Keep My Grave Open

Out of the quartet of S.F. Brownrigg shockers (also including "Don't Look in the Basement!", "Don't Open the Door", & "Scum of the Earth"), this is the worst. That doesn't mean it's bad, it just doesn't measure up to the others that I've seen ("Basement" and "Scum").

Camilla Carr once again steals the show as Leslie Fontaine, a mentally unbalanced woman who lives alone in an isolated mansion with her brother/lover Kevin. A series of murders occur committed by someone wearing a horseriding suit and wielding a sword. Along for the ride are other Brownigg regulars Jessie Lee Fulton (a bit part here, but who was killed by Carr in "Basement"), Gene Ross (who appeared in all 4 Brownrigg shockers; this is his worst role as a spectacled psychiatrist), Ann Stafford (a step down from her performance in "Scum", but still likable and cute), and Anne MacAdams (a cameo in a pink wig as a brothel madam).

Brownrigg's technique has bettered since "Scum of the Earth", made 5 years earlier. The use of the camera and lighting has improved a great deal, the music is great (as usual in a Brownrigg film), and the acting is all well-done! Newcomers who make an impression include Stephen Toblowsky as the lad who takes care of Carr's horses and Sharon Bunn as Twinkle the prostitute. While this could never top Brownrigg's two previous films in a million years, it still manages to pack a few punches in 78 minutes. A few scenes to watch for: the stalking of Ann Stafford after she is locked in a cabin, including the dragging of a sword along the siding of the house and pushing a sword through a crack in the door; the twist in the storyline that results in a gory death in a bathroom; and the chase after Twinkle, culminating in her hiding in an antique car filled with the killer's victims! Brownrigg has yet to disappoint me with any of his films and I recommend this to those with patience (this movie is not fast-paced) and an appreciation for "less is better" (budget, that is).

Denizens of a Southern-U.S. agronomic community are being violently shanked by a sword-brandishing bedlamite. The killer is introduced formally as Lesley, an attractive woman with a history of mental problems who lives in a sprawling antebellum manor with "Kevin", her brother and erotic "idee fixe". There is a surreptitious nature to the Kevin character, as his existence is supported only by reference. He may be either dead or entirely nonexistent, or possibly a spectral alter-ego drawn forth from Lesley's troubled mind, emerging during her repressed libidinous yearnings to wreak the bloody murders she is otherwise incapable of. This mystery only deepens with the film's oblique denouement.

Despite being a lesser entry in the small but celebrated S.F. Brownrigg oeuvre, KEEP MY GRAVE OPEN is by no means a starch or disposable low-budget drive-in quickie. A surprisingly well-acted impecunious project, it manages to loom a mournful and chilling presence of wandering detachment, and occasionally feels like a pauper Polanski film. It does have its share of observable technical deficiencies(though I personally found the cheap visual impurities an enhancement of the occasion), and the music score is strange and often rather extraneous. Still, this is an effectively subdued horror mood piece, and why it's been unable to galvanize the same substantial cult interest as other Brownrigg titles is anyone's guess.

7/10

What would be a relatively mediocre non-Hollywood low-budget effort is raised to above average and better that expected by the performance of Camilla Carr in the lead. She's playing a character who's obviously a split personality, as we are led to believe, and who possibly had an incestual relationship with her brother, or at least an imagined one. The other personality is the "brother" who is a psychotic killer. We are left wondering if the brother ever really existed, or if she just created him in her mind, or if he did once live, is he now dead? And how may he have died? Camilla takes the role and does it justice, subtle when need be, and gregarious at other times. She exemplifies a beautiful and attractive women who is also overtly psychotic, and for men viewing the film, is a woman who would both attract and repulse at the same moment. It would be a tough choice to become involved in a relationship with her, as seen when she precociously tells her Doctor, "Don't you find me sexually attractive?", and he is momentarily befuddled as to how to respond. She's physically attractive and sexually arousing, but her wackiness is too much to handle. In the back of one's mind would be the warning that she might kill you later.

There are other performances that are above average as well, and some twists to the story that I won't give away here, but overall this is Camilla's film.

The title is inappropriate but then it is of little consequence although seemingly Alpha Home Entertainment were misled because they have it paired with Beast of the Yellow night, in a 'Demonic Cannibal Rampage'. Anyway we know pretty much what a Brownrigg cheapie will be like and we are not disappointed. Bit slow to get started and even a rather slow end but somewhere around the middle this becomes decidedly weird and continues in fairly demented fashion for some time with Camilla Carr performing tremendously to keep this baby afloat. Always interesting, occasionally surprising and with a decent soundtrack, this is well worth a watch.

KEEP MY GRAVE OPEN is another horror film from Director S.F. Brownrigg. It opens with a hitchhiker (Bill Thurman) wandering into the stately home of Lesley Fontaine (Camilla Carr), only to pay the ultimate price for his intrusion.

Lesley supposedly lives in her estate with her reclusive brother / "husband", Kevin. It's apparent early on that Lesley just might have some serious mental issues. As the gruesome murders continue, Dr. Emerson (Gene Ross) seems quite concerned.

Ms. Carr is pretty good in her nutty role, spending much of her time walking around her house, looking afar off. One bizarre, solo "bed scene" is both unsettling and hilarious! As with most Brownrigg productions, KMGO tends to drag on in places, making it feel hours longer than it actually is. Still, it's not unwatchable, and perfect for a retro drive-in movie night...