Customer Reviews

I Bury the Living [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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. ;-)

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!

Hey you! (...) Remember the pseudo-butter popcorn, the syrupy fountain cokes, & hot dogs rotating on the bar grill, the school lunch style pizza slices? How about the playground in front of the giant screen, the terrible mosquitos, the choking smell of "OFF" bug repellant and the subtle scent of those citronella insence spirals they used to sell at the consession stand? And who could forget the stone parking lots, the metal speakers, & of course, depending on whether or not you were watching the movie, the steamed up with hot, sweaty sex, car windshields? Well, let this great Drive-In Disc series recreate those memorable nights at the Drive- Ins of yesteryear. This multi-volume DVD series is sure to bring back memories of those sweltering summer nights parked in front of the big screen. Each volume of this nostalgic series includes a complete double feature horror selections plus the great nostalgic, original drive-in extras that we all remember, such as cartoons, a countdown clock, all the concession stand ads, coming attractions, an intermission and much more! DISTORTO- sound is incorporated into these DVDs like, crunching gravel, cars passing by, crickets chirping, and tinny sounds coming from the metal speakerbox conveniently attached to your car window.

Marketing ruined this film. Think about this for a moment. The taglines to I Bury the Living have absolutely nothing to do with the actual film. The distribution team behind this feature was obviously trying to connect to the zombie fan-base when attempting to release this film. With taglines like, "A creature to freeze your blood!" and "A story to chill your bones" it becomes clear that the creators of this film did not realize the full potential of what they were sitting on. I Bury the Living is better than most zombie films and gives us a powerfully original story that will capture your attention and keep you guessing until the final moments. While most films will clutter the center of most films of this nature with meaningless love stories or idiotic secondary character development, I Bury the Living keeps us focused throughout the film on one centralized and intense character, Richard Kraft. By keep our attention based on this one man, we are able to feel the insanity beginning to creep up on this mild-mannered executive. Take this decent "B" acting and couple it with a director that knew, and felt passionate, about the story and a cinematographer that challenged the predetermined structure of most films like this during the 50s, and you have the collective body of I Bury the Living.

For me to sit here and say that the acting in this film was phenomenal would be a downright lie. This was a "Midnight Movie" special meaning that there was "B" grade actors attempting to break into the bigger Hollywood pictures. Typically, especially in today's horror/suspense genre in the independent arena, the acting is what generally hurts the film. You cannot create amazing special effects for your film if most of your money is going into bigger named stars, so this is why you see very original horror films coupled with terrible acting. In this film, it is a little better. Richard Boone is a decent lead that actually conveyed quite a bit of human emotion and fully demonstrated the obsessive nature surrounding the events. I believed in him both as an actor as well as a character. This is tough to pull off, but Boone did a decent job. He seemed like a regular "Joe" that was caught up in a supernatural force that he could not control. The character of Andy McKee (played by the energetic Theodore Bikel) was also another great character. What made I Bury the Living great was that the characters were simple, you didn't need this deep complex story to fully bring these guys to life, they did it themselves. They were fun, yet freaky instantaneously. This is a rare combination in modern Hollywood horror cinema.

While the acting was decent, it is the map that fully takes credit for stealing the film. While I have watched other films where inanimate objects rule the screen, this one was by far one of the best. The map in this film was spooky. It nearly had a face when you removed all the pins and backdrop. It felt, and looked, like a demonic face staring at you. It allowed this possessed feel to come through the television screen. Throughout the film I found myself staring at the map when the other characters were talking about the plot. The map was that engrossing and perplexing. I wished there were more discussed about this map, perhaps a back-story on its arrival to the cemetery or a quick opening on how it was made. Director Albert Band did a great job of giving the map the spotlight it deserved. He even did a fantastic job of bringing suspense to the pins which determined who would live and who would die. There were several scenes in which the camera lighting would shift, we would zoom into the marked plots, or follow the pin symbolizing death. This was extremely creative and effective tool used especially in the 1950s. It is hard to find films today that would use that type of emphasis on the elements, but Band was not afraid to experiment. That is why this film succeeded. It went beyond your typical suspense film and brought you an original tale that kept you engrossed until the final scenes. Even at that time, Band doesn't quite give you all of the truth, leaving some parts up to the imagination.

While I do speak very highly of this film, it wasn't perfect. I don't expect many horror/suspense films of the 50s to be unless big-budget Hollywood released them. With I Bury the Living, there could have been more dedicated to the plot. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched this film because Robert is causing these deaths by replacing white pins with black ones. Yet, after the second occurrence, nobody seems to believe him so they keep asking him to put more pins in. You would think that somebody would play the counter-conscious with Robert saying that if he does put another pin in the map, another will die. I think we needed a stronger bond between death and humanity. I didn't think Robert cared about those he was obviously marking for death. I especially saw this when the entire Board of Directors asks Robert to place black pins on their plots, then nearly following this horrific event, the police officer asks Robert to put another pin on the map. I would think that by this time Robert would be mad with obsession. I wouldn't think that he would want to do that again, but even with this minor sidestep, I Bury the Living is still a deeply conceptual film.

