Product Details

• Actors: Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel, Peggy Maurer, Howard Smith, Herbert Anderson
• Directors: Albert Band
• Writers: Louis Garfinkle
• Producers: Albert Band, Louis Garfinkle
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: United Artists
• VHS Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Run Time: 76 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792845587
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #375,811 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Newly appointed cemetery chairman Robert Craft (Richard Boone) notices some odd things about his new post: a creepy sense of déjà vu, an inability to get heat in the caretaker's shack, and Andy the caretaker's Scottish accent, one of the thickest in all cinematic history. Craft soon discovers to his horror that sticking pins into his map of the cemetery seems to make people die. As if this weren't bad enough, no one believes him. As Craft grows more and more distraught, his forehead covered in some of the most brightly glistening sweat you've ever seen, people keep trying to prove it's all a coincidence by getting him to stick more and more pins in the map. Though hilariously overwrought, I Bury the Living does take a couple of nice creepy twists at the end. Never before has a movie so eloquently made the case for keeping cemetery records in a text-only database. --Ali Davis

Product Description

Edgar Allan Poe would have truly appreciated this "crisp little chiller" (Leonard Maltin) howlingly haunted with "dire happenings and eerie effects bound to please the spook set" (The Film Daily). Starring rugged Hollywood leading man Richard Boone (TV's "Have Gun Will Travel") and folk singer Theodore Bikel as a dynamic duo of death, this electrifying shocker may send you to an early grave ? if it's not already occupied.When a cemetery director (Boone) puts pins on a map of empty graves, the grave owners mysteriously die, driving the director crazy and real estate prices sky-high. But there is something more devilishly demented behind the deaths ? and digging for answers uncovers a most horrifying climax.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cult Classic, Not to Be Missed!, August 9, 1999

By 

Mark Savary "moon_city" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Bury the Living [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This one is a real puzzler, and I was caught off-guard at the end. It's surprisingly good for a low budget horror film, going for the brain rather than the jugular.

The film is a horror/psychological thriller. Richard Boone plays a man who is part of a trustee group. Part of the duties of the members is to take turns overseeing a private cemetery.

Boone finds a map in the cemetery office that shows the occupied and unoccupied plots marked with white or black pins.

Boone discovers that when he places a black pin in a plot that is unoccupied, the owner dies. Is Boone going mad, or does he really have the power to bury the living?

This is an entertaining film, very creative and stylized. Boone often said it was his personal favorite, and he was proud to have worked on the film.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pin me!, March 12, 2003

By 

Robert S. Clay Jr. (St. Louis, MO., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Bury the Living (DVD)

Bob Kraft (Richard Boone) believes there is a sinister relationship between a string of recent deaths and black pins in a map of cemetery plots. This movie is an intriguing blend of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock. Kraft, the innocent man caught in what appears to be a supernatural conundrum, suffers the torments of the damned. Each black pin he sticks in the map causes another person to die, or so he thinks. Boone is effective as a bewildered victim, caught in a web of mystery, a contrast to his tough guy roles. Take special notice of the large map on the wall of the caretaker's cottage. It is the mute monster of our story. White pins mean that the plot is sold, but not yet occupied. Black pins mean that the dear departed has, well, departed. Switching the pins before death appears to hasten the process. Hence, the mystery. The roads of the map twist, turn, and curve until they resemble a disjointed human face that sneers at the puny man. Kraft alerts the police that he is responsible for the recent deaths, but the cops are skeptical. The deceased people expired from natural causes. Classic TV fans will recognize Herbert Anderson (Henry Mitchell of "Dennis the Menace") as an owlish reporter. This little thriller is a classic horror gem. The presentation is low budget, but the result is superior. Ownership is a definite must. ;-)

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all-time favorite obscure movies, June 7, 2000

By 

Steven W. Hill "Owner of shillpages.com" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Bury the Living [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I BURY THE LIVING stars Richard Boone as a new cemetery caretaker who believes the cemetery plot map has ... special properties. The map shows all the plots, with a black pin indicating the plot is occupied and a white pin indicating the plot is reserved. Boone accidentally puts in black pins when a young couple make their plot arrangements, and the couple's subsequent tragic death seriously shakes him. He begins to obsess about the map, and eventually wonders what will happen if he replaces a black pin with a white one...

A fairly average story (admittedly rather "Twilight Zone" in style) is lifted immeasurably by the incredibly creative and imaginative cinematography and production design. As the map and its powers loom larger and larger in Boone's mind, so too does the map itself grow in size, eventually dominating the caretaker's office like a giant cyclopean seeing-eye. The imagery presented in the film is unforgettable.

I almost hesitate to mention the slightly disappointing ending because (A) it's really not THAT disappointing, and (B) it's so much fun getting there. This new release marks the first time the movie's been available in an VHS-SP edition (earlier video editions have been a fair VHS-EP copy and an excellent laserdisc). Now that it's readily available in a good edition for a small amount of money, you owe it to your collection and to your B-movie-loving self to see this overlooked gem!