"An Unquiet Grave" an example of quiet minimalism not fully paying off
An Unquiet Grave (2021) Sometimes, a horror film doesn’t need a hefty budget or a scare-every-ten-minutes ratio to be considered effective. In the micro-budget horror indie “An Unquiet Grave,” writer-director Terrence Krey and co-star/co-writer Christine Nyland rely solely on two dialogue-driven performances and a quietly mounting mood that can be felt, and those elements should be enough. Take 2017’s quietly gripping “A Dark Song,” which also uses dark magic to invoke catharsis. Alas, even minimalist filmmaking in its leanest, most hushed, whispery, and languid form can benefit from a little more dread, which this underwhelming two-hander could have used. After Jamie (Jacob A. Ware) loses his wife Jules in a car accident to a drunk driver, he convinces his edgy twin sister-in-law, Ava (Christine Nyland), to return to where the accident happened. “Can you really do it?” Ava asks at her sister’s tombstone. She knows what she’s in for, and eventually, we will know, too. A year later, Ja...