Dig Me No Grave

Directed by Ranjeet S. Marwa

2024

We’ve hunted down a new Midlands feature this month which tells a dark story of redemption and survival as one man tries to escape a dire predicament he has found himself in.

Warren Lee Hicks stars as Scott Parker, a married hunter in the woods who spends his day shooting animals amongst the forest. An almost silent opening sees him miss a deer before heading back to meet his wife (Shally Tria Amanda as Linda Parker) at home.

The filmmaker does well to set up the rural location, capturing some nice greens and browns of nature and the subsequent story makes the most of its setting, becoming a key part of the narrative. Thankfully it avoids being a Star Wars fan-film where shooting in the woods is simply the cheapest option.

A decision has also been made for the cast to use American accents. I can see the commercial appeal of this and all the actors give it a very good go, but for me it’s mostly unnecessary. (And the local telephone number on a vehicle door reminds us it’s the Midlands anyway).

Our protagonist returns again to the woods but is surprised when he is confronted by a bear. There’s a decent bit of CGI for this attack, and although it’s no The Revenant, it’s done very well considering the limitations and as good as anything on TV. 

The outcome of the fight leaves the bear dead and the man trapped under its hulking lifeless body. Drifting in and out of consciousness with added flashbacks to past events, when the man does fully awake he finds himself in a cabin in the woods (oo-er). Oh, and he’s missing his legs!

Scared and out of his mind, it is revealed he has been captured by Pat Gunther (a very psychotic turn from James Bryhan) who keeps him injected with sedatives but ignores his pleas for help.

Dig Me No Grave does very well at positioning all its characters and despite some clunky American dialogue, is extremely polished as it clearly sets up the story and everyone's motivations and goals.

The film cuts admirably between his concerned wife and friend who go looking for him, flashbacks to fill out the backstory and the main conflict between victim and perpetrator back in the cabin. This keeps the story interesting as we put together the various strands, and the director also throws in some exciting and tension-filled escape attempts too.

And as these parts slowly come together as we head towards its conclusion, the film reveals some links to a military past, a case of mistaken identity and a tragedy that sowed the seeds of revenge. 

James Bryhan as the cold and calculated antagonist is a particular highlight. His ghoulish kidnapper echoes the extreme actions of Annie Wilkes from 1990's Misery, who similarly torments an incapacitated man. However, he's given more of a history that makes even this repugnant character have a few reasons for what he's done.

But he, along with a solid cast, combine with the film’s impressive technical aspects, a slick 90-minute runtime and a host of well-planned dramatic and action sequences, to make Dig Me No Grave a barnstorming and nail-biting local thriller exploring distrust and atonement.

★★★★½

4.5 / 5

Mike Sales