"Millions of people disappear without a trace each year. The possible fate of two are revealed in this smartly calculated and slick dose of nastiness."

- Mitch Davis - Director of International Programming, FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

 

"GRAVELESS was clearly inspired by the best moments of SAW but with a Italian feel to it. I hope director Christian Ray gets to make this as a feature film one day like he hopes too, lots of potential here."

- Arc-Vile - GOREZONE.NET

 

"Garnering praise amongst genre circles as well as being selected for the FanTasia International Film Festival and Atlanta Underground Film Festival, “Graveless” showcases the filmmaking potential of neophyte director Christian Ray.

Shot in 2 ½ days and funded out of the directors pocket, this 10 minute short opens with a man (Christian Fenn) blindfolded and bound to a chair. An electric saw can be heard cutting some unknown object in the background. By way of the films awesome soundscape, water can be heard dropping, and we realize that the man is located in a shady abandoned building or dungeon. A figure appears in a black rubber suit. Its face is covered by a mask of the same material with large round lenses covering the eyes (for some unknown reason causing me to think about the “Guinea Pig” films). The man in the chair pleads for his life and is rewarded with a hammer and chisel to his knee. An alarm sounds and the man in black leaves the room. Left in pain, but still alive, John Doe finds that he may not be alone in this torture cell as he attempts to escape his demise.

“Graveless” shows great nods to James Wan’s recent “Saw”, as well as visually shaking the hand of such films as Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” with the films use of deep blacks and vibrant saturated colors of yellow, red and blue highlighting the picture. With 2004’s “Saw” the killer captured his victims and forced them to commit odious tasks in order to survive, while Ray’s “Graveless” has his killer longing to know his victims darkest fears, eventually ending their life in such a way. John Doe, the films main character admits his fear; as a child when he would use his parent’s trunk, taking out its contents he would pretend he was in a boat, setting sail for treasure. One day his father came home and found the mess. He beat the shit out of him with his belt and locked him in the trunk for hours. The trunk was placed near the air conditioner, and after a while he would close his eyes, which sounded like the ocean, hence his ultimate fear of open water.

Along with great visuals of saturated colors, “Graveless” is also a very auditory film. Despite its first-rate visuals for an independent DV film, you can almost sit back, close your eyes and enjoy the film without ever taking a peak. With the films limited cast, the soundscape almost takes a life of its own playing a vital role in its effectiveness. Being a mere 10 minutes long, “Graveless” acts as a YAHOO! 10 minute preview for a feature Hollywood film, they often use with the purpose of sucking the downloader into going to theatres to see the film in its entirety. “Graveless” is a fantastic film and undoubtedly the best independent shot-on-DV short of its runtime. Let’s hope Christian Ray gets the break he deserves to shoot a feature film. "

- Chris Mayo - SEVERED-CINEMA.COM

 

"An unquestionably well crafted suspense/horror film about a game of cat and mouse between an abducted man and his captor who wants to know his darkest fears."

- ATLANTA UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

 

"I was lucky enough to catch a screening of this at the Fantasia Film Festival. The film starts out with a guy tied up to a chair and as soon as it begins, the tension sets in. Graveless is a masterpiece on the technical level. The photography is beautiful, and the sound editing is amazing. The only problem about the film is that, content was only used to create context. The storyline is pretty simple, I would have liked it to be a little more developed, but it is easily forgiven due to the very short length of the movie. I can't wait to see what Christian Ray will be able to do with a bigger budget and a longer movie. He can keep you on the edge of your seat and do it in a visually stunning way."

- Ash512 IMDB.COM User Review

 

"US filmmaker Christian Ray has had a successful run at film festivals internationally with Graveless . This ten minute short has just won the Brigadoon Award for Best Film at Sitges. It opens with a victim tied and blindfolded to a chair, the victim of a serial killer who is determined not just to kill him, but to find out his victim's greatest fear and kill him by this method. The film is unusual in that it films its victim as if he was stupid rather than helpless, and allows him to partially escape, only to find that this is an elaborate trap in order to probe his deepest fear. Most of the film takes place in the dark and exploits fear of claustrophobia to the full, it's another simple idea that works."

- Marcelle Perks - www.6degreesfilm.com/features/horrorshorts.htm