Open Graves (2009)

Director:

Álvaro de Armiñán

Writers:

Bruce A. Taylor (writer)
Roderick Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

7 November 2009 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A group of surfers discover an old board game that claims a life every time it's played.

Cast

Eliza Dushku	...	Erica
Mike Vogel	...	Jason
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jose Casasús	...	Novio
Lilliam Kouri	...	Malek's Wife
Boris Martinez	...	Pablo
Alex O'Dogherty	...	Malek
Ander Pardo	...	Miguel
Gary Piquer	...	Detective Izar
Ethan Rains	...	Tomàs (as Iman Nazemzadeh)
Naike Rivelli	...	Elena
Lindsay Caroline Robba	...	Lisa
Martxelo Rubio	...	Police Officer
Enrique Zaldua	...	Detective / Police Officer

Also Known As:

Mamba (USA) (working title)
Surfer Horror (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity.

Country:

USA | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Spain:18 | USA:R (certificate #45647) | Japan:PG12 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Getxo, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain

Company:

Alchemedia Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The game is supposed to come from 15th century Spain and yet the cards and the board are written in English with a little Latin thrown in for good measure.

I should have just gone to bed

OK, so I know better than to watch movies on SciFi . . . er, sorry . . . SyFy. Or shifafa. Or whatever it is now. So sue me. I spent my whole Saturday doing advisory-board brainstorming for a nonprofit. I can be forgiven for flopping into my armchair and wanting to watch some movie I'd never seen, rather than read Proust in the original or learn how to play the oud.

Which is to say, I didn't deserve Open Graves. Of which I saw none, incidentally. Were there any? Did I fall asleep? Why is it called this?

Some icky visuals. Not many scares. As with too many films in modern horror films, no reasons are given--apart from shared humanity--to care about any of these people. Half a point, though, for the legless entrepreneur, who was clichéd but did have one good scene.

It all sort of plays like Final Destination delivered via a board game. The game does have an intriguing look to it, and it involves one of my favorite old conundrums. I'll give it that much. The drawback there is that the game possessed more personality than most of the characters.

As for the end, if you didn't see it coming, then I think YOU fell asleep. Somewhere back around the dawn of the genre.