Overall, I thought this was a great early horror/suspense film that will play Parcheesi with your mind. The characters are strong and enjoyable (who doesn't enjoy a good Scotsman?); the plot needed some more work, but was carefully balanced out by the exceptional work by director Albert Band and his cinematographer. I didn't see the ending happening until the final door opened revealing the truth. It didn't overdevelop useless plot-points like love, secondary characters, or that annoying alien copout. I Bury the Living kept it simple, and it succeeded. I would not be ashamed to show this film to my friends on a dark and spooky night. For being created in the 50s, I believe this film could challenge the originality of some of the Hollywood hits today and find itself victorious each and every time!

Grade: **** out of *****

Despite such garish taglines as "A creature to freeze your blood! A story to chill your soul!" and "Out of a time-rotted tomb crawls an unspeakable horror!", the 1958 film "I Bury the Living" is one of the best long episodes of "The Twilight Zone." The only problems with that assessment is that this film came out a year before the classic television anthology series started and the script was not written by Rod Serling but by Louis Garfinkle, who had teamed up with director Albert Brand in his only other screenplay at that point, "The Young Guns" (he would eventually get a story credit for "The Deer Hunter"). But you watch this movie and you would swear you were entering a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man that constitutes the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.

The plot for this film shows why such comparisons are inevitable. Richard Kraft (Richard Boone), is a local businessman who becomes the committee chairman of Immortal Hills Cemetery. In the cemetery office there is a huge map of the cemetery, with white pins for the unoccupied plots and black pins for the occupied plots. The first day on the job a young couple purchase plots and Kraft accidentally puts black pins instead of white to make their plots on the map. When the couple are killed in a car carsh, Kraft is understandably spooked. He picks a name at random and substitutes a black pin for a white and again the person suddenly dies. Kraft is now becoming convinced that he has the power to kill anybody by put a black pin on their plot (the working title for the film was "Killer on the Wall").

Obviously at some point Kraft is going to see what happens when he substitutes a white pin for a black one, but what helps this film avoid becoming painfully predictable is that Kraft does not hide his fears. He tells his fiancé (Peggy Maurer), a reporter (Herbert Anderson), he tells a cop (Robert Osterloh), he tells the other members of the cemetery committee. They all insist what is happening is mere coincidence, and that come up with ways to test this hypothesis. The only person who takes Kraft seriously is Andy McKee (Theodore Bikel), the old caretaker that the committee is trying to get to retire, but people keep dying and Kraft is obsessed by what is going on.

Boone's performance underplays the part a bit too much. There is a fine line between restraint and lethargy, but you cannot argue with the fact that he is not forcing the character and is leaving ample room for the viewers to impose their worst imaginings on Kraft's plight. But director Band and cinematographer Frederick Gately deserve most of the credit for what works best here with some quite stylish camera shots and a rather effective use of close ups on the pin pushing. I was quite surprised that Band did not direct a lot more movies given what he did with "I Bury the Living," which was only his second director's credit. What will make or break this film for you is whether or not you think the ending works in terms of the set up. I was a bit disappointed in this regard and end up rounding down, but otherwise this is a very solid black & white chiller.

Don't let the packaging and title mislead you. Although one would think this is some kind of zombie flick, it is anything but. There's a hint of creepiness due to the graveyard setting, but the film plays more like a Twilight Zone episode and winds itself up as an old fashioned murder mystery. Excellent writing, high caliber cast, and good pacing set this film apart. It's a wonder it has been so obsure - it really is a gem of a movie.

I Bury the Living is one of many classic films that prove you don't need big money, big names, and big effects to achieve suspense or completely capture your audience's attention. I found the premise of this film quite intriguing, and the pace plays out just right as we descend further into the realm of the surreal as our protagonist inches closer and closer to possible insanity. It's unfortunate that all that commitment and effort was significantly offset by the ending. Personally, I thought the conclusion fell flat on its face. It's like going to Disneyworld, only to find a great big hole in the ground when you get there; you could squeeze the state of Texas through the plot hole at the end. I was all set to give this film five stars, and now I feel as if I'm being rather generous in giving it four.

