Just perfect...

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

"I Bury the Dead" is a cool horror tale that feels like a blown-up episode of "Tales From the Crypt".Robert Kraft (played by Western actor Richard Boone) gets a job as a caretaker of a cemetery where a detailed map provides the location of every burial plot. A white-headed pin shows that the owner of the plot is still among the living. A black-headed one means that the owner is now also the occupant.Kraft, by accident and on a whim, replaces some of the white pins with black ones, and begins to feel that the map has some supernatural power over life and death.I have said that the film feels like a blown up episode of a television show. This is not such a bad thing, as it would make for a good episode. Unfortunately it does drag on a little bit in places, and I couldn't help thinking it would have worked better as a short. Further, the ending is a little disappointing. It seems forced, to bring a conclusion to the supernatural theme that wasn't really necessary.

If this had come out just one year later, it could have made a great episode of "The Twilight Zone". The idea is certainly interesting, but at feature length the story feels padded and repetitive; after the third black pin and the third death we have already accepted the film's premise but Richard Boone keeps sticking the pins on the map, which would make more sense if his character turned evil, but he doesn't. Albert Band's direction is a plus: some of the visual effects he comes up with are ahead of their time. But the ending of the film is disappointing. It's a surprise, all right, but it's a bummer of a surprise. Not to mention that it doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. **1/2 out of 4.

Hugely effective, 50's B-horror from one of Hollywood's most prolific genre producers. Suspenseful, paranoiac and downright eerie, 'I Bury The Living' is everything one could wish for from a modestly budget horror quickie. Basic premise has Richard Boone's character discovering he literally has the power of life and death, via the implausible, but fun conceit of sticking pins into a well-worn cemetery schematic. It's the film's palpable sense of hysteria and claustrophobia that leaves such a deep and lasting impression; and while, Albert Band is clearly no Jacques Tourneur, Band still manages to eek out maximum mileage from such a simple, yet eerie premise.

Rugged TV star Richard Boone ('Have Gun, Will Travel') headlines this modest little chiller whose horrors are largely of the psychological variety. As written by Louis Garfinkle, and directed by Albert Band, it shows how the events of the story take their toll on the main character, and how he deteriorates physically and mentally. Band and company create some some good visual tricks and nice scene transitions as they establish a suitably creepy atmosphere.Boone plays Bob Kraft, a department store executive who as a tradition in his company assumes the duty of cemetery director for a year. He finds that he seems to have a power over life and death when it comes to the grave owners. On a map of the cemetery, white or black push pins mark graves either occupied (black) or designated for future use (white). When he puts the black push pins in, the owners of those graves mysteriously perish, and he comes to feel great guilt over this horrible ability he seems to have acquired.Granted, this film could have had even more punch had the filmmakers gone with the ending as scripted, which would have been more eerie and more in tone with the rest of the film. In the finished film, they make the unfortunate move of giving everything a "rational" explanation.The film is at its best when Boone is left alone to ponder the macabre situation in which he now finds himself; there is a strong point made in the script about the unknown powers of the mind. Boone is excellent in the lead, and receives sturdy support from a cast also including folk singer Theodore Bikel as amiable cemetery grounds keeper Andy McKee, Peggy Maurer as Bobs' girlfriend Ann Craig, Howard Smith as Bobs' concerned uncle George, Herbert Anderson as jovial reporter "Jess" Jessup, and Robert Osterloh as hard nosed police detective Lt. Clayborne.Clocking in at a trim 78 minutes, "I Bury the Living" just gets better as it goes along, with a superb climactic sequence of the weary Bob starting to succumb to guilt and terror, and discovering some nasty surprises in the cemetery. As has been said, this comes best recommended to people who like "thinking mans' horror films". It's both interesting and entertaining throughout.Seven out of 10.