** this review contains moderate spoilers throughout **
Dead & Buried doesn't fit neatly into horror's plot-based subgenres: despite year-of-release, it's not a slasher. The undead are represented, but it's not exactly a zombie movie. A weird tale set in New England, it's arguably Lovecraftian.
On the extras, Dan O'Bannon admits he wrote little of the film, his name used for marketing purposes. In any case, the nebulous story is excuse for remarkable craft, especially the direction, cinematography, and practical effects (by Stan Winston). Gary Sherman's follow-up to the legendary Death Line is oneiric and rapturous as any Mario Bava film. It also evokes Salem's Lot (1979), The Beyond, Twin Peaks and the grindhouse aesthetic.
Sherman and company made economical use of a cast better known (ultimately) for television: James Farentino (Dynasty, Melrose Place), Jack Albertson (Chico and the Man), Melody Anderson (St. Elsewhere, Jake and the Fatman). Lisa Blount (cult series Profit) makes an impression, especially in the knockout opening scene, and Robert Englund appears, pre-Freddy. Cinematographer Steven Poster would shoot the TV movies Mysterious Two and Testament, and theatrical films such as those of Richard Kelly, including Donnie Darko, also about the seductiveness of death.
Where Europe is haunted by the Black Death, colonialism, and the Holocaust, America has its own ghosts rattling chains in the national attic. U.S. horror references slavery, if obliquely, as with this film's serial victims, and maritime references including a foghorn. The maritime theme is present in such movies as The Uninvited, Night Tide, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Mist, and monster movies such as King Kong and Jaws.
A film maudit, Dead & Buried was itself buried, reportedly by studio bankruptcy. While perhaps not a classic, it's evidence of what's been lost for today's iPhone eyesores (everything's gray -- no long shots -- "progress"). By turns lush and gory, Dead & Buried is ideal for high-performance blu-ray.
Dead & Buried doesn't fit neatly into horror's plot-based subgenres: despite year-of-release, it's not a slasher. The undead are represented, but it's not exactly a zombie movie. A weird tale set in New England, it's arguably Lovecraftian.
On the extras, Dan O'Bannon admits he wrote little of the film, his name used for marketing purposes. In any case, the nebulous story is excuse for remarkable craft, especially the direction, cinematography, and practical effects (by Stan Winston). Gary Sherman's follow-up to the legendary Death Line is oneiric and rapturous as any Mario Bava film. It also evokes Salem's Lot (1979), The Beyond, Twin Peaks and the grindhouse aesthetic. |
| "you might feel a prick" (Lisa Blount) |
Where Europe is haunted by the Black Death, colonialism, and the Holocaust, America has its own ghosts rattling chains in the national attic. U.S. horror references slavery, if obliquely, as with this film's serial victims, and maritime references including a foghorn. The maritime theme is present in such movies as The Uninvited, Night Tide, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Mist, and monster movies such as King Kong and Jaws.
A film maudit, Dead & Buried was itself buried, reportedly by studio bankruptcy. While perhaps not a classic, it's evidence of what's been lost for today's iPhone eyesores (everything's gray -- no long shots -- "progress"). By turns lush and gory, Dead & Buried is ideal for high-performance blu-ray.