The setup's rather simple. Robert Kraft (Richard Boone) is this year's chairman of the Cemetery Committee in town, which means it's now his responsibility to oversee the paperwork down at the Immortal Hills Cemetery. When someone buys a plot, you stick a white pin on the designated spot on the big cemetery plot map; when someone dies, you replace the white pin with a black pin. Doesn't really sound like a recipe for disaster, does it? When a couple of newlyweds show up wanting reservations for the hereafter, in go the white pins - then, when the couple dies soon thereafter, Bob is creeped out to find two black pins where the white pins should have been. He decides to pick a white pin at random, replace it with a black pin, and see what happens. Sure enough, that fellow falls over dead. Experimenting seems to be really popular in this little town, so a quick succession of pin replacements - and deaths - follows. Pretty soon, Bob starts wigging out, and the cops actually get involved - even though all of the deaths were seemingly due to natural causes.

Except for the ending, this film is great. The suspense really builds up, the writer keeps things interesting by giving you several things to think about in terms of your own theory, and there are some rather impressive visual effects. The big cemetery plot board is just weird in and of itself, as it sports some weird swirls that look like something in between a Dali-drawn bicycle and a distorted human face. The director uses light to great effect (an art form quickly lost once color became the norm), zooms in and out with the best of them, and basically just adds a Hitchcockian touch to it all.

Don't be fooled by the various posters and DVD covers, as you will find no real frights (and certainly no zombies) here. I would not classify I Bury the Living as a horror film at all - it's a suspenseful mystery/thriller. That's why, to some degree, I think you need to be a fan of classic B-movies in order to really enjoy this film. Otherwise, there's a chance you'll find it somewhat boring, as it's remarkably free of action, monsters, and fiends. While the building suspense is effective, it's not the kind of suspense that digs its claws into your arms, and there really is a sort of woodenness about each of the characters. I also have to believe that a number of people, B-movie fans or not, will be rather disappointed by the ending of this otherwise well-made film.

You might think with a title like I Bury the Living you may be getting a horror film along the lines of The Vanishing - Criterion Collection. Wrong. Conceptually think the killer from the The Final Destination Thrill-Ogy (Final Destination/ Final Destination 2/ Final Destination 3) films, also known as fate, death, or destiny, put that power in an unknowing human and viewers get to watch things from death's perspective as opposed to the victims. It sounds confusing but it isn't.
There is no gore in this flick but to those who like their horror with a twist, or better yet lovers of Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection, to you I say (In my best Zelda Rubenstein voice), come to the light, all are welcome.
Oh ya, the plot. It's simple enough. Robert Kraft, a successful man, president of a retail store, and on a committee responsible for a local cemetery his family has ties too. Each year the committee appoints a new director to handle the cemetery and this year it's Bobby's turn. Bob stops by to let the caretaker know that It's time for him to retire with full pension after 40 years of dedicated service. The caretaker shows Bobby around and too the large map of the cemetery that keeps track of all the plots with it's vast grids of squares. Each square or plot with a black pin in it represents a grave that has been filled by someone who has deceased. Each square with a white pin is for those who have made future arrangements for their burials. One problem, Bob accidentally puts two black pins in a young, very much alive, just married couple instead of white, and soon after they both die! After hearing the news Bob gets an eerie feeling that it's more than a coincidence and randomly takes out a white pin on the map hanging on the wall and replaces it with a black one, guess what, they die too. It seems whatever reserved plot that Bob sticks a black pin in someone dies. Picture the horror of scientist Andre Delambre from The Fly Collection (The Fly [1958] / Return Of The Fly / The Curse Of The Fly) who tampered with nature, but here it is nature that tampered with Bob.
The question is; What happens if Bob replaces the black pins of the deceased with white ones?! DUH! DUH! DUH!

THE SELLER: INETVIDEO
The dvd is no longer available, so I found a seller on Amazon offering it brand new for only $4.68. My experience with this is usually a saran wrapped dvd that looks like it's been burnt, so I was leary but I figured It's five bucks. I was shocked to find it had all three security tags on (which I kind of hate, but it appeared to be new), the dvd was immaculate, as a collector of dvds I hate it when one shows up banged up. Still hesitant, thinking this seller has an in with security tags, I popped to the movie in expecting to find a burned version and to my surprise watched a pristine black and white Midnite Movies quality dvd.
This is a (from my limited experience) great seller here on Amazon and someone that deserves their high rating and one I will use again. Thanks INETVIDEO.

So, I suppose you've never heard of this film, RIGHT? Well, I guess it's one of those films that have a brief cult status until everyone suddenly stops thinking about it for some unknown reason. Get what I mean?

Richard Boone gives a strong performance as a cemetary owner who has a map in his office of all the tombstones. If the tombstone has a white pin in it, it means that it's reserved; if it has a black pin in it, it means that a dead person already lies beneath the stone. Boone discovers that if he replaces the white pin with a black pin, whoever reserves it automaticly snuffs it. So the map is like one, big voodoo doll.

I BURY THE LIVING is very original for it's time (which is probably why not many people pay attention to it). It's a throughly enjoyable film which has a couple of effective moments.