Following her brother’s accidental death, a girl gets involved with the local black sheep and learns a thing or two about her family, the past, and revenge.
Written by Hunter Adams and Jeremy Phillips and directed by the former, Dig Two Graves is an ok drama with a few horror elements that goes at a decent pace. The film has decent characters, decent dialogue; it’s all decent, but it’s all a bit bland. The film has some interesting aspects, especially the family that lives in the woods, but it’s not quite enough to make it a stellar film or even a really interesting one, which is too bad as everyone involved is seemingly talented and capable of more.
The cast here does what they can with Samantha Isler as Jake, the lead girl going through a rough time following her brother’s death. She shows a good mix of sadness, regret, and survivor’s guilt, giving her performance some interest even when what is going in the story is on the blah side of things. Playing her grand-father, Sheriff Waterhouse, is Ted Levine who gives a good, gruff performance, possibly showing more interest and interesting sides to his character than just about anyone else in the film. His performance shows that some actor can indeed take any part and elevate them, bringing them more than what is on the page, showing something that is beyond what the rest of the cast gives. The rest of the cast does ok, but none really shine here, giving Levine the easy path to being the shining star of the film as they all blend a bit together, giving him less to compete with while on screen. His performance is the one viewer will remember from this film.
The film, for all its story and character blandness does look good with some great imagery from time to time. The cinematography by Eric Maddison works the small town and forest settings really well and brings forth some really cool images, with nice visual that support the story beautifully. These images have a few instances where they create the creepiness of the scene almost entirely on their own. The film, because of these visuals gains some interest and it’s one of the things that keep it from going completely boring to be honest.
Dig Two Graves is one of those films that are not bad but not great either. It’s not all that entertaining, but it’s not actually boring. It’s one of those films that are difficult to review as it falls pretty flat down the center of entertainment. It’s mostly just there. It’s not something to avoid, but it’s not something to look for necessarily either. Unless the viewer is a huge Ted Levine fan, then yes it would be something to put on a “to-see” list, just not near the top. Dig Two Graves is one of those films that floats right around inoffensive, not that enthralling, but not boring.