Video Nasty - Dead And Buried

Dead And Buried

1981

Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance

Embassy Pictures / Vestron Video / Blue Underground

7.5 / 10

Oh my God, this was so nearly a perfect horror film...  So what went wrong?

This starts off brilliantly with the titles which give the audience the feel of a classy and elegant movie.  This is a bold move for a horror but the director, Gary Sherman knew exactly what he was doing.  Sherman continues this ambiance into the opening scene of a photographer snapping piccies of driftwood and fishing tackle.  He is joined on the beach by the beautiful Lisa (played by Lisa Blount) and after a few flirtations she removes her blouse and asks if she could be a model.  As the photographer closes in for a romantic clinch...

This is when all hell breaks loose...  I cannot say anything else otherwise "Spoilers" - and we don't like them do we.

The opening sequence does a fantastic job of drawing in the viewer in and making them wonder just what the hell is going on in the little seaside village of Potter's Bluff.  It's up to Sheriff Dan Gillis (strongly portrayed by James Farentino) to solve the murders and the mysteries behind them.  Coroner William G Dobbs (splendidly played by Jack Albertson) is helping him with his investigations.  These are the main two characters in the movie and are well crafted with their own personal attributes and qualities making them likable and relatable.

The writers, Jeff Millar, Alex Stern, who wrote the story based on a Chelsea Quinn Yarbro novel, and screenwriters Ronald Shusett and the skillful Dan O'Bannon, give the Zombie mythos a new spin.  Along with special effects wizard Stan Winston they all create a tangible tension and eeriness that adds to the power and atmosphere of the movie.

Then the reveal comes... 

...and everything falls apart.

Suddenly the strong personality of Sheriff Gillis becomes that of a screaming and wailing weak-willed person; the off-beat Dodds becomes comically insane; Gillis' wife Janet (played by Melody Anderson) falls apart mentally; and the story ends with a whimper rather than a scream.  This ending makes a brilliant movie a mess and a shambles.

However, it's still worth watching for the earlier part of the film and not the last ten minutes.  I now want to find a copy of the novel to read to see if this ending is also the book's finale... it may work better in words and in imagination than it does on film.