Sadly Over-hyped

Nice effects though.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Don't Believe the Hype

This 1981 horror film stars James Farentino, Melody Anderson and Jack Albertson. This takes place in small town, Potters Bluff where the residents are not who they seem. When strangers turn up dead, local sheriff, Dan Gillis (Farentino) starts to investigate and discovers that various townspeople look like the murdered victims. Anderson (Flash Gordon) plays Dan's wife, Janet who is a school teacher and the late, Albertson (The Poseidon Adventure, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory) plays mortician, William Dobbs. Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Currie (Halloween III) and the late, Lisa Blount (Prince of Darkness) are also featured. This is a good horror flick with twisted moments that combines aspects of "The Fog" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" plus there's a scene that "Halloween III" kind of imitates. Fans of the genre may want to check this one out.

Oh man, I loved this little gem so much. Dead & Buried was only director Gary Sherman's second feature film (after 1972's Death Line) and it is the perfect story of a sleepy coastal town harboring a dark secret. Reminiscent of some of John Carpenter's best work (in particular, of course, The Fog), it manages such an awesome combination of claustrophobic mood, competent acting, interesting characters, and enough of a science fiction-y plot (and special effects) that it's amazing that this movie never saw the fame it deserved.It follows Dan Gillis (James Farentino), sheriff of the small town of Potter's Bluff, as he investigates a series of grisly murders. The crimes already belie the tight-knit community, but he becomes more perplexed when it not only seems like his wife may be involved in what's going on, but that the victims seem to be reappearing, alive and well...** SPOILERS! **This was kind of a perfect film for me because I feel like it did such a great job at blending all of the qualities I typically love about horror films. It had strong acting (sure, not equally strong from every single character, but all of the main actors were great, plus we get to see Robert Englund in his pre-Freddie days!), memorable characters, shocking moments that were spread out enough to not lose their effect, some awesome special effects and gory moments, and a fantastic twist ending (that genuinely surprised me).The local coroner-mortician, known as Dobbs (Jack Albertson in his final role), is easily the most captivating character of the whole bunch (he's more famously known for his role as Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory). His love of big band music is a central role - his first scene, driving along the winding road with music pouring from the open windows of his car, is great, but my favorite has to be him putting a record on with a careful, gloved hand before slowly dancing his way across the room to a body, ready to be embalmed. He views his job as an art - "A cosmetologist gives birth; I make souvenirs" - and, in many ways, himself as a god of sorts. In one scene, he's annoyed with Dan for not finding the car crash victim's family because it meant they couldn't ask him to "perform his magic". He thinks it's more obscene for a body to wither away in a casket than for him to preserve the memory of that human being. It's admirable, in a way, and it makes his character just fascinating to watch.As I mentioned, the claustrophobic feeling of the town is ever-present, due in part to Steven Poster's cinematography (who would later become better known as the director of photography for Donnie Darko). There are some truly fantastic shots, one of my favorites being the townspeople approaching the lost family - the mob of them, moving slowly as they are silhouetted in the fog, was standout to say the least. Dan coming in to the morgue to find Dobbs watching videos of various murders - victims he reanimated - projected all over the walls is absolutely awesome.The score - by Joe Renzetti (who would go on to score Child's Play) - is so sorrowful, so haunting. It's perfect. I'm usually happy with music that at least just doesn't distract from the film, but the theme song in particular adds such a degree of moodiness.The special effects weren't over the top but they definitely stand out among some of the cheesiness of 80s horror, like the charred man in the car SCREAMING when he was touched - oof, so good - or "Lisa" putting a needle through our poor photographer's eye. I also really liked the severed arm moving on its own on front of car, clenching its fist repeatedly, as well as Dobbs stripping the hitchhiker girl's face down to skull and rebuilding from the ground up.I loved the feeling of the town sort of breaking down all at once - Dan catching the high school kid who worked at the mortuary applying concealer to his arm, us seeing the man behind the counter's fist cracking as the sheriff picked up his film. Seeing the sheriff go from suspecting a crazed killer to starting to suspect everyone around him - including his wife - is pretty intense.And really, the entire climax of the movie was just... perfect. Janet rattling off options for dinner as Dobbs explains how the only memories she has are the ones he gives her, and how she was a gift to Dan... Dobbs welcoming death ("You will try to kill me, Dan, but you can't. You can only make me dead.") so he can join his "children"... Janet begging Dan to bury him. It was dramatic and heartbreaking (a tearful Dan burying Jan - and watching her pull handfuls of dirt over her own face - was just... wow) and almost suffocating (the entire town coming over, one by one, to drop flowers and well wishes at her grave, to Dan's horror) and I was on the edge of my seat and then THAT TWIST ENDING! Just... too good. TOO GOOD.Seriously, don't sleep on this one. It's freaking incredible.

First off, i really like fun cheesy 80s horror. The kind that you can pop in and relax with, but this film just had too much negatives for me to enjoy it without being taken out of it constantly. Even though i don't regret sitting down and watching it, i do think this film is really poorly written. And these guys wrote Alien! That was the unexpected twist that really worked!The pacing is fine, but the direction was pretty bad and the plot was amazingly predictable. Besides the fact that for most of the film, every time its night time you cant see worth sh!t. There are some well utilized camera movements, but its mostly amateurish. The acting is... okay. And I'm speaking mainly because of the main character. The rest? Not so much.In the end, i can see how people find this film enjoyable. I have my fair share of guilty pleasures, but this just wasn't that kind of material for me. 5.5/10

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 .