Open Grave review

As the quarantine drags on quality entertainment becomes as hard to find as 2-ply toilet paper. I’m lucky in that my tolerance for B-list thrillers/horror flicks seems to be higher than the average viewer. With that being said, I had initially put this on for background noise to fall asleep. Being a low-budget movie I’ve never heard of, my expectations were inherently low. Usually these type of films are riddled with predictable plot lines, poor audio and/or visual quality and even worse acting. With critic reviews all over the place ranging from a 6.2/10 on IMDB, an 85% approval rating from Google users, to receiving a measly 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s hard to know what you’re going to get. Usually one to side with the all powerful RT, this was a surprising little gem.

Reading the summary of the plot, none of the leading cast members listed jumped out at me. Imagine my pleasant surprise as the ever-handsome Joseph Morgan appeared on screen. Admittedly, I had to Google his real name. He will forever be known to me as the devilishly handsome, bad-boy vampire Nicklaus Mikaelson from the Vampire Diaries (and Originals spin-off). Surprisingly, he’s even sexier sans the thick British accent which I find to be a bit lispy at times. It’s always as impressive as it is mind-boggling to me, when a foreign actor can pull off an “American accent” so flawlessly. The same can’t always be said of our American actors trying their hand at English accents. Looking at you Keanu. Cough Dracula cough. Anyways, I find I gain focus when there’s a hot piece of eye-candy at stake. Hear that producers? Your movie can be absolute garbage, but so long as you give the ladies something to look at we’re not going anywhere.

Man meat aside, the action alone was enough to hold my attention. Without giving too much away, the main character wakes up in a pit of dead bodies with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. The basis is more or less following him around as he tries to piece together bizarre happenstances with what little he has to go on. Storylines surrounding amnesia typically annoy me because the character suffering from it doesn’t just lose their short term memory, they lose their common sense for some reason as well. There’s nothing more frustrating than watching a movie where it’s so obvious what’s going on yet the story unfolds painfully slow. Packed with non-stop suspense and mystery, there’s no need to yell at the TV. You know, times when the protagonist of the story naively walks right into danger and you can’t help but shout “the killer! he’s right behind you!”. Followed by an eye roll and a judgemental “that’s so dumb, I’d never do that”. Refreshingly, I was unable to figure out what was going on the entire time despite the many predictions my boyfriend and I conjured up. As someone who knew Bruce Willis was dead the whole time in the Sixth Sense, I am not easily fooled. For those who haven’t seen it and are mad about the spoiler, you had 20 years to see it. That’s on you.

As you’re introduced to more characters, your suspicions are constantly shifting as you scramble to figure out who the “bad guy” really is. If you are able to deduce it hats off to you Sherlock, because I was dumbfounded at the end. Once all the disturbing and erratic clues start to make sense, this is one of those films that is exponentially more creepy because of it’s plausibility. When the credits started rolling all I could do was sit there uneasily and think “this could really happen”. If my review has enticed you, cuddle up with your significant other (or cat) and throw on Open Grave, which can be found on Tubi free of charge.