Open Graves (2009)

A group of surfers discover an old board game which claims a life every time it is played.

Director:

Álvaro de Armiñán

Writers:

Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor (as Bruce Taylor)

Stars:

Mike Vogel, Eliza Dushku, Ethan Rains

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mike Vogel	...	Jason
Eliza Dushku	...	Erica
Ethan Rains	...	Tomàs
Naike Rivelli	...	Elena
Lindsay Caroline Robba	...	Lisa
Gary Piquer	...	Detective Izar
Alex O'Dogherty	...	Malek
Boris Martinez	...	Pablo
Ander Pardo	...	Miguel
Lilliam Kouri	...	Nabibi
Paul Zubillaga	...	Detective 1
Enrique Zaldua	...	Policeman
Juan Viadas	...	Priest
Maite Murillo	...	Nurse 1
Martxelo Rubio	...	Doctor 1

Storyline

In Spain, the American surfer Jason, his best friend and photographer Tomas Escaño and his girlfriend Lisa go shopping in a fair and while the couple is negotiating with a street vendor, Jason visits a dreadful store. Jason has a friction with the handicapped owner Malek and the man in a wheelchair offers an ancient board game called Mamba from the Spanish Inquisition period for free to excuse his behavior. Meanwhile, Detective Izar is investigating the death of a man that was skinned alive. When a heavy rain falls during a party on the beach, Jason joins Tomas, Lisa, his new acquaintance Erica Vargas, Pablo, Miguel and Elena to play the game. Erica reads the rules and explains that the winner would have his wish granted while the losers would be cursed to die the way described in the cards. Pablo is the first to lose and borrows Tomas' car to buy some beers. Miguel, Lisa, Elena and Tomas also lose, but the players stop the game when Detective Eric arrives and informs that Pablo has ...

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Plot Keywords:

surfer | board game | death | witch | skin | 

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Taglines:

Curses last forever.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Spain UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 November 2009 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Mamba

Filming Locations:

Getxo, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Manufacturas Audiovisuales,Inpulsa,Alchemedia Films

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in October and November 2006, but not released until September 2009.

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Goofs

During the photo shoot Tomas snaps pictures of Lisa with props (first an ax then a chain saw.) After switching the props, the voice of Tomas can be heard giving Lisa instructions on holding the ax for the picture. However, Miguel is clearly seen on camera holding the ax when Tomas says this.

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Connections

Featured in Phelous & the Movies: Phelous's Open Grave (2010)

User Reviews

Pretty bad.

No Sir, I don't like it. This is one cheap, low-grade 'horror' thriller, that didn't even seem to had any good ideas of its own. It's a movie with a silly concept and silly concepts often equal silly bad movies. This movie is like a strange and bad mix of "Jumanji", "Hellraiser", "Final Destination" and whatever more. It doesn't use one good original idea and instead uses several from other movies and tried to combine it. Ineffectivly though. And perhaps this is the movie its biggest problem. The problem isn't necessarily the lack of originality but more the way it handles its concepts. Everything gets developed and executed quite poorly into the movie, which makes the overall movie a terrible ineffective one. It's just not a movie that ever gets tense, surprising or intriguing. There is basically no real reason why you should ever watch this movie, since it really doesn't have any redeeming qualities in it. No, it's hardly the worst thing you'll ever see but that doesn't mean you should watch it. You just can never get into this movie because of its lacking story and poor characters. It's a very distant movie, that tries to be mysterious but instead works out as lame and annoying. It involves some strange old board game, that causes those who play and loose it to die. Sounds good perhaps but the way it's being handled in this movie is far from interesting. We don't even get to know how the game works and what's exactly the point of the existence of such a game, what the rules are and how to win it, in the first place. The 'explaination' at the end doesn't really cover this and is just too out of tone with the rest of the movie that it feels totally wrong and bad. Bad as an horror, bad as a thriller, bad as a mystery. There are just no redeeming qualities in it. 4/10