Movie Review: Open Grave (2013)

The movie stars Sharlto Copley, Josie Ho, Erin Richards, Joseph Morgan, Max Wrottesley and Thomas Kretschmann.

My wife came across this film on one of our movie channels a few days ago and decided to record it. We ended up watching it Saturday night and, even though we had some doubts about it after some recent disappointments, it ended up being a pretty decent choice.

What really impressed me about this movie was the mystery. We, as viewers, know nothing about the 6 people taking refuge inside the house. Are they friends? Is one of them a killer? And, what is up with all the dangerous people running around outside? This did create some unexpected suspense simply because it was very possible one (or more) of the people in that group was lying about not having any memory about what had happened to them.

I also found I was very entertained by the way the movie revealed the truth a little at a time. This kept things interesting because the various clues and faint memories could be interpreted a number of different ways.  For example, was Jonah (Copley) trying to help a friend when he was videotaped administering a strange injection? Or, was he purposely trying to erase his memory? And, if it was the latter, why did he apparently inject himself too?

Adding to this movie was the questions that went unanswered, such as where were they located and why the local military seemed to have no interest in helping them.  This left just enough confusion to keep the movie entertaining, especially when it came to the somewhat warped and depressing ending, because it left a lot to the imagination about what was really going on in the world around them, something I do think helped to make this movie better than expected.

As I said before, my wife and I had some doubts about this film when we began watching it. However, it turned out to be an intriguing mystery with plenty of suspense. I would definitely recommend watching it as a result of that.

My Grade: B