Nightstream Review: ‘An Unquiet Grave’
Terence Krey’s ‘An Unquiet Grave’ is a harrowing, gruesome if fully unrealized exploration of loss and grief with devastating performances from its two leads.
What if you had the opportunity to bring back a loved one? Would you do it even if it came at a terrible cost? Those are some of the questions posed by filmmakers Terence Krey and Christine Nyland in their latest film ‘An Unquiet Grave’, a haunting, harrowing and gruesome exploration of grief and desperation. Centering around Jamie (Jacob A. Ware), a man who recently lost his wife in a violent car crash, and his sister-in-law Ava (Nyland, who also co-writes), ‘An Unquiet Grave’ charts their journey as they perform a dark ritual to bring her back with the help of a mysterious force. They soon come to discover, however, that this force may ask for something in return.
We first meet Jamie at his wife’s grave, unkempt beard and unruly hair signaling his dire state of mind. This is a man at his wits’ end, desperately trying (and failing) to move on in the wake of an awful loss. Although we aren’t given much of a backstory about either of the characters, the film choosing to firmly live in the present instead of bothering with flashbacks or dream sequences, it is easy to surmise that Jamie does not have much of a support system around him. Aimless and unemployed, Jamie has retreated into himself, cutting all ties with everyone in his life except for his sister-in-law Ava.
The “black sheep” of her family who has also been experiencing a difficult time in the wake of her twin sister’s death, Ava is the only other person Jamie feels can relate to his suffering and he wastes no time in recruiting her in his desperate attempt at bringing back his wife. According to Ava, her sister is the only person that “truly felt like family” to her and it doesn’t take much persuasion on Jamie’s part to get her to help him with his ritual. Ava’s love for her sister is palpable throughout the film and there are no lengths she won’t go to in order to bring her back, trusting Jamie and even allowing him to blindfold her in the middle of a cold, bleak forest.
Jacob A. Ware is fantastic as the anguished yet hopeful Jamie, perfectly capturing the essence of a man reeling from the loss of a loved one. His feelings of grief and loss are so strong, that they permeate throughout every second of the film, bringing a bleak and depressing tone to the proceedings and an anxious urgency to Jamie’s desperate actions. Christine Nyland also turns in a great performance as the bereaved Ava, who remains cautiously optimistic at the opportunity to see her sister again.
Contained to mostly one location and only two on-screen performances, ‘An Unquiet Grave’ is a masterclass in how effective a small-scale, low budget horror can be. It is gorgeously shot and lit, the dark forest where most of the film takes place in serving as the perfect backdrop to the film’s heavy subject matter. Although there’s not much body horror in the film, with director Krey choosing to focus on atmosphere instead of shock factor, the two scenes that do feature gruesome imagery are very well-done, the make-up and subtle special effects impeccably executed.
The film stumbles a bit in its final act when it shifts complete focus to Jamie, foregoing Ava in the process. It’s hard to muster any sympathy for him after his true motives are revealed and viewers will struggle to care about the rest of the film’s proceedings because of it. Krey and Nyland also don’t go into detail about the ritual their characters are performing, leaving viewers mostly in the dark about both its process and nature. A bit more exposition and a deeper exploration of the film’s mythology and its characters backstories would have given the audience more to be invested with. As it is, however, the film never fully ups its stakes and thus never truly realizes its full potential. Despite that, ‘An Unquiet Grave’ is still an effective, small-scale horror film with great performances that will leave genre fans anticipating Krey and Nyland’s next move.
Rating: 3/5
‘An Unquiet Grave’ screened at the NIGHTSTREAM Film Festival on October 11.