Review of Open Graves (2009) by James S — 13 Nov 2010

Without the darkened atmosphere of a cinema screen and a restricted budget these straight to dvd horrors have to work for it if they want to get the job done. Open Graves manages to succeed on the strength of a couple of good performances around an intriguing idea.

The always good value for money, Eliza Dushku forms part of a bunch of stereotypical twenty-somethings who do the usual stuff that you really ought not to do in this kind of film, who after their beach party is rained off, turn to a weirdo board game for amusement. Then people start to die as they usually do, in a variety of horrible ways.

The kills are in a similar vein to the Final Destination movies with a lack of monsters and knife-wielding psychos and most of them are pretty cool even if they are almost all a variation on the falling off, over or running into something theme. The film delivers some satisfyingly squeamish moments and a few really good jump scares, even if this isn't pant soiling stuff.

The script's dialogue is hammy but does it's job, the plot is ridiculously predictable but still makes for an enjoyable watch, while the cast sell their parts well enough.

One or two actually surprising twists would have helped this along and injected some suspense into the movie at times but as a low rent horror it manages it's constraints well to deliver enough aimless thrills for the duration.