In Spain, the American surfer Jason (Mike Vogel), his best friend and photographer Tomas Escaño (Iman Nazemzadeh) and his girlfriend Lisa (Lindsay Caroline Robba) 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 (Alex O'Dogherty) 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 (Gary Piquer) 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 (Eliza Dushku), Pablo (Boris Martinez), Miguel (Ander Pardo) and Elena (Naike Rivelli) 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 just died. When Miguel, Lisa and Elena also die, Jason researches the Mamba in the Internet and finds that the pieces and board had been made of skin and bones of the witch Mamba Masamba and the cards had been written with her blood and tears. Jason decides to finish the game with Erica to undo the curse.
"Open Graves" is a reasonable horror movie that blends the story of "Wishmaster", "Final Destination" and several Ouija Board movies. The plot takes place in Spain and surprisingly every international and local character speaks English. The camera work and the special effects are very poor. The greatest attraction is certainly the cult-actress Eliza Dushku. However the conclusion makes the difference and an attentive viewer probably might have noted that Erica advises Jason to take care with his words in his wish. He should have wished that he had never accepted the game and consequently all the deaths would have never happened. The reviews in IMDb are unfair and this movie is not so bad. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "Jogo Macabro" ("Macabre Game")
"Open Graves" is a reasonable horror movie that blends the story of "Wishmaster", "Final Destination" and several Ouija Board movies. The plot takes place in Spain and surprisingly every international and local character speaks English. The camera work and the special effects are very poor. The greatest attraction is certainly the cult-actress Eliza Dushku. However the conclusion makes the difference and an attentive viewer probably might have noted that Erica advises Jason to take care with his words in his wish. He should have wished that he had never accepted the game and consequently all the deaths would have never happened. The reviews in IMDb are unfair and this movie is not so bad. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "Jogo Macabro" ("Macabre Game")