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Supernatural 'Dig Two Graves' a stylish gothic film set in Southern Illinois

If the young Coen brothers had been turned loose in Southern Illinois to create an ultra-low-budget, 1970s supernatural horror tale reeking of EC Comics vibes, it might have roughly resembled Hunter Adams' stylish gothic tale of revenge "Dig Two Graves."

It begins with a dare.

Teen Sean (Ben Schneider) presses his little sister Jake (Samantha Isler) to jump with him off a tall ledge into a water-filled quarry. She agrees. They hold hands.

At the last moment, she breaks away, sending Sean into the quarry alone. He never surfaces. Ever.

Distraught, Jake blames herself for Sean's apparent death. Her kindly grandfather Sheriff Waterhouse (former Chicago actor Ted Levine) can't soften the pain.

"It's not easy losing somebody you love," he says. "I wish I could say there's some sort of magic to hold on to, but there isn't any."

Not so fast, Gramps.

Walking home from school one day, Jake gets approached by three skulking local moonshiners looking like extras from a Rob Zombie movie.

They seem to know all about her.

"We can bring your brother back to life," the freaky leader (Troy Ruptash) with the tall hat tells her. There's just a tiny catch.

"Somebody has to take his place." And Jake must choose that somebody.

Jake's deal with the devil comes wrapped within a bigger, more violent story that begins in the 1940s, when a much younger Waterhouse and then-sheriff Proctor (Chicago actor Danny Goldring) dump two bodies in the quarry where Jake's older brother will disappear 30 years later.

By the time these two storylines violently collide in a storm of blood and bullets, "Dig Two Graves" has whisked us into a rural nightmare dimension with symmetrical, Kubrickian visions of Southern Illinois accompanied by an appropriately sinister string score (credited to three composers).

This marks the second feature from Wisconsin native Adams, who spent his junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying film in Paris, France.

He prefers an ominous slow boil to quick cheap shocks, and brings an unexpectedly genuine warmth to the bond between Levin's extremely human sheriff and Isler's remarkably restrained, good-hearted teenage girl.

"Dig Two Graves" hails from the comic book tradition of "Tales from the Crypt" and "Vault of Horror," but it stands on its own as a crisply edited, surprising display of craftsmanship on a budget.

“Dig Two Graves”

★ ★ ★

Starring: Samantha Isler, Ted Levine, Danny Goldring, Ann Sonneville

Directed by: Hunter Adams

Other: An Area23a release. Not rated by the MPAA, but contains nudity, violence. At the River East 21 in Chicago and available on iTunes. 85 minutes

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