Dead & Buried (1981)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Gary Sherman

Writers:

Ronald Shusett (screenplay) &
Dan O'Bannon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 May 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

The writers of alien... ...bring a new terror to earth.

Plot:

A suspense horror film set in a small coastal town where, after a series of gory murders commited by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life.

Plot Keywords:

Sheriff | Murder | Undertaker | Killing | Corpse

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

James Farentino	...	Sheriff Dan Gillis
Melody Anderson	...	Janet Gillis
Jack Albertson	...	William G. Dobbs
Dennis Redfield	...	Ron
Nancy Locke	...	Linda (as Nancy Locke Hauser)
Lisa Blount	...	Girl on the Beach / Lisa
Robert Englund	...	Harry
Bill Quinn	...	Ernie
Michael Currie	...	Herman
Christopher Allport	...	George Le Moyne / Freddie
Joseph G. Medalis	...	Doctor (as Joe Medalis)
Macon McCalman	...	Ben
Lisa Marie	...	Hitchhiker
Estelle Omens	...	Betty
Barry Corbin	...	Phil

Also Known As:

Dead and Buried (UK)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2007) | Sweden:15 | Australia:R | Finland:(Banned) | France:-16 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Norway:18 (video) (1984) | Norway:(Banned) (video) (1986) | Norway:(Banned) (1981-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Mendocino, California, USA

Company:

Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance

Trivia:

Director Sherman originally intended this movie to be a dark comedy

Goofs:

Continuity: When the young female hitchhiker is taken from the truck, she is thrown onto the muddy ground. Her face is covered in mud, before the rock is smashed onto her face. Later when we see the videos of Dobb's "murders and creations" the young female hitchhiker is being held down on the hood of the truck, and her face is clean before they smash the rock down on her face.

Quotes:

Dan Gillis: Betty and her toys. There's nobody else to talk to on that damn police channel and she can't call me by my name. That's TV cop shows, Harry. That's what does it.
Harry: Do you think the county would let me have this rig for salvage?
Dan Gillis: Anyhow, she said that he was on his way.
Harry: Okay, no hurry. The fellow in there is a definite goner. Get a good gander that that face, Danny?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Something not quite right with the town.

If there is one type of horror movie I absolutely love (besides zombie movies) it is the ones with the mysterious towns with dreadful secrets ones. This one features such a town, in it everything seems to be rather ordinary. Except, of course, when out of towners come through. They end up dead, usually by some very gruesome methods (that acid death for instance). Not to mysterious or strange, except later these people who have been slain end up being part of the town. They appear at their school desk in one instance seemingly unaware that they were in fact killed. This movie is just cool. I really enjoy it and anytime I see it on I have to watch it. The ending when I first saw it as a kid totally threw me, though I probably would have figured it out if I first saw it today. Mainly because of all the horrors released recently where there are surprise endings. For my money though this one is a lot better and actually has people being killed.