours during the night with their night-vision cams, etc., and chatter pointlessly throughout. On top of that, they don't seem to "investigate" every room or even the areas of the location that are reported to have the most paranormal activity. Then, based on their brief "hunt," they'll prematurely conclude whether or not a location is haunted.

It may be that this show suffers from a lack of skilled editing, something that shows such as "Paranormal Witness" do not. Besides that, however, it really seems that the investigators are amateurs. No repeat viewing for me.

As a fan of "Ghost Hunters", this sister show is a real treat. Familiar faces such as Brian, Donna and Andy are joined by new team members as they explore some impressive haunted locations around Europe.

While not as much fun as the original series, this is still compulsive viewing with some genuinely creepy moments. I'm a sucker for EVPs and as soon as the gang play back possible whispers from beyond, my hair stands on edge and I'm delightfully chilled.

Just for the locations themselves, this is worth watching. Only an American crew could, however, describe Leicester as "beautiful".

A quality production, I give the series 8 out of 10.