Dead & Buried (1981)

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.

Director:

Gary Sherman (as Gary A. Sherman)

Writers:

Jeff Millar (story), Alex Stern (story)

Stars:

James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Le Moyne / Freddie
Joseph G. Medalis	...	Doctor (as Joe Medalis)
Macon McCalman	...	Ben
Lisa Marie	...	Hitchhiker
Estelle Omens	...	Betty
Barry Corbin	...	Phil

Storyline

Sheriff Dan Gillis has a nice life with his wife, the teacher Janet Gillis, in the small coastal and friendly town of Potter's Bluff. When visitors are mysterious killed in the town, Sheriff Gillis investigates the cases carefully and finds that dead people are reanimating and coming back to life. Dan finds a book of witchcraft and voodoo in his wife's drawer and he suspects that she might be practicing black magic. Dan meets the coroner-mortician William G. Dobbs and learns the dreadful and surprising secret.

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Plot Keywords:

extreme violence | zombie | murder investigation | screaming | photographer | 

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Taglines:

A new dimension in horror...

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 October 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Look Alive

Filming Locations:

Goldwyn Studios - 1041 N Formosa Avenue, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$216,166, 15 November 1981

Gross USA:

$216,166, 15 November 1981

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Gary Sherman originally intended this movie to be a dark comedy.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Dan Gillis: How do you do it? How did you bring them back to life?
Dobbs: Call it black magic. Call it a medical breakthrough. I'll take my secret to the grave.

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Alternate Versions

The end credit music is different on all video and the recent DVD release when compared to the theatrical and the HBO/Cinemax airing in the '80s. The theatrical and HBO had on the end credits the suspense music from the film, which then changes to a Glenn Miller jazz score, while the suspense music is heard in the background, creeping up faintly, until when the cast names start rolling, then the suspense music takes over, ending exactly when the credit ends. However, all video release of this, as well as the DVD, the end credit music is now the rehash of the beginning credit sequence music, you can tell its tacked in, for they fade the music early when the credit ends.

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Connections

Referenced in Se7en (1995)

User Reviews

Welcome to Potter's Bluff

Neat seldom talked about horror film made by Gary Sherman, the man who brought us Deathline, Vice Squad, and Poltergeist III. Like most of Sherman's films, Dead & Buried is laced with a rather large dose of gore. One man is beaten and burned(later to survive and get needled in the worst possible way), another is beaten and marred with fishing hooks, another hacked to death, another with acid, and you get the general picture...and you get all the details as Sherman is not shy showing us these things with the camera lens either. The story centers on these deaths and their investigation by sheriff James Farentino. Farentino soon realizes that few if any can be trusted in the not-so-quaint New England town of Potter's Bluff, and that the cause of the deaths and the mystery soon fall on town mortician Jack Albertson. The film looses some credibility with the ambiguous nature of the script but is enhanced by the atmospheric direction of Sherman and the quality performances by the cast as a whole. There are definite frightening moments in the film that will make you jump in your seat. Farentino is good in his role and Melody Anderson is adequate(certainly attractive) in her role as his wife. The supporting cast with Barry Corbin, Robert Englund, and a host of familiar faces do very nicely, but the real star is Jack Albertson in one of his last roles. Albertson gives a fine performance and is suitably creepy. His entrance down a hillside in the coroner's car while playing big band music was a scenic highlight for me. A good...not great..film that is good for some honest scares.