Evil Grave: Curse of the Maya (2004) User Reviews

An "Almost Perfect" Bad Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 1/10 · 8 December 2007]

The ex-addicted and paranoid Renee (Amanda Baumann) and her fiancé and former doctor Jeffrey (Joe Estevez) move together to a remote house nearby the Mexican border. She meets Michael (David Heavener), who works in the area taking care of wind mills, and invites him to have dinner with Jeffrey and her. Sooner they find that the place is under siege of a hungry Mayan descendant family of zombies that was killed by an unknown murderer and cursed by an old ritual.

"Curse of the Maya" is an "almost perfect" bad movie: the messy screenplay is absolutely senseless; the dialogs are simply ridiculous; the direction and acting are amateurish; the location is awfully poor. However, the make-up of the zombies and the art of the cover of the DVD are great, but I regret buying and watching this very low-budget movie. My vote is one.

Title (Brazil): "A Maldição Maya" ("The Maya Curse")

Dawn Of The Living Dumbest Movie Ever Made

[TheAngelRosa · 1/10 · 11 August 2007]

If a weak premise and poor acting weren't enough to kill this movie, go ahead and throw in bucketfuls of 3rd-grade level cinematography, heaping tablespoons of cheesy special effects and sloppy choppy editing and you've got the recipe for this disaster of a movie. Dawn Of The Living Dead (Also known as Curse of the Maya) is the sort of mess that would barely get a passing grade in a high school film class.

It's not even of one of those "so cheesy it's fun" pics. This is the sort of movie that would have made Ed Wood cringe. Do yourself a favor and find something better to do with 90 minutes of your life. Skip this movie!

Joe Estevez

[masondixonkid · 1/10 · 5 January 2011]

Joe Estevez is Martin Sheen's younger brother, if you can believe it. I personally believe Emilio is his illegitimate son. I mean, come on! They look exactly the same. He acts in some pretty awesome movies, too. Have you ever seen "Curse of the Werewolf" on Mystery Science Theater. Anyway, this movie is not good in any way, shape, or form. It is a complete failure as a zombie flick. I mean it is not even laughable one bit. It is just boring and painful to sit through, not like some other awesomely horrible flicks where you can watch, laugh, and point out all the bad acting, directing and mistakes in general. Believe me, you are better avoiding this one completely.

for the exploitation fans

[trashgang · 4/10 · 20 March 2011]

Curse of the Maya was the original title but again, that doesn't attract the zombie fans. When they changed it to Dawn of the Living Dead it became noticed. But don't compare it with Romero stuff. This is pure exploitation. It contains bad acting, weird story lines, for example when she goes to bath she starts dreaming, when she wakes up she's out of bath and dressed but a few moments later she's back in bath. And the thing with the sun and the changing skies doesn't did the film any good. The colour grading is the worst you can see. Some scene's are underexposed, or filmed with the wrong colour temperature. But if you can stand that than you will have some bloody shots and even one gory shot of a beheading by the zombies. There is some gratuitous nudity, a strip that nothing had to do with the story. If you love exploitations than this is surely one for you otherwise you will have some questions when the end credits start rolling.

Got more fright's from Micky's not so scary Halloween party.

[jimy23 · 4/10 · 29 October 2011]

Dawn of the living Dead or Evil Grave curse of the Maya or whatever it's called is not much of a horror movie as it is a unintentional comedy with no rules. It more funny then scary Joe Estevez and Amanda Bauman play a couple who move into a house that once belonged to a Maya Indian family who were murdered. Renee{Bauman}hears voices of the little girl and see a purple sun it turns out the family are zombies who don't know they are dead because they were not buried the right way the killer just thew them in a ditch. Renee see's the purple sun multiply in a surreal scene and wants to help the family by giving them a Mayan burial Todd Briges of Different strokes is in a small role as a mentally challenged worker. This is a fun movie not to take seriously it's worth a look But a lot dosen't make any sense like the ending it not something to watch if you want to be scared.

So bad it actually borders on the supernatural.

[RatedVforVinny · 2/10 · 18 December 2019]

So bad it actually borders on the supernatural and a huge insult to the legendary zombie movies of George A. Romero. hardly worthy of a two line review but be warned if you chose to watch.

Flesh-Eating Mayan Zombies!

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 28 June 2022]

This film begins with a recently engaged couple moving in to an isolated house in a remote part of California close to the Mexican border. That very night, "Renee Summers" (Amanda Bauman) starts having nightmares about a family being murdered while living there. Then, while cleaning, she discovers a room containing what appear to be Mayan artifacts along with recent pictures of the same people she had recently seen in her nightmare. Not long afterward, her dreams turn into hallucinations--and then the horror really begins. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I thought this movie was okay for the most part until about the last 20 minutes or so when everything fell apart and the story became totally incomprehensible. Quite frankly, I think the director (David Heavener) should have left well enough alone and not gone in for cheap thrills at the end--but that's just my opinion. Be that as it may, while this low-budget zombie film certainly had potential, it's impossible to ignore the rather botched ending and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Dawn of the Living Dead from beyondthegore

[beyondthegore · 2/10 · 27 March 2012]

Sometimes I would deem a film too bad that it's actually good. This can be because its that bad its funny therefore worth a single watch but this film is actually THAT bad I'm willing to ruin every single "highlight" of this film to get my point across as I am confident by the end of this review you will not be watching it any time soon.

