Open Graves
Open Graves
R | 19 September 2009 (USA)
Open Graves Trailers

One day, Jason finds an unusual board game called Mamba. When his surfer friends start to play, the games unleashes its deadly curse, killing the losers in a gruesome fashion. Supposedly it will grant the winner a wish. As his companions die off, Jason decides that the only way he can reverse the tragedy is by continuing to play. With his girlfriend, Erica, Jason rolls the dice and hopes to make his wish before one of them suffers a horrible fate.

Reviews
Michael Ledo

Some young adults (with models) are in Spain when one acquires a game from an artifacts dealer who apparently disliked him. If they complete the game, they get a wish. However, if they draw a death card, they are out of the game...all the way out. The game, from what I gathered originated during the Spanish Inquisition and is made from a witch's body parts. But don't worry, the curse cards to the game which describe their death are written in modern English with a font to make it look old. Phew! Didn't we see this in another movie with tarot cards?The film is predictable with no twists. It lacked imagination.F-bomb, brief sex, brief nudity, one guy gets crabs.

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Jeffrey

Oh Eliza! Whatever possessed you to be part of this nightmare? The only "horror" about this film is that it was made at all. A group of nice-looking booze and sex fueled 20-something's play an antique game, and then start dying. Luckily for them, even though the box containing the game was passed down from the 15th century Spanish Inquisition, all the cards are in pristine condition AND conveniently printed in English! WOW, what luck! There are absolutely no surprises or suspense whatsoever, as this has been done many times before in many better ways. Sadly, even the gratuitous sex scenes generally associated with this genre are almost non-existent, apparently to devote more screen time to the horrible deaths. Out of deference to Eliza Dushku, I cannot give this the one star rating it truly deserves. The rest of the actors are mediocre at best, God-awful at worst. All are completely forgettable, as is the film itself within fifteen minutes of viewing. Skip it, even from the bargain bin.

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Leofwine_draca

Okay, OPEN GRAVES is poor. Surprisingly poor, considering the effort that has gone into this low budget production; although it's a US-financed movie it was shot in Spain with a Spanish director and supporting cast. And yet it turns out to be completely horrible, which is all thanks to a lacklustre storyline.A group of brain-dead surfers are the unlikeable protagonists in this film, among their number the minor horror star Eliza Dushku (WRONG TURN). They get mixed up in a dark world of voodoo and horror when they start playing a game which sees them dying for real. It's much like the 1990s film JUMANJI, where the board game came to life and took the kids on an adventure, except with a horror slant.Not that there's much in the way of horror here. This a murkily-shot production where swathes of boredom are interspersed with a few mildly gory supernatural death sequences. For some reason, the filmmakers are reliant on very poor CGI effects to keep the movie going, and it sinks the production further. OPEN GRAVES is a real stinker, that's for sure.

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dbborroughs

Think Jumanji but with a death curse. A bunch of surfer dudes get their hands on a game that takes the life of some one who is playing it. Supposedly it was made from the skin of a witch during the Spanish Inquisition and carries a nasty curse. Okay, undemanding and just sort of watchable tale isn't anything you haven't seen before.Frankly its a been there and done that story that hits all the right buttons in such away as to have no real surprises. Far from the worst thing that SyFy has run but certainly its not the best. There are better choices out there but if this is your only choice you won't completely hate it.

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