Buried (2010)

Paul is a U.S. truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.

Director:

Rodrigo Cortés

Writer:

Chris Sparling

Stars:

Ryan Reynolds, José Luis García Pérez, Robert Paterson

10 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Reynolds	...	Paul Conroy
José Luis García Pérez	...	Jabir (voice) (as José Luis García-Pérez)
Robert Paterson	...	Dan Brenner (voice)
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Alan Davenport (voice)
Samantha Mathis	...	Linda Conroy (voice)
Ivana Miño	...	Pamela Lutti
Warner Loughlin	...	Maryanne Conroy / Donna Mitchell / Rebecca Browning (voice)
Erik Palladino	...	Special Agent Harris (voice)
Kali Rocha	...	911 Operator (voice)
Chris William Martin	...	State Department Rep. (voice)
Cade Dundish	...	Shane Conroy (voice)
Mary Birdsong	...	411 Female Operator (voice) (as Mary Songbird)
Kirk Baily	...	411 Male Operator (voice)
Anne Lockhart	...	CRT Operator (voice)
Robert Clotworthy	...	CRT Spokesman (voice)

Storyline

Waking groggy in pitch darkness, Paul Conroy, an American truck driver working in Iraq in 2006, slowly realizes he is trapped inside a wooden coffin, buried alive. With his cigarette lighter, he can see the trap he is in, and he quickly realizes that there's not enough air for him to live long. He finds within the coffin a working cellphone, which allows him contact with the outside world. But the outside world proves not to be very helpful at finding a man buried in a box in the middle of the Iraqi desert. Paul must rely on his best resource--himself.

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Plot Keywords:

coffin | buried alive | iraq | desert | darkness | 

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Taglines:

Paul Conroy has just woken up buried 6 feet underground. He has a mobile phone. 90 minutes of oxygen. And no way out.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violent content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [es]

Country:

Spain USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 2010 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Enterrado

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£820,631 (UK) (1 October 2010)

Gross:

$1,028,658 (USA) (5 November 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Versus Entertainment, Safran Company, The, Dark Trick Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Samantha Mathis, who plays Paul Conroy's wife, previously starred in a film where she is buried alive, called 83 Hours 'Til Dawn.

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Goofs

After using his cell phone to call the number he thinks might be for help, Paul has a brief conversation with a man who then hangs up on him, and we hear a dial tone. Cell phones use digital signals, and therefore don't have dial tones which are a product of an analog signal.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Paul Conroy: [screaming] Hey!

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.3 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Through the Monsoon"
Written by Bill Kaulitz, Rebecca Roth & David Jost
Performed by Tokio Hotel

User Reviews

Terrific, ultra claustrophobic suspense nightmare

Buried is a film that keeps things deadly simple, one character, one location and a one line but horribly inspired plot, those looking for flashy visuals or big action should turn far, far away from this one. It's worth noting though that the film is well directed and photographed, director Rodrigo Cortes has a nimble eye for visuals and angles to keep things visually interesting, while cinematographer Eduard Grau gets the best out of the mere two light sources to make the experience a frighteningly vivid one. The plot sees Ryan Reynolds waking up in a coffin, with nothing more than a cell-phone and his lighter to help him out, things develop through his series of fraught, occasionally bleakly amusing and increasingly desperate communications with the outside world. Its rather interesting to see a film so based around interactions on a mobile phone, devices so often objects of fear, suspicion, or in the case of some horror films and of course the cinematic experience for the viewer, irritations. Here every ring is crucial, the battery bar is nail-biting, even the light of the screen is important. For me, just as interesting was the choice of lead. I've never had time for Ryan Reynolds, a face from some of the worst in lowbrow comedy and someone I never expected to appreciate breaking through into not just serious film but something as bold in its structure as this. A lot of people are likely to dislike the film on a fundamental level, but Reynolds gives the performance of his life here, running through a rainbow of emotions, angry, sarcastic and terrified are but a few. Compelling and sympathetic, likely physically arduous too (though I'd don't know how the film was made it must have been tough, barring serious trickery) he holds the film wonderfully. The script is of course of utmost importance too, and writer Chris Sparling does mostly terrific work. An ordinary man reacting as best he can to a nightmare, drawing on the sort of resourcefulness he probably hoped he'd never need, occasionally breaking down but keeping ploughing on, shades of dark humour in the protagonist's travails on the phone, its endlessly interesting and as time goes on, nail-bitingly suspenseful. I had minor issues with realism in the film, and there was at least one interesting little aside that could have been developed a bit more, but overall this is a great achievement. It surely won't appeal to everyone and my rating might seem generous, but for doing this well on such a risky concept, and putting together a suspenser that remains thought provoking after, a 9/10 from me.