Very Cool!!!

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Blistering performances.

Oh Eliza! Whatever possessed you to be part of this nightmare? The only "horror" about this film is that it was made at all. A group of nice-looking booze and sex fueled 20-something's play an antique game, and then start dying. Luckily for them, even though the box containing the game was passed down from the 15th century Spanish Inquisition, all the cards are in pristine condition AND conveniently printed in English! WOW, what luck! There are absolutely no surprises or suspense whatsoever, as this has been done many times before in many better ways. Sadly, even the gratuitous sex scenes generally associated with this genre are almost non-existent, apparently to devote more screen time to the horrible deaths. Out of deference to Eliza Dushku, I cannot give this the one star rating it truly deserves. The rest of the actors are mediocre at best, God-awful at worst. All are completely forgettable, as is the film itself within fifteen minutes of viewing. Skip it, even from the bargain bin.

Okay, OPEN GRAVES is poor. Surprisingly poor, considering the effort that has gone into this low budget production; although it's a US-financed movie it was shot in Spain with a Spanish director and supporting cast. And yet it turns out to be completely horrible, which is all thanks to a lacklustre storyline.A group of brain-dead surfers are the unlikeable protagonists in this film, among their number the minor horror star Eliza Dushku (WRONG TURN). They get mixed up in a dark world of voodoo and horror when they start playing a game which sees them dying for real. It's much like the 1990s film JUMANJI, where the board game came to life and took the kids on an adventure, except with a horror slant.Not that there's much in the way of horror here. This a murkily-shot production where swathes of boredom are interspersed with a few mildly gory supernatural death sequences. For some reason, the filmmakers are reliant on very poor CGI effects to keep the movie going, and it sinks the production further. OPEN GRAVES is a real stinker, that's for sure.

A group of friends are surfing somewhere in Spain. Among them is an American guy who develops an interest for an American girl. As he walks along the streets with his Spanish friends, he walks into a store. The owner in a wheelchair gives him a box. It's actually medieval game.Later that night the group plays the game. It's a board game that where the aim is to survive. Those who die get a card with some description of how they die. The first guy to die in the game leaves to buy some drinks. He stops at a cliff, trips, falls down, and is attacked by crabs.The cops interrupt the kids. Some others die in the game. And later one of them is attacked by snakes. The other suddenly ages decades in a few seconds. Another one is in a fiery car crash.That leaves the two Americans to realize that the game has something to do with it. When they visit the guy in the wheelchair, they find him walking just fine. As it turns out, the game was made of the remains of a witch, who somehow is embodied in dragonflies. People who die in the game end up dying in similar fashion in real life. If you win the game, you get to make a wish and in a final draw of luck, you either have it come true or not. However to get to that point, they have to finish the game, which they didn't. And all the deaths have to happen first. Now they know what they have to do.Open Graves is actually an intelligent horror movie. The script and idea shows that the writers actually put a lot of thought into it. Unfortunately, in the hands in a Spanish first time director, the movie is ruined. The setting in Spain doesn't help and neither do most of the actor and actresses who know how to smile, but not much else. As with all Spanish movies, you get some Spanish guy who is irresistible to women. For a horror movie, the death scenes, except for the first one, are rather weak. Mike Vogel, who's character is one of the few compelling things in Under the Dome, and Eliza Dushku do a solid job, but unfortunately they can't save the movie.

Set in Spain, Jason (Vogel) is a grad student who is surfing and partying with his friends. He meets Erica (Dushku) and a romance is started. He is given an ancient board game dating back to the Spanish inquisition and the idiot and his friends play the game. Whatever happens in the game happens in real life so those who receive a death card die in that fashion. Outside of some decent gore and make up this "barely there at all" plot cannot hold up over the long hall. With horrible dialog such as main character Jason telling Erica "You're a Goth girl in a wetsuit" and cheesy digital effects (check out the snake scene), Open Graves just stumbles along in predictable fashion. It feels like the writers (Bruce A. Taylor and Roderick Taylor) came up with the premise of the game and made the rest up as they went along. Credit must be given to the cast for trying real hard, but this movie is such a mess it never had a prayer of being anything worthy.