An Unquiet Grave

An Unquiet Grave

“A Restless Tombstone” is a horror movie that has not tapped into grief as a vein. Grief is what I mean here, and the question of how one would use their loved ones to cope with it. This dark character study often leaves Jamie (played by Jacob A. Ware), the haunted widower, wondering if he or any person should be asking such questions or thinking about them at all. He seems to be more self-centered since his wife Julia died accidentally one year ago but that does not end his mourning spirit; however it does make him much less sociable than before.

On his way home from visiting her grave site for the umpteenth time this week where meets up with equally shell shocked sister-in-law Ava (played by Christine Nyland) who agrees reluctantly but ultimately decides with Jamie following through their pact: Bringing back Julia from death’s door step; Only this time around things do not go as planned according to what he had told her initially.

Both Ava and Jamie are caught in an existential crisis of sorts they know something has to be done, but they don’t know what that something is. They’re paralyzed by fear and uncertainty which ends up being the catalyst for “An Unquiet Grave”. Now I won’t give away too many details seeing as how those who have seen “Pet Cemetery” and “Hellraisers” will love this film, I also wouldn’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen these movies either.

“An Unquiet Grave” doesn’t feel like your typical indie horror flick trying too hard imitate other recent American horror films made over past two decades; rather its suspense filled mood piece with just right dialogue delivered through tightly framed close-ups coupled with seemingly calm pacing hides much needed exposition regarding both main characters’ elusive personalities while revealing very little about them making viewer only slightly aware of who/what these individuals really are deep down inside themselves but leaving us wanting more answers than ever before. Jamie isn’t so much an audience surrogate as he is emotional lightning rod; we only get brief glimpses into what he’s truly thinking or feeling which forces Ava to become mirror image of his own suppressed emotional state.

“No, no,” he tells her when she casually describes how Julia died in car accident on way home from work late one night after drinking too much again; “She was thrown.” Later on down line there are other moments like this where Jamie withholds information from Ava such as blindfolding her during part(s) unknown/unnamed ritual involving burning sage (among other things), reburied body parts and fresh blood just saying it out loud sounds crazy (because it is). “Nothings happening” says Ava right before something unbelievable happens then asks over shoulder behind herself: “Jamie? Jamie, say something.”

Luckily for us this movie isn’t about that event but rather what takes place afterwards because if it were up until now I would have given Review 0 out 5 Stars rating already! It also does not try them. In other words, this is not a trial show of a film nor should two clearly unstable people be judged harshly by viewers who know better too soon without having seen everything unfold first hand for themselves in front our very eyes via their own personal perspectives.

Rather than tell easy assumptions writer/director Terence Krey and co-writer Nyland decided let the audience dive head first into story by starting off at high peak intensity level early on thus causing feelings unease throughout rest duration while both characters struggle find footing once ground underneath them has shifted so dramatically much like trying walk tightrope over open space below knowing full well any second could be last any moment may prove fatal fall either direction leading straight back down towards yet another bottomless pit waiting just inches away from where they currently stand together side by side along edge closest relative lying face up towards heavens above waiting patiently for them to make right move step off into unknown darkness located below beyond which lies only more infinite blackness stretching out forevermore.

We may never know what caused Jamie and Ava to act this way or how long it will last, but we do know that it’s terrifying to hear them say things like “You can’t just pretend it didn’t happen” and “There’s something out there. I didn’t see it well, I didn’t see.” This kind of suggestive, incomplete dialogue tells us that we’re only seeing the outside of their grief; they’re stuck inside themselves and want desperately to get out. “It feels like it’s on me,” says Ava later on, though she’s not quite herself by then. “It feels like it’s holding me together.”

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m trying not to talk about the plot of “An Unquiet Grave” so much as describe its atmosphere because being kept at arm’s length from a story this hermetic is one of the movie’s primary pleasures. There are times when the tightness of Solomonoff’s film both its visual sketchiness and its narrative elusiveness can feel a little airless; but for the most part, “An Unquiet Grave” is as engrossing as it is single minded.

It is a quietly virtuosic high wire act whose sustained mood is all the more impressive given that its makers only occasionally draw attention to their hyper stripped down style: my favorite scene in this movie consists solely of a few spare images of unoccupied, mood-lit furniture (the living room couch; an unmade bed), and the rhythmic thump thump thumping sound effect of a spade hitting pay dirt somewhere off-camera. It doesn’t sound like much of anything special, but if you’re in the right mood for it…

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