Dead & Buried

source: Dead & Buried

If there is one type of horror movie I absolutely love (besides zombie movies) it is the ones with the mysterious towns with dreadful secrets ones. This one features such a town, in it everything seems to be rather ordinary. Except, of course, when out of towners come through. They end up dead, usually by some very gruesome methods (that acid death for instance). Not to mysterious or strange, except later these people who have been slain end up being part of the town. They appear at their school desk in one instance seemingly unaware that they were in fact killed. This movie is just cool. I really enjoy it and anytime I see it on I have to watch it. The ending when I first saw it as a kid totally threw me, though I probably would have figured it out if I first saw it today. Mainly because of all the horrors released recently where there are surprise endings. For my money though this one is a lot better and actually has people being killed.

Recently I rented 'Bleeders', one of director Gary Sherman's newer films, and remembered this movie from my past while reviewing it. So, I dug through our video collection until I found it. 'Dead & Buried' is a surprisingly good movie. Released in the time where there was either one murderous main person (Freddy/Jason/Micheal Myers) or a strange pervert slaying half naked teenage girls (Slumber Party Massacre, among others), it was a surprise to see a large group of people get in on the killings. This somewhat original idea is probably one of the most appealing points of the film. The story goes somewhat like this: strangers keep on getting killed as soon as they show up in the small town in which the movie is set. The local sheriff is somewhat baffled about what's going on -- he's a new cop, so he isn't used to dealing with murders. All this time everyone's acting a little strange: his wife seems to be developing a strange addiction for voodoo and the local mortician seems to enjoy preparing bodies for burial a little too much. When the cop finally starts to realize what's going on, he learns why his town is a little different than most other ones. Any horror fan would enjoy 'Dead & Buried'. It's should be known as one of the few horror movies from the early eighties that doesn't make you want to crack up laughing. Zombie film fans would probably find it quite interesting as well, as long as they don't expect the run of the mill green skinned 'Bloodsuckers from Outer Space' zombies.

Gary Sherman's film Dead & Buried, from a script by Alien writers Ron Shusset and (the late) Dan O'Bannon, is a strange creature of a movie. It's meant to reel in the horror movie crowd, but it's for a crowd of another time period. That is, at least, the filmmaker's intention, and it's the kind of horror movie that might have been made in the 40's (maybe Val Lewton would've produced it, though probably never showing a death on screen), and has a mad mortician, calmly and chillingly played by Jack ("Grandpa Joe" from Willy Wonka) Albertson, bringing back people from the dead and having those dead go after tourists or passerbys who have the dumb luck to travel into town. Sometimes the gore is meant to be emphasized, like with the death of the fisherman or the doctor who gets acid poured on him. The latter of these is a terrible scene, not just because Stan Winston wasn't involved in the effect (you can tell), but because it's done too much and the camera lingers a little too long. Dead & Buried is helped by it being surreal: the opening scene where the guy is photographing on the beach, comes across the woman and starts to take pictures "for Playboy" and then is overcome by a horde of people also flashing pictured and filming and is killed by fire, is something out of a pure nightmare (you almost expect someone to wake up, but no one does). When it sticks to this dead-undead thing, of the hints at witchcraft and the eerie performances by the Sheriff's wife and some of the townspeople like Robert Englund, make it worthwhile. Dead & Buried is not what you expect, which is a good and not-so-good thing. It's low-budget and atmospheric, and its ending is a bit of a WTF twist that seems unnecessary. But there's a lot of interest here, a lot of weird effects with cameras and crowds of the undead. Just don't go expecting the usual flesh and guts show, despite what the film's own distributors thought at the time.

Neither an unappreciated masterpiece nor a forgotten gem, Dead and Buried is simply a pretty respectable old horror movie from 1981. The movie is less a plot than a figure-it-out. Early scenes have many visitors to the small town of Potter's Bluff being killed in fairly gruesome fashion by several assailants, and it is hardly a spoiler to say that several of these attackers are local citizens with standard day jobs, as this is also revealed almost instantly. The rest of the movie involves local Sheriff Dan Gillis and his efforts to work out who is responsible and why. That's really it... ... Really. Through the next hour or so you sorta already now how it will turn out, only a few clever but subtle changes come up meaning that even when you know what is going to happen, you almost don't. The acting is serviceable although some of the bit part characters overact fiercely at times, including the murdered fisherman who takes drunk acting to ludicrous levels. A very camp undertaker - Dobbs - has some left field opinions and is not afraid to share them with Dan, who grows increasingly confused as evidence piles up around him. I won't say what sub-genre of horror we are dealing with here, as even the most minor allusion will give away the whole movie. I can't be bothered whipping up another 600 words on a straightforward movie such as this so I won't. What we have here is a pretty basic scenario brightened up somewhat towards the end by several minor variations and twists, nothing like "Bruce Willis' wife dropping the Wedding ring" or "Samara crawling through the TV", but welcome additions to what would otherwise be a Twilight Zone episode nonetheless. Oh, and I don't think I could finish without mentioning Robert Englund of Freddie fame is in this, it's irrelevant though. Final Rating 6 / 10. Worth a look but it is obvious as to why this isn't mentioned in the same breath as The Exorcist or The Omen. If you liked this review (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com

