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I Bury the Living

I Bury the Living

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of my all-time favorite obscure movies
Review: 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!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Cult Classic In The Best Way
Review: I loved this movie from the first time I saw it.It well done for a B-Movie with reasonable special effects and a thoght provoking skript and hell the acting is pritty good to. All in All I think this is an excellent movie and an essential movie for any horror collector

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this movie...
Review: I watch it often. I especially like the cozy little stone-walled office in the center of the graveyard, "The cement walls make it a wee bit Christmas-like", I believe the caretaker says in his Scottish accent. If anyone has similar movies to recommend, I would like to see more like this!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Surprise Gem
Review: I will make this short. This is a movie I had never seen before buying the DVD. I'm shocked that I haven't at least ever seen this on television. It's a well thought out, well-acted and quite original production. The quality of the DVD is excellent and the price is a bargain.

It is not often that one gets to watch a surprise gem like this. I recommend this DVD highly! WOW!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Neat little chiller
Review: I wont go into the plot because everyone else has, but you might like to know that the Alpha dvd of this title is a superb print and only half the cost of the MGM deal. A lot of the Alpha stuff is of dubious quality but this time they got it right. Really cool cover art as well. Worth thinking about if you're considering a purchase.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cemetery Plot
Review: Notwithstanding the title and cover art, this is anything but a zombie send-up. Richard Boone stars in this quiet, intelligent mystery-thriller about a picturesque cemetery and one very curious map. You see, this map tracks the status of its plots - whether occupied or unoccupied - by the use of black and white pins. When Boone mistakenly puts black pins in a newly purchased set of plots, the couple who recently acquired them dies. Is the mortality of men controlled by a map and pins? An obsessed Boone wants to find out. You will, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: White Pin Good, Black Pin Baaaad...
Review: Richard Boone plays Bob Craft, recently appointed chairman of a lovely little cemetery. He takes the job reluctantly, trying his best to get out of it. In his new, appropriately cold office, he notices a map on the wall. It is a map of the cemetery plots, both occupied (represented by black pins) and reserved (white pins). Craft accidentally sticks black pins in the plots of a newlywed couple who just left on their honeymoon. Grave error! The lovebirds wind up dead in a car wreck. Haunted by the implications of this "coincidence", Craft tries it again, sticking a black pin into some poor slob's plot at random. The scene switches to show the latest member of the boneyard club as he slumps over. Craft's co-workers decide to prove it's all rubbish by having black pins stuck into their 3 plot spaces. Was this a good idea? Watch and find out! The plot thickens with a twisty end...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A well-mounted, underated chunk of entertainment
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty darn clever!
Review: The title conjurs up images of violence, grossness, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Made in 1957, the movie has the tone and production values of an episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS...not a cheap horror flick. It moves slowly, and when Richard Boone keeps testing his theory (if I try THIS pin, will someone die?) it gets a bit wearying.

But the movie, obviously shot on a low budget, is pretty nifty all the same. The protagonist as a classic man of the '50s...a well dressed (in gray tones) department store owner...a minor pillar of the community. A sane, rational man with a nice "American dream" sort of life ahead of him. But when the shock of what he may or may not have done by putting the wrong colored pins on the cemetary map begins to sink in, we get to see him slowly unravel. The music gets hokey, and the camera-work is either very static or goes totally off into "la-la land." But behind it all, we've got a fairly solid script, with enough twists to keep things interesting, and a solid performance by Richard Boone. Never a huge star, this is one of the best performances I've seen him in. I recommened the movie for that alone.

Theodore Bikel (who later played Teyve in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) plays Angus, the cemetary jack-of-all trades caretaker. His makeup is as thick and phony as his accent, and this does distract from the power of the ending, no question. But all in all, this is a movie worth taking a look at. It can be obtained quite inexpensively on many of the horror movie compilations out there now...you know the ones...10 movies on 2 DVDs for $6. Well, this movie is certainly worth $3 of that investment!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty darn clever!
Review: The title conjurs up images of violence, grossness, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Made in 1957, the movie has the tone and production values of an episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS...not a cheap horror flick. It moves slowly, and when Richard Boone keeps testing his theory (if I try THIS pin, will someone die?) it gets a bit wearying.

But the movie, obviously shot on a low budget, is pretty nifty all the same. The protagonist as a classic man of the '50s...a well dressed (in gray tones) department store owner...a minor pillar of the community. A sane, rational man with a nice "American dream" sort of life ahead of him. But when the shock of what he may or may not have done by putting the wrong colored pins on the cemetary map begins to sink in, we get to see him slowly unravel. The music gets hokey, and the camera-work is either very static or goes totally off into "la-la land." But behind it all, we've got a fairly solid script, with enough twists to keep things interesting, and a solid performance by Richard Boone. Never a huge star, this is one of the best performances I've seen him in. I recommened the movie for that alone.

Theodore Bikel (who later played Teyve in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) plays Angus, the cemetary jack-of-all trades caretaker. His makeup is as thick and phony as his accent, and this does distract from the power of the ending, no question. But all in all, this is a movie worth taking a look at. It can be obtained quite inexpensively on many of the horror movie compilations out there now...you know the ones...10 movies on 2 DVDs for $6. Well, this movie is certainly worth $3 of that investment!!


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