Sorry, this movie sucks

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

OPEN GRAVE is a low budget US horror film, shot in Hungary with an international cast. Although it threatens to be of the usual psycho-in-the-woods variety, it actually turns out to be something a lot more interesting. It's a well-shot little escapade, a thriller in which most of the thrills are provided by the constant twists in the narrative designed to wrong-foot the viewer at every turn. It's only right at the end that you finally figure out what's going on and it all makes sense.The film starts off quite remarkably, with likable lead Sharlto Copley (DISTRICT 9) waking up in a pit full of dead bodies. He's soon rescued by a small group of people, but it quickly transpires that there's a psycho amid the group. This film goes down the whodunit route for a while before jumping into unforeseen territory which is all for the better. I enjoyed it as it kept me guessing throughout. Copley is very good, as always, and Thomas Kretschmann and Josie Ho give solid support.

The synopsis of this film is enough to make you want to watch it. A man wakes up in a pit full of dead bodies. He has no memory of how he got there. After escaping he enters a house full of strangers who are also extremely agitated and just like him they have all lost their memory.The elephant in the room though is that if they are all alive then who has killed all the people? That is when the fun begins. What I really liked about this film was that it continued to surprise, I got it wrong every time I tried to guess what was coming next and that for me is a real plus.The cast are a brilliantly disparate group too and they all do an excellent job of keeping you right on the edge of your seat. The pacing is just right; the make up spot on and even the music gets the mood just right. There is not a lot not to like here (sorry about the double negative). It was filmed in Hungary but has a feel of being American despite a cast that is International. If you like your horror's to be a bit on the dystopian side then you should have a look at this.

Jonah (Sharlto Copley) wakes up in a mass grave next to countless corpses. A mute Asian girl (Josie Ho) helps him out of there. He suffers from amnesia and cannot remember what happened and how he got there. In a house nearby, he meets several others, including Lukas (Thomas Kretschmann), Nathan (Joseph Morgan)and Sharon (Erin Richards), however all of them have lost their memory, too! Step by step, they explore the surrounding area, recover their memory piece by piece and find out that they are in a terrible danger...The whole movie is in a similar situation like the "Lost" TV series, because people who don't trust each other have to explore unknown territory. There is just some more horror thrown in for good measure. All in all, "Open Grave" is a really good movie. The story remains full of suspense, because the main characters don't know who they are: the good guys or were they involved in that mass murder?

Normally I like these kinds of movies: the protagonists don't know who they are or why they are there. You (the audience) get to uncover the mystery together with the characters. Problem with this film is that you get to know the end pretty fast (like after about 40 minutes) and then you have to wait about an hour to see the conclusion this film-with-a-much-to-thin-plot was inevitably was going to. Also quite annoying is that the characters keep saying 'I have a feeling I know you' to each other, but like a lot. That and other lame questions like 'what are we doing here'. Not only is this irritating because obviously nobody knows anything, it also doesn't give you any extra background information on the characters. Cube had sort of a similar premise but was made much, much better. Look, it's not a bad film but as a mystery film the story should have had more depth and have been much richer. 6/10 for me.