Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the screenwriters behind the highly successful Alien, turned their attention to earthbound terrors with this creepy horror tale. Dead and Buried focuses on Dan Gillis (James Farentino), a man who has recently returned to his hometown of Potter's Bluff to be its sheriff. His job becomes difficult when a series of strangers who visit Potter's Bluff begin dying in violent and mysterious ways. To make matters worse, his wife, Janet (Melody Anderson), has begun to act
strangely, taking an odd interest in voodoo and acting like she might be having an affair. As the murder victims pile up, Gillis discovers that all his troubles have an occult origin that has to do with the town's elderly mortician, Dobbs (Jack Albertson, in his final feature film role). Gillis gets to the bottom of the mystery, only to discover that the truth is much worse than he imagined. Despite effective direction and solid acting, Dead and Buried got lost in the shuffle of the early '80s horror boom and failed to click with the movie-going public. However, it later gained an audience via home video and cable and remains a minor cult favorite today thanks to its singular blend of creepy atmosphere and gruesome shocks. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi
Dead and Buried is one exceedingly creepy experience. It's a gruesome, slightly gory take on the whole >Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Night of the Living Dead dynamic.
This horror movie combines a bunch of really creepy elements. It's got witchcraft, zombies, and a whole town of people attacking travelers. I was really surprised, as this movie starts out so seemingly dull, and then escalates quickly into your worst nightmare. Plus, the ending is great. This is a good horror
movie.
Dead and Buried has an amazing concept and looks beautiful. Why it almost completely lacks memorable characters and a well thought out plot, it's at heart a really cool horror story. The idea of it is ridiculous, but somehow it works in the end. I find it hilarious that Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka ended up being a
deranged mortician. What this really needed to be was a short film or part of something like Creepshow because you can only do so much with such a particular concept. The opening is the most suspenseful and well put together part of the movie, but after that it just sort've loses its edge. However, this movie has a great style and totally nails the spooky small town atmosphere.
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