MovieChat Forums > The Gravedancers (2008) Discussion > Got it wrong AGAIN!!! (Possible partial ...

Got it wrong AGAIN!!! (Possible partial spoilers but none serious)

posted 16 years ago by Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER
8 replies | jump to latest

Supposedly, one remedy was to dig up the bodies of whose graves were desecrated, and re-bury them. But there are two things here that most people don't realize that makes its way into almost every graveyard flick.

First of all, digging a grave, especially an old and non-fresh one, would require many hours of work and could not possibly be completed by 1 person, then filled back up and reburried, in one night. Under the right conditions it would take about twelve hours (without breaks) for a physically fit person to dig or exhume one grave -- and it's quite a work-out, not a job for playboys, yuppies, or other tyros.

Secondly, you don't hit a wooden box.

Graves require vaults (and have for some time) in the ground -- so even if you did get to the vault, it would take special equipment to remove the concrete, metal, or stone lid of the vault to get to the casket.

If a box had been burried in the earth for umpteen years, it wouldn't still be intact covered with six feet of earth. It would be very rotted and returned to earth.

And 'cause' never was the reason for the evening,
--Or the Tropic of Sir Galahad.

[–] pemer 16 years ago

Yeah, and would it be even a skeleton left from 1890 to 2006?

[–] dmfaust 16 years ago

Would of course hinge heavily on circumstances, but skeletons tend to last yes.

[–] Dreamwatcher14 16 years ago

What didn't make sense to me was how after the truck crashed through the house the big ghost head crashed an even bigger hole in the side of the house. It was a ghost head, it should have just floated through the wall like smoke.

"You have no idea how many times I have wanted to use my finger for the betterment of all mankind"

[–] imdb_pvi 10 years ago

In ten years, only skull and femurs are left. Modern caskets, made of particle wood, last but one year. Olders ones wouldn't last longer than say 25 years.

[–] ragreen259 15 years ago

I'm sorry, you need to step back and reassess, because you don't know everything, although it's apparent you'd like to believe you do. First, just how the hell do have any idea how long it would take to dig a grave up singlehandedly. Your comments concerning this are just stupid, because unless you've done it, you honestly have no idea. May as well just admit that. But you're right, it would definitely take longer than the ten minutes usually portrayed... but then, through the magic of movies and editing, that hour or two of digging can simply be edited out as we "cut to the chase."
Second, you don't hit a wooden box...? Why not? Your assumption that all places use vaults is, once again, flawed and based in whatever knowledge you have of your local health laws. Besides, in this movie, one grave was from the 19th century, for openers.
And, let's face it, I have fencing and the posts have been buried for more than fifty years. There's nothing wrong with that fencing, and the soil is even damp a major amount of the time. Generally speaking, coffins are heavily coated... if the coffin collapses, you wind up with a dent in the ground where the grave is. You don't see that too often.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Strazdamonas 14 years ago

concerning time: there were 2 people per grave digging and it never showed how long the digging took. it was clear that reburying graves were prepared during the day before going to there so no question about those.

as for the boxes:
vaults? what the hell are you talking about? at least in my country everyone is burried in woden caskets that CAN be opened with hand. also from what i know they used to bury people in wooden boxes back in the beginning fo the 20th century, which is when those people supposedly died according to dates on the graves. (if you catch a glimpse of the 1890-1926 and so on)

though i agree with you that the caskets do rot over a long period, however the design can withstand a lot of pressure and it would not cave in, at least not at first.

----------
"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire

[–] dayvit78 8 years ago

I'd like to help settle this debate. There was a Mythbusters episode about this - they found it actually didn't take too long to dig a grave (well a shallow one), but they were demotivated by the fact that while it took them hours and hours of backbreaking work, a backhoe could do the same job in 5 minutes.

Hope someone can share the link so we can settle the time question.