In Potter's Bluff, a quiet coastal town in America, a photographer is seduced by a young woman but just as he is about to have sex with her on the beach, a bunch of local thugs turn up and burn him alive. But this horrific opening only turns out to be the tip of the iceberg, when a few scenes later the very same photographer is seen working at a local gas station - very alive, very happy, and with not a single burn scar on his body! The local cop finds it strange too; in fact, the whole town seems to be full of people who were dead recently and are now very much alive. There's even a character who loses an arm in a car accident, but simply picks up the severed limb and runs off.... apparently suffering from no pain at all! Dead & Buried has an enjoyably dumb resolution (I won't spoil things, but let's just say that the local mortician has been experimenting with the dead). It also has some genuinely effective scares and infrequent but powerful gore scenes. Leading actor James Farentino is a bit of a bore, but Jack Albertson is wonderful in an atypical role as the cranky old mortician. Stan Winston's makeup effects are suitably gruesome, and some of the killings are imaginatively handled. There are some logic loopholes, though, which seriously mar the film. The twist ending in which Farentino makes a chilling discovery about himself doesn't really make sense and is a good example of scripter's trying to be too smart for themselves - and merely tying themselves up into knots. However, misjudgements aside, Dead & Buried is a goofy and entertaining early '80s spine-tingler.

Excellent Twilight Zone-type thriller is a true gem among the many horror films of the '80's. In the quiet little New England town of Potters Bluff a series of inexplicably violent murders has been taking place. It's up to the local sheriff to solve the horrid crimes, but that's proving to be hard, especially since the murder victims seem to still be alive! Dead & Buried is an especially intriguing and well-crafted horror film. Director Sherman gives the film an ice-chilling, moody atmosphere. The filming locations are great, especially the rocky beaches used in the opening sequences. Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon's storyline is full of quiet uncertainty and over-whelming shocks! The music score is as wonderfully moody as the atmosphere. One true highlight of this film is its stars. James Farentino is perfect as the mystified sheriff Dan Gillis (likely named after screenwriter Dan O'Bannon). The lovely Melody Anderson is wonderfully believable as Gillis's wife. The late-great Jack Albertson (here in his final role) is awesome as the mortician Dobbs. Yet another highlight is the truly gory makeup FX of Stan Winston, which provides for more than one unforgettable moment in this film. Dead & Buried is simply a classic of modern horror and is too often over-looked for lesser films of its day. A must-see for horror and thriller fans. **** out of ****

Horror story full of tension, thrills , chills and restless terror. The writers of alien, Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon , bring a new bizarre terror to earth . Suspense/horror film set in a small coastal town in Rhode Island where, after a series of gory murders committed by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life . Bouts of insanity in the populace , realising a plague of murderous madness that are leading several grisly killings . In the little town some people begins to kill and rioting, and things really start going to hell with this sudden death-wave . The strange events drive its victims mad before killing them, with a difficult line between normal hysteria and actual insanity . Meanwhile the sheriff Gillis ( James Farentino married to Melody Anderson ) is investigating the weird deeds , but has no tracks to what's going on. Fortunately, the coastal small New England town has a magnificent mortician named William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson) , who is glad to take care of these deaths which is good for his business . The puzzling seems to be resolved at the creepy final packed with twists and turns . This one is of the highest earning horror movies of the 80s and contains a good cast as James Farentino , Melody Anderson and special mention to Jack Albertson as the mysterious undertaker . Furthermore , early apparition of the future terror icon as Robert Englund and film debut for Lisa Blount . It's a solid movie , a terror story plenty of suspense and intrigue in which the victims seem to be coming back to life. Film itself takes place from point of sight the sheriff and the mortician . The living dead appearance is the high point of the movie , they deliver the goods plenty of screams, shocks and tension . The horror moments are compactly made and fast moving . It packs tension, shocks, thrills, chills and lots of gore and blood . There's plenty of moments of gore and a number of scenes that are quite horrifying , resulting to be definitely the spotlight of the film the surprising ending . This gory chiller is well made by Gary A. Sherman . Gary is an expert on action genre as proved in ¨Wanted : dead or alive¨ , ¨Vice squad¨ and terror as ¨Death line¨ , ¨Poltergeister III¨ , and ¨Dead and buried¨ , this one is his best film . Rating : 6,5 , good horror movie .

Small-town sheriff investigates a series of strange murders (with the victims being mostly outsiders), and discovers that the corpses are being stolen from their graves and re-animated, forming an "army" of walking dead. A good premise, but it's undone by slow, labored direction and illogical plot twists. Some chilling moments, but on the whole an overrated film. (**)

Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino) has a nice life with his wife, the teacher Janet Gillis (Melody Anderson), in the small coastal and friendly town of Potter's Bluff. When visitors are mysterious killed in the town, Sheriff Gillis investigates the cases carefully and finds that dead people are reanimating and coming back to life. Dan finds a book of witchcraft and voodoo in his wife's drawer and he suspects that she might be practicing black magic. Dan meets the coroner-mortician William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson) and learns the dreadful and surprising secret. "Dead & Buried" is a cult-movie with a creepy atmosphere and a surprising end. The plot has flaws, with lack of explanation for many situations. Why should Dobbs let the sheriff investigate further and not disclose the truth about him in the beginning? My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Os Mortos Vivos" ("The Living Dead") Note: On 26 March 2015, I saw this film again. Note: On 10 Dec 2019, I saw this film again.