If you took the DNA of Alfred Hitchcock and Christopher Nolan, placed it in a centrifuge, mixed it up to perfection, and left it in an incubator to grow, the results would be \u201cOpen Grave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. I am NOT saying that this film is anywhere near the level of Nolan\u2019s mind-blowing masterpiece \u201cMemento,\u201d nor am I decreeing that it should be spoken aloud in the same sentence amongst any of Hitchcock\u2019s best works. I am simply stating that if the screenwriters\u2019 (relative newcomers \u2014 I\u2019m pretty sure, literally \u2013 Chris and Eddie Borey) goal was to create a film in which the narrative diabolically plays with the minds of moviegoers and the characters simultaneously, then they\u2019ve successfully hit their mark.<\/p>\n
Even when you think you have the plot all sewn up, it hits you with a new twist \u2014 and it\u2019s not a gentle nudge either. This movie is filled with out-of-the-blue attacks that continuously smack you right on the noggin with the force of Prince Fielder, which is a good thing too. The staggering amount of instances in which you\u2019re struggling to figure out where and when the next plot twist is coming causes enough of a distraction so that you never notice the plethora of plot HOLES throughout. Well played Borey boys\u2026 well played.<\/p>\n
However, even if you have a keen eye for detail and happen to notice all or most of the plot holes, it doesn\u2019t take away from the overall cinematic experience \u2014 if what you\u2019re looking for is a murder mystery that somewhat starts at the end, slowly unravels, and keeps you guessing the entire time. If you\u2019re looking for a taut psychological thriller and\/or a dramatic, intellectual think-piece, then you should probably walk around this \u201cOpen Grave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh\u2026 wait. Before you make your final decision, let me tell you about the zombies.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right, ladies and gentleman. Somebody has made yet another film involving zombies \u2014 or at least
\nSharlto Copley in “Open Grave”<\/p>\n
The start of Sharlto Copley\u2019s No Good, Very Bad Day\u2026<\/p>\n
in this case a vague version of zombies. Not that I\u2019m complaining, mind you. As it stands, I happen to like zombie movies\u2026 when they\u2019re done correctly that is. However, this does not happen very often during these sad days of undead drought. What I mean is, for every successful \u201cWorld War Z\u201d type of film, there\u2019s always an awful, B-movie equivalent that follows it. You know, one of those horribly-bad, SyFy \u201cMovies of the Week,\u201d which come complete with horrible acting, an even worse script, and high school film project-level special effects. So, you\u2019ll have to excuse me if I cringe whenever I see the word zombie attached to a film\u2019s storyline. Now that I come to think about it, this is probably the reason why the synopsis of \u201cOpen Grave\u201d made no mention of the \u201czed-word\u201d within it.<\/p>\n
That being said, the zombies (or whatever they are, considering they\u2019re more like Danny Boyle\u2019s \u201cinfected\u201d zombies than George Romero\u2019s \u201cundead\u201d zombies) play a very tiny part in the story and don\u2019t actually appear until the film\u2019s third act. Plus, by the time they do make their way into the proceedings you hardy even notice they\u2019re there. This is due to all those aforementioned, headache-inducing plot twists that you\u2019ll be dealing with, so there\u2019s really no time for zombies.<\/p>\n
The premise is simple. Leading man Sharlto Copley (of \u201cDistrict 9\u201d \u201cThe A-Team,\u201d \u201cElysium\u201d and most recently \u201cOldboy\u201d fame) plays a mysterious man who wakes up in a real-live nightmare. He\u2019s cold, wet and alone. He\u2019s trapped inside a deep, dark pit and lying amongst a prolific pile of rotting, decaying human beings; none of which looks the least bit familiar to him. If that\u2019s not bad enough, he has no idea who he is or how he got there and to put the proverbial icing on the corpse-filled cake, he has a loaded gun in his pocket. So, now he thinks that HE might be responsible for filling this particular pit with dead people, which pretty much means that the audience is meant to come to this gruesome conclusion as well. So, let the murder mystery begin!<\/p>\n
As the thunder crashes and the lightning flashes, further adding to the might-be murderer\u2019s anxiety (not to mention, making him look much more menacing to moviegoers \u2014 unintentional alliteration!) a rope is lowered down to him from a shadowy, unknown woman \u2014 who stares at him as if she knows him, but who HE has no recollection of whatsoever. Ahhh\u2026 the plot thickens. However, it gets much thicker. In fact, it has just begun to congeal.<\/p>\n
The woman just happens to be a Japanese mute. This means that not only is she completely unable to
\nSharlto Copley looking good in “Open Grave”<\/p>\n
Would you still be considered a narcissist, if you looked like this ?<\/p>\n
