story by jonas pate , josh pate , michael wexler , peter glatzer . screenplay by jonas pate and josh pate . directed by jonas pate . starring craig scheffer , gabrielle anwar , josh charles . rated r ( contains violence and profanity ) 90 mins . synopsis : a raspy-voiced prisoner about to be executed tells a priest a story about a bunch of exconvicts , parolees , and crooked cops who plunder graves to find the key to a fortune . comments : the grave runs like a movie-length episode of " tales from the crypt . " whether or not you like this movie would depend largely upon whether or not you like the gory antics , which are often played humorously , of the cryptkeeper's comic book stories . it's certainly not for everyone . the grave , like one of those fables from " tales from the crypt , " features dumb-as-rocks , surreal characters who greedily screw each other over to gain treasure . the plot's mystery is laughably , almost painfully , obvious . the humor , dark as it is , comes from watching despicable characters bumble around , trying to figure out things which normal people would easily grasp . one must throw realism out the door to appreciate a movie like this . the grave , once the shadowy narrator has begun the tale , opens in north carolina . upon hearing about a grave which holds the key to buried treasure , two convicts escape their prison and trek around the countryside in a mini-odyssey to get to this grave . one of them doesn't make it far due to a gunshot wound . in the meantime , a number of dimwitted characters come in and out of the picture . each one has a remarkedly disgusting tale to tell , but most of them , surprisingly , have something rather insightful to say somewhere in their blatherings . the storyline , though inconceivably unrealistic ( the convicts , for example , * easily * escape prison and hang out in obvious places which authorities would check out ) , plays out interestingly enough . the secret of the grave is comically apparent even though it takes three moonlit trips to the graveyard for the bad guys to figure it out . the mystery of the narrator's identity will keep most people guessing until it's revealed at the end , though . the actors do a suitable job for a film of this nature . they seem universally unappealing , which is exactly how they should be viewed . the attractive b-movie actress gabrielle anwar does a particularly nice job portraying the smarmy girlfriend of one of the convicts . veteran film actors anthony michael hall and eric roberts also put in enjoyable performances here . even if one likes films of this genre ( a suspense film , bordering on comedy , populated by anti-heroes in darkly cartoonish situations ) , he would find faults with this movie . some of the scenes which try to be morbidly humorous fall flat . plus , the exaggerated country / southern dialects become tired at times and prove hard to follow at other times . all in all , however , the grave is an entertaining cheap turkey for those who like black comedy . between the goofy hick characters and the soundtrack ( a catchy , eclectic mix of fiddles , banjos , guitars , mandolins , and harmonicas ) , it seems somewhat unique . i'll give it a qualified , passing recommendation . 
