Dead & Buried (1981)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Gary Sherman

Writers:

Jeff Millar (story)
Dan O'Bannon (screenplay)
(more)

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 | Killing | Corpse | Undertaker

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 / Nurse Lisa
Robert Englund	...	Harry
Bill Quinn	...	Ernie
Michael Currie	...	Herman
Christopher Allport	...	George LeMoir / Freddie
Joseph G. Medalis	...	The Doctor (as Joe Medalis)
Macon McCalman	...	Ben
Lisa Marie	...	The Hitchhiker
Estelle Omens	...	Betty
Barry Corbin	...	Phil
Linda Shusett	...	Midge the Waitress (as Linda Turley)
Ed Bakey	...	The Fisherman
Glenn Morshower	...	Jimmy
Robert Boler	...	Mr. Haskell
Michael Pataki	...	Sam
Jill Fosse	...	The Nurse
Mark Courtney	...	Jamie
Michael Courtney	...	Jamie
Renee McDonell	...	Girl #1
Dottie Catching	...	Lady Car Passenger
Colby Smith	...	Female Stranger
Judy Ashton	...	Joyce
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Cecere	...	Townsperson (uncredited)
Bill Couch	...	Townsperson (uncredited)
Bill Couch Jr.	...	Townsperson (uncredited)
Angelo De Meo	...	Townsperson (uncredited)

Directed by
Gary Sherman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jeff Millar		story
Dan O'Bannon		screenplay
Ronald Shusett		writer
Alex Stern		story

Produced by
Robert Fentress	....	producer
Michael I. Rachmil	....	associate producer
Ronald Shusett	....	producer
Richard R. St. Johns	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Joe Renzetti

Cinematography by
Steven Poster		(as Steve Poster)

Film Editing by
Alan Balsam

Casting by
Linda Francis

Art Direction by
Joe Aubel
William Sandell		(as Bill Sandell)

Makeup Department
Jan Cook	....	hair stylist
Ziggy Geike	....	special wigs
Stan Winston	....	makeup effects designer

Production Management
John W. Hyde	....	executive in charge of production
William P. Owens	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrew A. Ackerman	....	second assistant director (as Andy Ackerman)
Brian E. Frankish	....	first assistant director
Scott Thaler	....	second assistant director (as Scott Ira Thaler)

Art Department
Dominick Bruno	....	property master
Amanda J. Flick	....	scenic artist
Jay M. Hirsch	....	construction foreman
James E. Tocci	....	set designer

Sound Department
Robert L. Harman	....	sound re-recording mixer
William L. McCaughey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Anthony Milch	....	sound editor
Lettie Odney	....	dialogue editor
Charles Randall	....	boom operator (as Chuck Randall)
Bill Randall Jr.	....	second boom operator
William Randall	....	sound mixer (as Bill Randall)
Richard D. Rogers	....	adr mixer
Howard S. Wollman	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
James Cummins	....	lab technician
Vincent Prentice	....	special makeup effects crew: Stan Winston Studio

Stunts
Tony Cecere	....	stunts
Bill Couch	....	stunt coordinator
Bill Couch	....	stunts
Bill Couch Jr.	....	stunts
Angelo De Meo	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Ron Batzdorff	....	gaffer
Vito Carenzo	....	best boy grip
Jim Dyer	....	dolly grip
Roger Gebhard	....	first assistant camera
Jeff Goldenberg	....	second assistant camera
John Koester	....	camera operator
Elliott Marks	....	still photographer
Ken Miller	....	key grip
Ernest Paul Roebuck	....	lighting best boy

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bill Jobe	....	costumes
Erica Edell Phillips	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Ross Albert	....	associate editor
Donah Bassett	....	negative cutter
Rick Greenhead	....	telecine colorist
Robert K. Lambert	....	post-production executive

Music Department
Murray McFadden	....	score mixer
Jack K. Tillar	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Wayne Nelson	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Dustin Bernard	....	production assistant
Dixie J. Capp	....	production coordinator
Kimberley Coy	....	unit publicist
Alvin Greenman	....	script supervisor
Toni Lemos	....	location coordinator
Jim McCarthy	....	assistant accountant

Production Companies

• Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance

Distributors

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• New World-Mutual (1982) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Vestron Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Force Video (2002) (Australia) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2003) (USA) (DVD) (limited edition)
• Blue Underground (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Manga Films (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2009) (USA) (video) (Blu-ray)
• Europa Filmes (200?) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Europa Filmes (200?) (Brazil) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Stan Winston Studio

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:

During filming Gary Sherman purposely avoided letting the color red be visible in any scene, so the sight of blood during the murder sequences would be all the more shocking. Sherman even went as far as to have the tail lights of cars replaced with purple lights, instead of the normal red.

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:

[repeated line]
Ernie: Welcome to Potters Bluff!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Cult movie with pleasingly effective moments, but lots of logic loopholes.

In Potter's Bluff, a quiet coastal town in America, a photographer is seduced by a young woman but just as he is about to have sex with her on the beach, a bunch of local thugs turn up and burn him alive. But this horrific opening only turns out to be the tip of the iceberg, when a few scenes later the very same photographer is seen working at a local gas station - very alive, very happy, and with not a single burn scar on his body! The local cop finds it strange too; in fact, the whole town seems to be full of people who were dead recently and are now very much alive. There's even a character who loses an arm in a car accident, but simply picks up the severed limb and runs off.... apparently suffering from no pain at all!

Dead & Buried has an enjoyably dumb resolution (I won't spoil things, but let's just say that the local mortician has been experimenting with the dead). It also has some genuinely effective scares and infrequent but powerful gore scenes. Leading actor James Farentino is a bit of a bore, but Jack Albertson is wonderful in an atypical role as the cranky old mortician. Stan Winston's makeup effects are suitably gruesome, and some of the killings are imaginatively handled. There are some logic loopholes, though, which seriously mar the film. The twist ending in which Farentino makes a chilling discovery about himself doesn't really make sense and is a good example of scripter's trying to be too smart for themselves - and merely tying themselves up into knots. However, misjudgements aside, Dead & Buried is a goofy and entertaining early '80s spine-tingler.