‘Dig Two Graves’ is a Taut Revenge Thriller

The quest for vengeance has a way of consuming people. The wrongs of the past have a way of lingering in the minds of people, and that lingering feeling of rage can simmer and build over time. In the thriller Dig Two Graves from director Hunter Adams, decades pass in the wait for revenge as those seeking to right past wrongs have taken their sweet time to set up all the pieces in place for their quest for vengeance. Dig Two Graves is a surprising thriller, efficiently paced and escalating in its suspense as it sheds layers to its central mystery before its shocking conclusion.

In the ‘70s, Jaqueline “Jake” Mather (Samantha Isler) has just lost her brother in a drowning accident which she feels partly responsible. Wracked with guilt, Jake has become withdrawn and depressed since the death of her brother. One day, she’s encountered by a mysterious trio of backwoods men who specialize in making moonshine led by Wyath (Troy Ruptash). They present the young girl with a magic trick, and then proceed to tell her that she can resurrect her brother with their help. All she has to do is kill one person, her schoolmate Willie Proctor (Gabriel Cain). But all of which somehow connects to her grandfather Sheriff Waterhouse (Ted Levine) and his old partner Proctor (Danny Goldring) for something that occurred decades prior, an event that seems to be on everybody’s mind but nobody’s tongue.

Much of the script by Adams and co-writer Jeremy Phillips flashes back and forth between the ‘70s and the events of the past in the ‘40s. There are layers to the story and Hunter Adams for the most part keeps the big reveals played close to the vest. It leads to Dig Two Graves being consistently captivating as you’re left to wonder whether this thriller is taking place in a realistic world or one that is rooted in the supernatural. It’s a question that continues to swirl around the escalating events of the movie and isn’t truly revealed until the conclusion, which certainly won’t be spoiled here.

With a modest budget, Hunter Adams crafts a sharp piece of storytelling with Dig Two Graves. It’s a well-acted, well-constructed work of suspenseful cinema that continually escalates until its big finale. Dig Two Graves doesn’t rely on easy jump scares or moments of grotesque gore to elevate its suspense. Instead it leans on its captivating story of a small town covered with the shadow of a past crime that will push its denizens towards a violent quest for vengeance.