communicate verbally to anyone, she is also unable to write down any of her thoughts in a language that anybody can understand. So the mute woman (played by \u201cContagion\u2019s\u201d Josie Ho) leads the dirty, nameless man who smells like corpses to a shady, isolated house, which lies in the middle of dense patch of creepy forest. This shady, isolated house is occupied by a equally frightened group of \u201camnesiacs\u201d (played by Thomas Kretschmann, Joseph Morgan, Erin Richards and Max Wrottesley) who are \u201call in the same boat\u201d (as one of them so aptly puts it), which means that not one of them has any idea as to who they are, why they\u2019re there and how the hell they got there. I\u2019ve said this before and I\u2019ll say it again \u2014 dun\u2026dun\u2026dunnnnnn!<\/p>\n
From this point on, all of these questions get answered eventually, but that\u2019s not the fun part. The fun part is trying to differentiate as to who the good guys and bad guys are, which is not so much of an easy task, believe me. The writers do a fantastic job with keeping the mystery fresh and exciting. Like I stated earlier, every time you think you have it figured out, something else is added to the mystery machine. Seriously though, if you want to create an atmosphere of ambiguity, there is no better way to do so than a tale in which all the main characters have amnesia. Therefore, every time THEY are given a clue as to who THEY are, WE receive that same clue. It\u2019s like a whodunit in real time. I mean, it\u2019s been done before AND it\u2019s been done better (i.e. \u201cMemento\u201d), but still, \u201cOpen Grave\u201d is a pretty solid effort overall.<\/p>\n
Speaking of atmosphere, Spanish director Gonzalo-Lopez Gallego (who also helmed 2011\u2032s surprise hit, \u201cApollo 18\u2033) does a commendable job at creating a never-ending sense of impending doom. From the opening scene involving that nasty pit of dead bodies, everything goes downhill from there and that\u2019s a hard environment to create. The series of events that follow this tense opening sequence is the equivalent to a jigsaw puzzle created by Clive Barker \u2014 every piece seems to fit with the next one, but you\u2019re not really sure if you WANT to see the whole picture when it\u2019s finished.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m NOT going to divulge anymore of the storyline, because if I wrote down one more word about the plot, it would be considered to be in spoiler territory. That being said, I will disclose one further notion, as I believe it will help you figure out whether or not you\u2019ll want to watch this film or not..<\/p>\n
\u2018OPEN GRAVE\u201d IS NOT A \u201cSAW\u201d RIP-OFF.<\/p>\n
There, I said it. It does NOT follow the repetitive storyline of that particular franchise; where a group
\nJosie Ho and the rest of the cast of “Open Grave”<\/p>\n
\u2026 among the fields of zombies.<\/p>\n
of individuals wake up in an unknown location, only to slowly unravel the fact that some unknown individual (well, in the first one he was!) is messing with them. I know, I know. I\u2019m a jerk. I might have totally ruined this film for some viewers. Well, if you\u2019re the type of moviegoer that gets excited to see a \u201cSaw\u201d rip-off and then gets upset when this specific cinematic dream of yours is ruined, then you probably wouldn\u2019t like a film like \u201cOpen Grave\u201d anyway. So, in the end, I might\u2019ve saved you a couple of bucks. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n
If you are a fan of films that slowly unspool and present themselves in unique ways, then \u201cOpen Grave\u201d is for you. Now, it may not be a groundbreaking film. In fact, many writers and directors have made superior thrillers revolving around the subject matter of amnesia (\u201cIdentity,\u201d \u201cPandorum\u201d and \u201cShutter Island\u201d are recent films that come to mind, as well as the brilliant Playstation 3 game\u201dThe Last of Us\u201d), but it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve seen a mystery that has utterly blindsided me as much as this film did. In other words, it has an ending that completely took me by surprise. Let me tell you what happened. Well, see, first the mysterious man went to\u2026 Nah, I\u2019m just kidding. I\u2019m not that big of a jerk.<\/p>\n
Anyway, this is a film in which you end up caring about a group of well-developed characters who are placed right into the middle of an interesting and fleshed-out plot (although, not the most original), which is presented with a modern flare in an old school, Hitchcockian way.<\/p>\n
Even if it does borrow heavily from the cinematic works of others, \u201cOpen Grave\u201d uses a novel enough approach that it deserves respect and, at least, merits ten minutes of your time, so you can watch the opening sequence. If you\u2019re not hooked within those ten minutes, I will personally shoulder all of the blame.<\/p>\n
However, the ten spot you shelled out for OnDemand are on you. So, in the end, I guess I didn\u2019t save you a couple of bucks. Maybe, you should\u2019ve watched \u201cSaw II\u201d again instead.