Rating: 
Summary: An Unacknowledged Classic
Review: This film is terrifying. I expected some hoky fun when I rented it (judging from the cover), but then recalled that Stephen King had listed it (in "Danse Macabre") as one of the ten most frightening films he'd ever seen. All the same, I figured his memory must have gone foggy.I was wrong. The plot, when laid out bare, sounds ridiculous. A rather ordinary, boring caretaker of a cemetery (accompanied by a hilarious 'Scottsman') happens to gain power over the fundamentals of life and death with a board that lays out the structure of the cemetery--where people are buried, have been buried, and will be buried. All this sounds absurd and very 1950's, yes, but it turns out well. You actually start believing it yourself and can feel the protagonist's anguish. The end is disappointing, but the buildup is more than worth it. Black pin, white pin, black pin, white pin.....
Rating:
Summary: An Unacknowledged Classic
Review: This film is terrifying. I expected some hoky fun when I rented it (judging from the cover), but then recalled that Stephen King had listed it (in "Danse Macabre") as one of the ten most frightening films he'd ever seen. All the same, I figured his memory must have gone foggy. I was wrong. The plot, when laid out bare, sounds ridiculous. A rather ordinary, boring caretaker of a cemetery (accompanied by a hilarious 'Scottsman') happens to gain power over the fundamentals of life and death with a board that lays out the structure of the cemetery--where people are buried, have been buried, and will be buried. All this sounds absurd and very 1950's, yes, but it turns out well. You actually start believing it yourself and can feel the protagonist's anguish. The end is disappointing, but the buildup is more than worth it. Black pin, white pin, black pin, white pin.....
Rating:
Summary: Interesting 50's indie...
Review: This independent film, written by Louis Garfinkle, is better than you might think. It's an interesting plot, though the final outcome is somewhat predictable. BUT...getting to that final outcome, there's some eerie and wonderful psychological-thriller-type stuff going on. Richard Boone made this just before he started playing Paladin on TV ("Have Gun, Will Travel") and he shows more committment than I've seen from him. The wonderful Theodore Bikel, Scot brogue & all, is quite fine. All of the acting is good. I won't blab away the plot, but the technical aspects of this film are extraordinary, and are displayed very well on this inexpensive DVD. The photography by Frederick Gately is exquisite, showing every crag in Boone's craggy face, and every bead of sweat on his bulbous nose. The opening credits, shown agaist a craggy brick wall show such detail, though you don't know it's a brick wall till later. Lighting is crucial, and mood is well-sustained. The artwork of E. Vorkapich (the map) is as creepy as it gets; great terror potential. Most of all must be the music of Gerald Fried; his deft use of harpsichord adds to the creepiness. The film also relies heavily on sound effects, and the spoken dialogue (all by Ryder Sound Services) is crystal clear. I see moments of Hitchcock...and even Bergman...in the images. "I Bury the Living" isn't a fright-fest; rather a slow, interesting walk down the path of psychological terror. Another feather in Albert Band's indie hat. A very worthy film experience.
Rating:
Summary: A Cult Classic, Not to Be Missed!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: fine cult flick
Review: This stylish cult flick casts Richard Boone as a man who may have the power to control life and death. Inheriting the post as chairman of the Immortal Hills cemetary, Robert Kraft (Boone) is intrigued by the detailed map which shows the location of all occupants of the cemetary. Two sets of pins are used; black for occupied graves and white for graves that are reserved for the inevitable. Accidentally using black pins to mark the graves for a newly-married couple instead of white, he is shocked to discover that they died within hours of visiting the cemetary. Feeling strangely responsible for the tragedy, he randomly changes another pin to test the notion. When the owner of the grave dies, Kraft is forced to test his theory again...and again... Fairly standard cult film, with some marvellous, Hitchcock-like touches. With Theodore Bikel, Peggy Maurer, Howard Smith, Herbert Anderson and Robert Osterloh.
Rating: 
Summary: TO DIE FOR
Review: With little fanfare, MGM has quietly transferred a handful of great B films to DVD that they not too arbitrarily categorize as "Midnight Movies." The nice looking digital prints are in their original theatrical format and appear as if they were taken from original material. The discs come with no substantial extras but care has been lavished on the box art, often reflecting the lurid lobby cards and posters of their initial release. Even acknowledging the B category, these are for the most part well-crafted and, well, adequately acted. "I BURY THE LIVING" is one of the all time great movie titles that plays off a universal phobia (see Jan Bondeson's great new book "Buried Alive"). Richard Boone and an unexpected Theodore Bikel costar in an exceedingly eerie horror flick. You almost expect to have a song or two -- at least when Bikel first shows up. See, Boone is a cemetery director who pins his graveyard map marking empty tombs. But when the owners of the marked graves suddenly pass away, as it were; well, let's just say people are dying to get in this place. The original poster accurately warned: "Out of a time-rotted tomb crawls an unspeakable horror." Creepy fun that can still raise the hair on your neck. The screenplay's by Louis Garfinkle who later wrote "The Deerhunter" and Albert Band, who later produced "Honey, I shrunk the Kids," directed.
| 