Then there are the effects. My word I have seen better graphics come from my buttocks. Usually sending ripples through my trousers as the gas immitions tear through the atmosphere. Everybody knows what the sun looks like yes? The big yellow thing up in the sky, but I think the director is taking us for a ride here because I'm pretty sure the sun they keep showing me has been made in Microsoft Paint. In fact I think the five suns they keep showing me are made in MS Paint. In fact I think all of the graphics were made in MS Paint. I'm sorry but I just couldn't humour the effects used in this film. Zombies fading in to bushes, scenery fading away like it was never there, it was all awful. The gore/blood was bearable but nothing spectacular, it looked like blood which is always good, body parts being pulled out of victims also looked OK, but it's used it many other films and 10.2million times better.

Read the full review at: beyondthegore

Sick

[Paulldavidson · 1/10 · 18 February 2022]

Anyone who watches this would have to have a serious disposition mentally unbelievable if you've seen one you've seen them all one dimensional not to mention a martin sheen lookalike its tongue in cheek stuff and no known actors in this movie.

The Zombies ARE FAMILY !!!

[guestar57 · 5/10 · 27 December 2006]

EVIL GRAVE: Curse Of The Maya(Dawn Of The Living Dead/UK title) www.davidheavener.com Released thru ACTION CAT Enetrtainment. Starring David Heavener,Todd Bridges and Joe Estevez. DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS, That's what hold this movie together. Never thought someone could explain what that line meant to me,Heavener takes us on a journey of explaining ,"We need to let loved ones lie in peace". The make-up is great, The acting is mostly there. Todd Bridges is over the top as the comic aspect,with some interesting to say the least costume thoughts and under-used. Joe Estevez is really going that extra thespian mile, For once.David Heavener is getting away from his macho, I'M THE HERO shtick, And making us believe he has many colors. The most eerie aspect is that it's a mayan family of zombies, Great poster art has a vivid depiction of the familia. This film should do well for the fledgling ACTION CAT VOD !

not bad zombie flick with some cool gore scenes

[alucifer · 7/10 · 4 September 2005]

i bought this movie on DVD a little while ago under the title dawn of the living dead.now you're probably thinking the same thing that i am.why would anybody name their zombie movie so close to the ultimate classic dawn of the dead.i think they should stick to curse of the Mata.besides irritating David heavener who also directed and getting off to a slow start this isn't to bad of a zombie flick.the gore effects are decent and the scenes of a head getting ripped off a guys shoulders are sure to please zombie gore fans everywhere.also limbs chopped off and intestines eaten and even a vicious zombie baby.so hardcore zombie fans give this one a look .not the best but definitely not the worst

it's not the worst B movie i've seen

[disdressed12 · 6/10 · 30 May 2008]

this is one sick and twisted movie.there isn't a lot of gore,but what gore there is,is pretty extreme.i also thought there was some continuity problems.some of the scenes don't seem to have any context,so it is hard to follow.it's a B movie,for sure,but,despite its problems,i thought it was OK.i liked the music and the atmosphere,and the story was interesting,though not completely original.think Evil Dead and a bit of Child's Play.i didn't think the acting was too bad.i don't think it was great,but i have seen much worse.towards the end,there is a hysterical scene,which sorta reminded me of the Child's Play movies.for me Curse of the Maya,AKA Dawn of the Living Dead(nothing to do with George A. Romero's "Dead" series)is a 6/10

A more human, religious perspective on the zombie theme

[crossrad · 7/10 · 7 June 2009]

Unlike "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), this film gives more emphasis to the religious and cultural basis for the zombies themselves. The film makes the most of the isolated desert location, using coloured filters and music with a South American feel to create an expectation of the zombies presence before we see them for real. The plot has plenty of twists, and the unusually, the film becomes increasingly absorbing as it progresses.

Admittedly, the production values are low, with music cutting in and out on scene changes in a distracting manner and special affects which are not only cheap, but unimaginative. However, this is made up for by good acting, makeup and authenticity in the interior scenes. Amanda Baumann plays the lead role in a convincing manner. Her character has a number of original facets that give her character a depth, so that you can't guess how things will turn out and keep watching.

As often happens with movies that have a supernatural dimension, the fact that supernatural means that things do not correspond to nature give the filmmaker the excuse to ignore logic and plausibility. We therefore see quite a few scenes that defy logic, and the viewer will have to be prepared to make allowances.

Overall, despite its limitations, I found it quite compelling to watch through to the the end.