In 1981 the quasi-zombie film Dead and Buried was released (and it did skate across my beloved pay channel Spectrum) to little fan fare and little box office return. Guillermo Del Toro is a huge fan, and that is testified to here, and that may have led to a spark that grew into the flame that is its current cult following.
The original negative is purported to be destroyed, says director Gary Sherman (Vice Squad) but Blue Underground, purveyor of low budget horror and "other" types of films (nudge, wink) has taken a couple of shots at restoring it. I have the first take, a numbered boutique edition, which while not looking terrible, and sounding great, has apparently been bypassed by the company's own recent 4k blu ray. Word is due to the lost camera negative, it'll never look like it once did due to the degraded source material, but reviews claim the new one looks great.
I rarely double-dip, so I'll settle for my 12 year old DVD edition.
My wife and editor, and I sat down for this rather scratchy, non-subtitled edition for this year's Samhain Project and were not disappointed. The film has a creepy atmosphere, really solid acting, particularly from James Farentino and Jack Albertson, in what was the latter's last performance. (Mr. Albertson played Charlie Buckets' lazy-ass grandpa in Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.) He's much weirder and more sinister here, with a penchant for big band tunes, and a deep, DEEP love for being a coroner.
This number is as much a mystery as it is a horror film, and has great gore effects that are early work from maestro Stan Winston. Although there's a terrible gag halfway through the film that I’ve read Mr. Winston did not do, and it's not hard to tell what it is to the discerning horror viewer. We have An early performance from the late Lisa Blount (from John Carpenter's tremendous Prince of Darkness), as well as Robert Englund and Melody Anderson.
There's even a sniff of some found-footage type action in the film, that just adds to the already dread-laden and creepy tone. The score is excellent, eerie stuff and on the new blu-ray it's included as a third disc.
Something is jacked-up in Potter's Bluff, and it's a spooky, and often sad path to the knowledge of what it is.
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