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7
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10 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
Something
strange is happening in the foggy northeastern coastal town
of Potters Bluff. A vacationing photographer (Christopher Allport)
is snapping shots on the local beach when he's interrupted by
a beautiful barefoot girl (Lisa Blount). She flirts shamelessly
with him, captivating him completely until a group of people
attacks him from behind. The disparate group beat him mercilessly,
ties him to a post on the beach and burns him with a can of
gasoline. That night the photographer's body turns up in his
wrecked microbus on a nearby road. He appears dead until the
local mortician/coroner William Dobbs (Jack Albertson) touches
him and the hideously charred body screams in pain. Sheriff
Dan Gillis' (James Farentino) investigation finds that the victim
was checked into a local hotel and that the sheriff's own wife
had visited the man the day before. Gillis' wife Janet (Flash
Gordon's Melody Anderson) explains that she was buying photo
equipment for her grade school class from the man; when her
story doesn't gibe with the school's principal the lawman begins
to doubt her. The poor photographer barely has time to come
out of his coma before his beach seductress slips into his hospital
room and finishes him off for good. Faster than you can say
'murder-crazed mob' another visitor to the area is attacked
and viciously killed by folks that appear to be normal members
of the community. When this body turns up, Gillis knows he definitely
has a murderer on his hands and is starting to think the two
dead bodies must be related. To complicate matters, Gillis hits
a pedestrian with his truck on a late night patrol. Horrified
that he may have killed someone, the sheriff's even more stunned
when the person's severed arm takes on a life of its own and
the fellow pops up and runs off... pausing only to retrieve
the missing limb! When particles of the arm test as dead flesh
at least three months old, Gillis begins to question Dobbs about
the possibility of reanimating corpses. Dobbs scoffs at the
notion. Then a murdered hitchhiker's corpse disappears from
the mortuary and the photographer's body goes missing from his
coffin. A supernatural explanation seems to be more and more
likely...
Almost
completely missed in its original theatrical run, Dead
& Buried is one of the lesser known cult horror films
of the '80s. Its reputation has grown slowly over the past 20
years by virtue of repeated cable broadcasts and its single
VHS release. Like most of the film's fans I caught up with it
on HBO in the early '80s and rented the videotape from my local
video store repeatedly. I will never forget the shock of the
last image of the film, one that turns a solid little horror
movie into a near classic. The film is very well produced on
nearly every level with good to great performances, creepy cinematography
and a screenplay that knows just how much not to say! Director
Gary Sherman proves himself to be quite adept at blending the
small town New England feel and the undead creepiness to make
a smooth and frighteningly different zombie story. His use of
long, single takes and odd camera placement always enhances
the terror and dark humor. His choice to keep red out of the
film's color palette is very effective, as is the slightly retro
look of much of the town. Potters Bluff feels like a contemporary
town most of the time but every now and then a vintage detail
will make the place seem adrift somewhere in the mid-1950s.
Of course, knowing that this was Jack Albertson's last film
always make me a little sad. Not because Dead
& Buried isn't a good movie, but because he's so
much fun here that it would've been great to have him reprise
the role. In one of the extras in this set Robert Englund mentions
that Dobbs the mortician could've been a franchise character
much like Freddy Kruger. I agree. He certainly has a much more
interesting motivation than some other sequelized boogeymen,
but looking at the diminishing returns for the Tall Man character
in the Phantasm movies maybe it's
best that the film flopped. Strangely the two roles I'll always
remember Jack Albertson for are Uncle Charlie in Willy
Wonka And The Chocolate Factory and this one — saint
and sinner.
I've been such a fan of Dead
& Buried for so long that it was a shock to hear
director Sherman talk about his disappointment with the way
it turned out. On his commentary track with BU's David Gregory,
he explains that originally there was much more black comedy
in the film. He points out how much of the humor was removed,
more gore was added and several scenes rearranged to meet the
requirements of the money people. It's a shame that even though
Sherman put together his own cut of the film, the print was
destroyed so that the distributors wouldn't have to spend money
to keep both versions. It's enough to make a film nut cry! To
think there was an even more unusual version of this dark little
gem, one we'll never get to see, is a bit like getting poked
through the eye with a long needle. Still, Dead
& Buried is a great little movie. Shrouded in fog,
cloaked in mystery and haunted by the sounds of Dobbs' beloved
Big Band music, Potters Bluff is a place I love to visit...
even if I
wouldn't want to live there.
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Blue
Underground's 2-DVD set of Dead & Buried
is a dream come true for fans. Disc 1 has the film looking the
best I've ever seen it. Letterboxed at 1.85:1, it looks very good
even though the dark, foggy ambiance of the film sometimes gives
it a fuzzy appearance. There are four (count 'em) audio
options, from a 5.1 Surround remix all the way down to the original
Mono soundtrack! And then there are three different commentary
tracks! The first is the aforementioned director's discussion
(which is very eye-opening) but just as interesting is producer/writer
Ron Shusset's track accompanied by his wife Linda Turley. Having
her along is a nice plus, as she played one of the more memorable
townsfolk in the film and has some nice tales to tell. The third
track has director of photography Steve Poster giving a fairly
technical scene by scene look at how the movie was shot. He explains
the use of diffusion in the lighting to get the 'fuzzy' look of
the images and describes a few shots that unfortunately didn't
make the final cut. On top of all this, Disc 1 is filled out with
three trailers and a lengthy still and poster gallery. Disc 2
has three short interviews with Stan Winston, Robert Englund and
Dan O'Bannon. These are great, with O'Bannon's piece being the
most interesting to me. He discusses his feelings about the horror
genre and how he thinks scary pictures should be crafted. Winston
talks about the effects work and the processes involved in getting
the best end product on screen. Luckily Sherman explains in his
commentary that Stan wasn't responsible for the one truly bad
FX moment in the film and Winston breezes right past it. Robert
Englund speaks about his small but effective part in Dead
& Buried and has several sharp comments on the film
and the genre. Topping off the extras is a gallery of Steve Poster's
location stills taken in and around Mendocino, CA where the bulk
of the movie was lensed.
This
is much more of a 'special edition' of this film than I thought
I would EVER see. When I first heard the details of this amazing
set I thought I was having a vivid dream, because there could
be no way that this film could get the full 5-star DVD treatment.
But true to the hype Blue Underground has put together one of
the single best DVD releases ever for a little-known film. This
set is fantastic — even the packaging is beautiful, with the discs
in a tri-fold sleeve encased in a glossy slipcover. This is why
I love the DVD format! Blue Underground is quickly becoming the
gold standard for genre DVD releases. 8/09/03 |
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