The Graves (2009)

Two inseparable sister's visit to a remote mine town turns into a mind-bending fight for survival against menaces both human and supernatural.

Director:

Brian Pulido

Writer:

Brian Pulido

Stars:

Clare Grant, Jillian Murray, Bill Moseley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clare Grant	...	Megan Graves
Jillian Murray	...	Abby Graves
Bill Moseley	...	Caleb 'Cookie' Atwood
Tony Todd	...	Reverend Abraham Stockton
Amanda Wyss	...	Darlene Atwood
Randy Blythe	...	Deacon Luke (as D. Randall Blythe)
Shane Stevens	...	Jonah Lee Atwood
Barbara Glover	...	Mama
Patti Tindall	...	Becka Crane
Brian Ronalds	...	Pete Tyler
Dean Matthew Ronalds	...	Eric Tyler (as Dean Ronalds)
Cathy Rankin	...	Valerie Mills
Greg Seki	...	Gordy Evans
Bill Lippincott	...	Scottsdale Dad
Rosalie Michaels	...	Scottsdale Mom

Storyline

Present day. Arizona. Megan and Abby Graves are inseparable sisters that couldn't be less alike. Megan just graduated ASU with a marketing degree. She's a self-assured, naturally attractive rock chick with a black belt that she likes to use. Abby just barely graduated high school. She's a cute, Hot Topic Goth who's caustic and afraid of her own shadow. They share one thing: a life-long obsession with comics and pop culture. Simply put, they are beautiful geeks. In a few days, Megan will start a new job at in New York. To send her off in style, the sisters go on a wild, pop culture bender that includes a trip to uncharted Arizona in search of a kitchy roadside attraction. Instead, Megan and Abby happen on Skull City Mine, a weather-beaten, abandoned mine town converted into a self-guided tour. But Skull City harbors terrible, vexing secrets. It appears to be haunted. Its caretakers are murderous. Victims' souls are ripped from their bodies right before their eyes, and that's only the ...

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Plot Keywords:

mine | arizona | black belt | road trip | supernatural power | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes death is the least of your problems.

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gravesid

Filming Locations:

Wickenburg, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mischief Maker Studios, Ronalds Brothers Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Davey, Jimmy, and Bobby Calabrese, from the horror rock band Calabrese, all make an appearance in the movie.

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Goofs

The car the sisters are driving is shown passing an electrical box on the side of the road twice while driving into the town.

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Crazy Credits

Eli, The Gnome played by Boris, The Gnome

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Connections

Followed by The Graves 2: Return to Skull City

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Soundtracks

"Case of the Zombies"
Written and Performed by The Mission Creeps

User Reviews

"The Graves", brought to you by a whole bunch of talentless hacks.

The more cheap modern horror I watch, the more I start to realize how badly the genre needs to redefine itself once again, since it simply just isn't working anymore. Really, people seem to have no idea what good and creative to come up with anymore, with as an ultimate low example of that this movie.

But no, it's not just simply the lack of creativity or originally that kills this movie, it foremost is it's extremely weak approach to the genre. It's incredibly disturbing how terribly ineffective this movie is made. The movie absolutely does not manage to build up any tension or create ever a good feeling of danger. Things just happen in this movie, without any proper and required build up to it. As an horror there are absolutely no redeeming qualities about this movie. Even the bloody violence mostly happens off screen, or it's too dark to see really anything. Director Brian Pulido should just stop and realize that he doesn't has the right required talent and knowledge required, for this genre at least.

It's also especially ridicules how this movie is lacking in any good scary or powerful villainous murderers. Seriously, there is no way you could convince me that they were anyone that couldn't have been fought of with a piece of rock or a piece of wood or metal, that were literally all laying around everywhere. There is absolutely nothing threatening about the villains in this movie, which quite frankly also makes this a bore to watch.

And man, why throw in a supernatural theme as well, that just isn't in tone with any of the rest of the movie. It's just so totally random but on top of that, it also adds absolutely nothing to this movie. This movie was already extremely bad as a straight-forward slasher but they actually managed to make things worse by throwing in the supernatural elements. Well done! What an accomplishment...

It also doesn't help much that the two leading ladies of this movie aren't that compelling either. They are not well written but also really not played well by Clare Grant and Jillian Murray. Their fear of things just never comes across as convincing. Some of their actions are also just incredibly stupid, though the script is of course to blame for that really.

A great lesson on how NOT to make an horror movie.

2/10

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