The Premature Burial

source: The Premature Burial

Trailer—The Premature Burial

The Premature Burial

PREMATURE BURIAL stars Ray Milland as Guy Carrell, who suffers from an inordinate fear of being buried alive. According to Guy, his ancestors died, only after catalepsy rendered them motionless, yet alive in their coffins! Guy's fiancee, Emily Gault (Hazel Court), tries to convince him that his alleged "family curse" is a mere fantasy. Soon after their marriage, the trouble begins. When Guy comes up with a solution to his particular problem, it seems more insane -or perhaps brilliant- than his affliction. In spite of this, he only grows more paranoid. Is Guy succumbing to the curse, or is something more sinister afoot? Another great Poe adaptation from Director Roger Corman, Milland fills in nicely in a role that would typically be played by Vincent Price. Packed with gloomy, fog-shrouded sets and Gothic chills, PB delivers the shivers. EXTRA POINTS FOR: The hellish dream sequence and fiendish finale! Watch for Dick Miller in a ghoulish role...

This is the only film in Corman's Poe cycle without Vincent Price. He chose instead Ray Milland as the man haunted by fear of being buried alive. In fact Milland portrays the protagonist more "seriously" than Price would have, or more "realisticaly". This is a good film for those who like the subject. Some critics have talked about films filled with fascination with death, quoting some times "Obsession" by Brian de Palma, for example. But if there is a "necrophiliac" film ever, this is "Premature Burial". Loosely based in Edgar Allan Poe's unfilmable tale, it has a magnificent plot and many hints and blinks. It is a disturbing film, too. Its atmosphere is perfectly gloomy. Milland seems genuinely tormented by his fears, and he delivers some modified Poe lines with intensity. I think that this picture is in the better half of the Poe cycle, and has a particular quality of its own.

With Vincent Price busy elsewhere, Roger Corman shoveled the dirt on Ray Milland for this adaptation of Poe's "The Premature Burial." A bit too mature for the role, Milland nonetheless gives a good account of himself as an artist convinced that he'll meet the same fate as many of his ancestors by being buried alive. This movie offers some fairly useful tips for those who have a similar fear, but after watching it you might agree with me that cremation is the way to go. Corman keeps things nice and creepy throughout, and your skin is sure to crawl at the appropriate moments. This is no match for the director's magnificent "Pit and the Pendulum," but it's an above-average horror flick recommended for everyone but the ghouls employed in the funeral industry.

This is a fun story if one doesn't think too much. Ray Milland stands in for Corman's usual suffering protagonist, Vincent Price. Milland lives with catalepsy, which makes a person appear dead, even if he is not. He lives in abject fear of being buried alive. He then builds a state of the art crypt with numerous fail-safe devices that can be employed if he finds himself in his suspended state. It seems if he could just get someone to leave him on a shelf if they think he is dead, it would work out better. Hazel Court plays his suffering wife. He is a true nut who believes his father had been buried alive, even though his sister tells him that is not so. The thing is that there are so many things that happen, as we reach a conclusion, that require some big time suspension of disbelief. Still, it's quite entertaining watching Milland being dragged down by his fears.

This is an excellent horror movie.To be buried alive is a fear we all share ,and although it's not really new (outside Poe's obsession there's a sequence in Dreyer's "Vampyr") ,it's terribly effective. Ray Milland portrays a man whose obsession knows no bound.His mausoleum which he shows to a distraught wife and to his good sensible friend and the nightmare are worth the price of admission.The foggy ghastly atmosphere -pure English sixties studios - adds to the almost unbearable suspense.The screenplay,which,like all the other Corman's adaptations ,is rather far from Poe's short novel,is full of good ideas (the undertakers whistling a gentle tune when they open a grave,the cat,the unexpected final twist which is quite successful). "Premature Burial" is to be recommended to horror movies buffs. The fear of being buried alive never came to an end ;two examples "Oxygen" featuring Adrian Brody and "Spoorlos" (aka "L'Homme Qui Voulait Savoir")