Keep My Grave Open

More Texas based madness from SF Brownrigg! This one involves Leslie, a woman who lives with her brother Kevin (or does she?) in a remote ranch. After a hobo is carved up with a sword, we learn a bit more about Leslie. She's just recently spent time in a mental hospital, she's extremely unbalanced, and she doesn't like strangers on her property. She does have a ranch hand who comes out to feed her horses, but when his girlfriend turns up, someone takes offence and carves her up too. But is it Leslie that's doing the killing, or Kevin? Can Leslie's doctor find out what's going on before more people end up dead?

This is a slow moving film that involves a lot of scenes of Leslie generally acting crazy and wandering around the house shouting for her brother (there's implied incest here too). It's a film that could only be made in the seventies I'd guess, and although low budget and slow, it's still suspenseful and doesn't quite end up the way you would think. The ending was a slight head scratcher however. Another good one from the director of Don't Look in the Basement.

During the beginning of "Keep My Grave Open" a drifter is murdered by sword wielding loon after stealing in a deserted and darkened mansion.The house is owned by Lesley Fontaine who supposedly lives there with her husband or brother Kevin.The problem is that Kevin is never seen by anyone else in southern town.Kevin lives only in a troubled mind of Lesley and the bloody murders continue...S.F Brownrigg's genre swan song is an interesting character study.The performance of Brownrigg's regular Camilla Carr is superb as are her sudden bursts of schizoid rage.She even dons heavy make-up in order to seduce Kevin and masturbates in his presence.The film is filled with an unnerving atmosphere of haunting melancholy and the sword slayings are bloody enough.The pace is deliberately slow,but I did enjoy somber mood of "Keep My Grave Open".8 out of 10.An interesting,unique and mildly rewarding effort from Sherald Brownrigg.

This low budget obscurity might entertain you to stick with it to the end, and although the very low budget hampers it, the director is skilled enough to make a watchable feature out of the (very) raw materials. However, I wouldn't say that Keep My Grave Open is an undiscovered gem, its just better than it could have been. The plot follows a spinsterish woman called Lesley who lives in a remote house with her husband or brother Kevin, who never leaves his room and only Lesley seems to have ever seen him (Ahh – alarm bells!). People who get too close or too nosy about Lesley and Kevin fall foul of a murderer, but who is doing the killing?

Now you won't find this little thriller going too far from the well worn path but it does have a handful of positive features. First of all are the performances, which are on the whole very natural, with particular praise for Camilla Carr in the lead, as she thoroughly convinces as the unhinged Lesley. The film's most memorable sequence (in my opinion) involves Lesley getting dolled up to make an amorous nocturnal visit to Kevin's bedroom and the resulting trippy seduction (?) scene is all down to Camilla Carr's performance in what must have been a pretty difficult scene to shoot (you'll see what I mean). The remainder of the film is kind of predictable what with a few stalking and murdering scenes and general, none of which are outstanding, even though the "sword through the walls" attack is often cited as a suspenseful sequence, it doesn't really work for me as the victim has to be stupid enough to walk all the way around the room and then stand in exactly the right place to allow the killer to conveniently run her through. The effect isn't very good either, and things don't improve a great deal after it.

Sadly the biggest thing working against the film is the cheapness of it all. The lighting can be very poor, sound is tinny, nighttime shots are impossible to see clearly, and the film has a general grainy air. However, as I have said the film is directed and shot with competence and I would be interested to see how well it turned out had SF Brownrigg had more studio backing, as his scenes with people, especially all the scenes involving Lesley, which are well handled and show his skill with many different film-making techniques.

I wouldn't shell out to buy a DVD of this – certainly not the hideous one called "The House Where Hell Froze Over" with it's god-awful cover (the original video release cover is great), but if you happen to pass this film and have the time to watch it, you could have some fun. It even manages a perverse last minute twist ending of sorts that kind of surprised me, which always leaves a good impression.

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.

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...