Dead & Buried is a horror movie from 1981, the film was also on the British video nasty list. But somehow on its release this movie wasn’t such a big hit, but it got a cult following. I had already seen Dead & Buried before with a friend. But I loved this film so much and Carola hadn’t seen it. And since we were going to meet Robert Englund at Amsterdam Comic Con we decided to buy this DVD on marktplaats (kind of the Dutch eBay). I wanted to get this specific edition very bad and I’m really glad I did. I got the 2 disc special edition released by Anchor Bay.
The movie takes place in a small coastal village called Potters Bluff. The movie opens with a scene were a photographer is taken pictures of a woman . But soon the towns people show up and the photographer is beaten and gets burned alive. This opening of the film is so heavy and sets the tone immediately I think. After that more tourist are getting killed. Sheriff Dan Gilles (James Farentino) starts to investigate the murders with the help of mortician William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson). But more strange seem to be going on in the once quite town. The dead don’t seem to be dead at all.
I think the movie is kind of hard to describe. It may sound like a typical zombie movie, but it’s not. I don’t even think it actually is a zombie film. I guess you just have to see it to know what I mean ;). I honestly don’t get why this movie isn’t more well known. I think it is an absolute classic an deserves more attention than it has already gotten. The movie is very suspenseful, the story just kept me on the edge of my seat the entire movie even the second time watching it. It has great atmosphere and some great special effects. Though the movie is very gory at some times this isn’t what this movie keeps going. The acting is also just great James Farentino does an excellent job at portraying the local Sherriff. He gets sucked into these murder cases and you see him almost going mad at times. Also Jack Albertson who plays the mortician is just phenomenal. He is just so strange and has something about him you can quite grasp. And like I said before even Robert Englund (for those who don’t know is best known for his role as Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films) has a small role in it as one of the towns people.
I have to mention the special effects in this film. Stan Winston did the makeup effects on this one. He also did makeup effects in Aliens, Terminator 2, Batman Returns, Pearl Harbor and many more. The effects and makeup are just simply amazing and very creative. I love that the movie doesn’t rely on special effects but are there to give the film this extra touch. The film also has a great soundtrack with very eerie music which was always very suitable to the setting.
Anchor Bay did an excellent job on this one. The picture and sound quality are just great. Also nice to see that the movie is released in its original aspect ratio (16 x 9 Anamorphic 1:85:1). You can also watch the film with 2 different audio commentary tracks. One with director Gary A. Sherman and one with Co-writer/Co-producer Ronald Shusett and actress Linda Turley. I haven’t watched it with any of the audio commentaries so I don’t know how they are like. The second this has some nice features I contains 3 videos/interviews each about 15 minutes . The first one is an interview with Stan Winston who did the makeup effects. He talks a bit about his history with makeup effects and how some of the effects on Dead & Buried are done. The second is an interview with Robert Englund were he talks about his role in this film and the film itself. The third video is an interview with Dan O’Bannon who did the screen play, he talks how the movie came about and his thoughts about it. The disc also contains 2 trailers and 1 teaser. And also biographies of some of the cast & crew. Also there are 2 still galleries, one with pictures from the film and the other one with pictures from the film’s locations. The extras were all new extras and I think are a great addition. The DVD also comes with a 2 page booklet with some insights on the film. You can see that Anchor Bay has a lot of love for this movie.
To me this movie is just an absolute classic and a must have for any horror movie fan out there. Although it’s more of mixture of thriller and horror actually. I you haven’t seen it go watch it NOW!! I you want to buy the DVD buy this one, NOW!!!! ;)
Write a comment
Ree (Sunday, 25 September 2016 16:46)
I'm such a snob when it comes to old films!!! I love horror/thriller/sci fi but always skip the film if it was made before 2000!! Unless of course I know of the film from my childhood days . I've never even heard of this film but I'm going to see if I can find it and watch it! Ree love30
Ruxandra (Sunday, 25 September 2016 16:53)
I love this type of movies! How did I not hear about it until now? It's perfect for a night in!
Anna Nuttall (Sunday, 25 September 2016 18:31)
I never heard of this film before, sound horrific - just the title sound horrific. It does look an interesting film. xx
miera (Sunday, 25 September 2016 23:50)
I cannot believe I have not yet heard of this movie... but with your review like you mention I thought it was a Zombie movie... which the latest I watched was the top rated Korean one, Train to Busan, but you said it is not a zombie film... and this sparked up my curiousity even further... I definitely have to go and find a copy of this to watch... hahaha
Sandra (Monday, 26 September 2016 00:01)
I've never heard of this movie before. The title is quite frightening, which also makes exciting.
ROBERT LEE (Monday, 26 September 2016 09:58)
It has been nearly 3 decades ago I think when I saw this movie. I don't remember much at all today. I do remember the title. This was a time when many movies were in the horror genre. One of them that I liked so much then was the Evil Dead. After that, there were so many copycats. I am digressing here, but I though Evil Dead set a new tone where besides the usual horror stuff, there were funny moments.
Back to Buried Alive. Notice how the movie was meant to scare you more than having a plot that makes you wonder and think?
Berlin domingo (Monday, 26 September 2016 14:07)
Haha. Seems like a nice flick to watch while the boys are at school. Funny that when I gave birth to my son a year ago, i cant remember anymore watching dvds or opening the television to watch. My hands are always full taking care of the little boy or the mama is sleeping together with the little boy. Anyway, i would want to see for myself if i could get scared. Sometimes, i just want to watch scary movies just to be scared. Ihihi. Weird but so me.
blairvillanueva (Monday, 26 September 2016 14:38)
You are right, I must see this classic horror movie and should be the judge. I haven't watch a real horrific movie recently, and would be perfect!
Tina von S (Monday, 26 September 2016 16:19)
Never heard of it, but to be honest I don't watch much movies. Maybe one or two a month and I don't watch horrors as much. But maybe I should give this movie a go.
Tina von S | http://lifestylerookie.com/
maikel (Monday, 26 September 2016 18:31)
I've never heard of this movie before. That probably is because I am such a baby and don't even dare to watch such movies! They really freak me out haha! Besides that i wasn't even born that year. I love how you put together your posts, it looks really good and informative!
sabine (Monday, 26 September 2016 18:46)
you must love horror movies. Every time I visit your page you have another scary movie. The title says it all. Not something I would watch, but reading the story here, makes me think like, maybe I should try it out at least. However, zombies... seems so scary haha! Great review!
Marge (Tuesday, 27 September 2016 01:26)
I have never seen this film before, or maybe I did but I was too young to remember. The opening as you described it is pretty heavy though, but I wanna see it. I am into films like these actually and it'd be interesting to see a classic. I'm curious about the zombies that may not be zombies. I gotta see this movie soon.
martin ralph (Tuesday, 27 September 2016 16:25)
This is a great movie,, low budget,, but has a great story line,, it was produced by Dan o"bannon(alien™);;a great cult classic that deserves better praise than people think,, ☺☺
Gabrielle Crystal RoseBonniee ~ (Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:45)
Hmmm .. I don´t know why that much but I´m really scared to watch horrors. I´m even afraid of horror gifs xD I can´t sleep when I see something like this. I was looking for some pictures from this movie and I had enough when I saw that "mummy" on the bed. So no, I´ll pass but I wil recommend this one to my friend! ʕ•͡ᴥ•ʔ
Sumita (Saturday, 01 October 2016 05:40)
Watching or reading horror gives me nightmares! You seem to love them though.. Anyway I love your reviews.. :)