Open Grave

  A man (Sharlto Copley) wakes with no memory in a huge mass grave. OK; clichéd, but intriguing. A mysterious woman drops a rope for him and runs away; chasing her the man finds a house, with voices coming from inside.
 Now you'd think the best approach would be to knock, right? Or at least scout things out better, maybe eavesdrop a little? Well, no. Because Open Grave operates at the shrillest possible level at all times, our hero runs in waving a gun. It goes down about as well as you'd expect.

 The people inside include an insufferable tough-guy German (Thomas Krstschmann), the mute, mysterious woman who dropped our hero a rope (Josie Ho), a nerdy American (Joseph Morgan), a poor lady who's constantly trying to look so intense she almost looks cross-eyed (Erin Richards), and a token Brit (Max Wrottesley). A lot of shouting ensues, and it quickly becomes clear that despite the mystery-box setup, this is a movie that constantly feels the need to manufacture drama at any cost, often to the detriment of the plot or any character work.

Not big on gun safety, Sharlto? You're gonna Cheney that poor guy.

 It kind of works anyways, for a while at least. Once things quieten down somewhat, we find out that everyone in the house has lost their memories as well - some of them feel like they know each other, but they don't really know how they're related. It's an interesting setup: how do they proceed from there? Sadly that potential unfortunately goes unfulfilled as the only character who's developed at all is the protagonist.
 Meanwhile the mystery broadens as the amnesiacs explore first the house and then the environs; They find corpses everywhere, get attacked by feral people, and run into more seemingly abandoned buildings. which hold more clues to their predicament. It's interesting until you work out that the answers aren't particularly... well, interesting, and it's all further ruined by the film being seemingly terrified of losing the viewer's attention. It stacks the pointless antagonism, manipulative out-of-context flashbacks, heightened chases and red herrings, all in service of a very artificial tense tone that just isn't deserved by the material.

 The script (by Eddie and Chris Borey) also fails to develop a proper plot beyond the puzzle solving. The story beats that follow once the mystery unravels make for a laughable attempt at generating some pathos, but even if they were better handled they would be doomed by the poor characterization.

 It's an indie film through and through, nominally American but shot entirely in Hungary with a local crew and a pretty international cast. The differently accented actors make sense here, as the location is unspecified; just another part of the mystery. As for their acting... well, Copley manages to wrangle his lines into something compelling, the rest don't. I wouldn't blame the actors, as the film's tone is pretty strident already.
 Director Gonzalo López-Gallego manages some cool imagery, a good sense of grittiness, and a little tension, but the film pisses away its mild early promise with dick measuring contests, pointless finger pointing and shouting matches even before it gets the chance to underwhelm with its revelations. I wouldn't bother with it unless you're a Copley completist. A Copleytist.