Review: Dead & Buried (1981)
By William Pattison
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 mysteriously 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.
Unfortunately, this film was a complete flop in theaters at
the time. It was actually six years after the films release that I actually saw
it on video. At the time my opinion on this was so so, but over the years I’ve actually started to like this film. I can say
the FX stand up really well. The one scene where the town coroner reconstructs
the woman’s face is amazing.
This film is actually one of those rare jewels of horror cinema. It was made in a time of great transition of horror between the more cerebral, psychological, horror and the gore filled slasher era. Also this is not your common zombie film, though it’s been catalogued as a zombie film. This film is unique and is something to be seen if you like late 70s early 80s horror that goes it’s own way I think you will be surprised by this film…
