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Film: Dead & Buried
Year: 1981
Director: Gary Sherman
Writers: Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon
Starring: James Farentino, Melody Anderson and Jack Albertson
Review:
Now this is a movie I feel like I saw the case at the video rental store. I never took it home for whatever reason. I’m shocked to be honest since my father is a fan of zombie films. This is a bit different take on this monster, going back more in the traditional sense. I’ll come back to that though. I’m glad that I’m finally checking this one out for an October movie challenge.
Synopsis: set in a small coastal town where, after a series of gory murders committed by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life.
This takes place in the small town of Potters Bluff. We see George Le Moyne (Christopher Allport) as he parks by the beach in his Volkswagen van. He is a photographer taking pictures. Now we won’t learn his name until later. He meets a woman there who guesses his name is Freddie. He then gives her the name Lisa (Lisa Blount). She wants to model for him and he takes pictures. He doesn’t notice a mob of people surrounding him. They attack, tie him up in a fishing net and set it on fire. All the while, they’re filming and taking pictures.
We then shift to his van upside down and George inside. The fire department put it out. Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino) wonders if the fire started here, or if he was placed for it to look like an accident. They’re waiting on William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson), who runs the local funeral home. They realize though, George is still alive. He’s badly burned.
To set the stage a bit more, Dan is from this town. He went away and got his master’s degree in criminology. He could have gotten a job in a bigger city but decided to return to be the sheriff here. We see Dan go to the local diner where he is ribbed by the locals, including Harry (Robert Englund). Dan is also married to Janet (Melody Anderson). She is a teacher. What is interesting is that these two butt heads. Dan keeps finding weird things or learns different pieces of information to distrust her. She has logical comebacks that make him feel bad. These are forms of gaslighting now that I’m writing this down.
We then see that George isn’t the only victim. He wakes up while he’s at the hospital where he is attacked by Lisa again. She is a nurse. We then see a man that I took to be a homeless man who is set upon by this group. There is also a passing family. What is odd is that George shows back up, going by Freddie. He also works at the gas station now.
Dan can’t make sense of what is happening in this town. He turns to Dobbs, thinking that he is behind it, but even the notion upsets him. There is something not right happening in Potters Bluff, which its motto is along the lines of a being a different way of life.
That is where I’m going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. There is more I could reveal, but I don’t want to spoil things. Now this may come as a spoiler, but it is part of the synopsis, we are getting a different take on zombies. I’ve also said this in my opening paragraph. What is interesting about what we get here, Dan O’Bannon wrote this. He would also do The Return of the Living Dead, which is another different take on this monster. What we get here though are more akin to voodoo zombies and less of George A. Romero’s take with his of the Dead films.
Now that I’ve set that up, where I want to start is the setting. I love this coastal location. It made me think of things like The Birds or Messiah of Evil. There is an isolation aspect to it and all the townspeople are tight knit. When outsiders show up, they don’t necessarily take kindly to them. It also, to a lesser degree, makes me think of the area where my high school is found. These people tend to stick with their group and not usually venturing out. That is what makes Dan not necessarily fit in even though he’s from there. He left for too long.
This helps to build the atmosphere. What also does is that this doesn’t mess around getting into it. We have George being attacked to kick us off. It is from there that we get to know the town a bit before a hitchhiker, played by Lisa Marie, is attacked along with the homeless guy and the family. I could be leaving more out, but what I like is that this doesn’t lag in the runtime. It is just over 90 minutes and we are getting kills at good intervals. In between these, there are bits of information that are given to us to help piece things together. We never get an explanation, but there’s enough there to fill in for me. I guess this is also based on a novel, which I’m adding to my list to see if I can track it down.
There is one last bit for the story that I wanted to bring up. Our killers take pictures and film what they’re doing. That is even creepier as they’re keeping a record. It makes sense at the reveal and seeing who is behind it. What is even scarier is seeing an attack and then seeing the person who did acting normal in town. I love the idea of not knowing what people do behind closed doors. As a homebody, I am leery of people in general. I also like it that we see someone attacked and then they appear as new members of the town as if they’ve always been there. This cult is growing.
That should be enough there so then over to the acting. I thought this part was good across the board. I like Farentino as this sheriff that knows something is going on, but he is missing pieces of information to put together everything. He is also being gaslit by his wife which is a different than the normal take. I like Anderson in her role. She is also good looking so that helps. A performance that surprised me was Albertson. I only know him from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where he is Grandpa Joe. He is great here as this mortician. There is just something off about him from when we first met him. Other than that, Nancy Lock, Blount, Englund and the rest of the townspeople are solid. What I like is that we don’t know who we can trust or who is in on it. That also adds to the atmosphere.
All that is left then would be filmmaking. The effects here are good. When I saw Stan Winston’s name attached, I knew that we were in good hands. The deaths we see are brutal. It is even creepier when we see that person being maimed than being a part of the town. It made me question what was happening. There’s a great scene where we see Dobbs clean a skull and then redo the face. That was done with time lapsing, but it looked great. The cinematography helps here as well. They frame things in ways to not see the seams. They also capture the isolated feel of this town. I’d also say that the soundtrack and design fit what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a film that I’m glad I didn’t sleep on any longer. It doesn’t come up a lot, but I’ve only heard good things from people about it. We are getting a different take on the zombie narrative. What this does better though is capture that small town vibe and how the people are almost cult-like. The acting was good. Farentino leads the way with Albertson right there as well. This is well made with the effects and cinematography being the best parts of that. If you like zombie movies, give this a watch. This explores interesting ideas for sure.
My Rating: 8 out of 10