Dead & Buried

 

(1981) Directed by: Gary Sherman; Written by Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon; Story by Jeff Millar and Alex Stern; Based on the novel by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro; Starring: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke, Lisa Blount and Robert Englund; Available on Blu ray and DVD 

Rating: ****

“…We went for as much strangeness in the picture as we could.” – Gary Sherman (from DVD commentary)

“…I replace missing eyeballs with sawdust, glue the lids together. I’ve used bent aluminum combs for dentures. I’ve used the back part of the scalp when there was no front part, and I’ve folded one hand over wadded-up newspapers when the other hand had no fingers You find all this obscene, sheriff? You know what is really obscene? Look at this. Look at the work I’ve done. This is an art and I am the artist. What can you remember about a sealed box, a sealed casket? That is obscene. That is the death of memory. A cosmetologist gives birth. I make souvenirs.” – William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson)

The word of the day is “scopophobia,” or the fear of being watched. As a big-city kind of guy, I can’t help but be suspicious of small towns (no offense intended to anyone living in one), where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Whether I’m simply passing through or visiting, I have the uncanny feeling that my every move is being tracked and catalogued by the locals, especially if I happen to step into a local establishment such as a store or restaurant. However absurd it may seem, I often expect to be greeted by blank stares the moment I walk in the door. Following the success of Alien (1979), the writing team of Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon set their sights on Earth-bound terrors. Set in the fictional New England seaside village of Potters Bluff, Maine,* Dead & Buried reinforces our fears about venturing where we’re not wanted. 

* Fun Fact #1: Filming actually took place on the opposite coast, in Mendocino, California.

 

George Le Moyne (Christopher Allport), a vacationing photographer, arrives in Potters Bluff to take some shots of the beach. He’s approached by an alluring young woman in red (Lisa Blount), who lures him into a grisly trap. Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino) discovers the tourist’s severely burned, barely alive body inside his van. George is subsequently rushed to the hospital, but before he can be questioned, he meets his demise. Dan’s investigation leads him to the town’s hotel, where the photographer was staying. The hotel’s proprietor suggests a link between George and Gillis’ school teacher wife, Janet (Melody Anderson). Although Janet contends her meeting with the now deceased photographer was innocent (purchasing photographic equipment for her school), the sheriff suspects she may know more than she’s telling. He plays a verbal game of cat and mouse with the town’s eccentric mortician/coroner, William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson), who also seems less than forthcoming. As Gillis attempts to piece together the mystery of the photographer and other strange occurrences, signs lead to a conspiracy between Potters Bluff’s residents; the answer may lie within a tiny reel of film.

Jack Albertson (in his final motion picture role), steals the show as William G. Dobbs, who apparently has his finger on the town’s pulse. Much like the rest of Potters Bluff, he’s a throwback to an earlier era, driving a ‘50s era Cadillac ambulance/hearse, and listening to big band music on an ancient Victrola while he works. Albertson imbues his character with a sardonic sense of humor, complementing the moribund tone of the film. There’s a twinkle in his eye when he discusses his profession, taking pride in his handiwork, but lamenting the fact that it gets buried. Albertson’s performance is especially poignant considering that the actor himself was dying of cancer at the time of filming. Despite the morbid nature of the subject matter, he brings life and a much-needed sense of levity to the character. (SPOILER ALERT). Much to the sheriff’s horror, he learns that Dobbs has found a way to reanimate the dead. They go about their pre-programmed daily rituals in a perverse mimicry of life, like over-glorified Disney automatons. We never see what miraculous process Dobbs has perfected (“Call it black magic. Call it a medical breakthrough. I'll take my secret to the grave.”), which is wisely left to our collective imaginations.

James Farentino plays his role as Sheriff Gillis with intensity. His building frustration with Dobbs and the rest of the townspeople is palpable. Farentino’s performance occasionally lapses into histrionics, but it sells the more unpalatable moments. Melody Anderson (fresh off filming 1980’s Flash Gordon) brings a playful aspect to her character, Janet, evident in the scenes when she coyly sidesteps her husband’s questioning, or gleefully talks to her class about witchcraft.

The superior makeup effects by Stan Winston are appropriately stomach turning* – while not easy to look at, it’s easy to admire the care and artistry that he brings to his gruesome creations. In one scene, a murdered hitchhiker’s (Lisa Marie) mutilated face is meticulously reconstructed, layer by layer. In another sequence, Sheriff Gillis hits a town resident with his truck, leaving their severed but still twitching arm in the grill. At the behest of the distributors, the filmmakers reluctantly added additional gore sequences, but the absence of Winston’s involvement is conspicuous. When acid is pumped into an unfortunate victim’s nostrils, the melting face effect, while ghastly, isn’t nearly as convincing as Winston’s work.    

* Fun Fact #2: In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, a burn victim is stabbed in the eyeball by a syringe. Instead of a live actor, the figure wrapped in bandages was an elaborate, fully articulated dummy.

 

The murky visuals, often seen through a brownish haze, somehow work for the film (bright colors and sunny skies wouldn’t have done the story any justice), conveying an unrelenting sense of dread throughout. Sherman commented that he purposely desaturated the colors. With the exception of the opening scene (along with some distributor-mandated gore inserts) with the mystery woman, the filmmakers avoided reds. Like a fading photograph, Potters Bluff and its residents are lost in another era. 

* Fun Fact #3: Prior to filming, Sherman drew a map of Mendocino to plan his shots. He purposely filmed the town at different angles, to make it appear more claustrophobic and disorienting.

One of the primary challenges of the $3 million production was that the film changed hands with three different distributors,* each with a different vision. According to Sherman, Dead & Buried originally started as a dark comedy, but the final distributor wanted any comic scenes removed and a greater emphasis on shocks. Regrettably, the director’s cut of the film no longer exists, as the third distributor ordered all versions of Sherman’s cut destroyed. Considering the creative differences, Dead & Buried works remarkably well. Bits of dark comedy remain intact, especially the scenes with Jack Albertson. The film’s overall tone is somber, with an underlying sense of dread, deftly exploiting our fears and mystery surrounding death. It rewards upon repeated viewings, scattering many clues along the way. Despite the film’s many strengths, it wasn’t a box office success, failing to connect with audiences or some critics at the time (notably Roger Ebert). As with many cult horror films, Dead & Buried has proved to be much more enduring than once anticipated, gaining a small but ardent fandom. Much like Dobbs’ zombie creations, the movie has taken on a second life of its own. 

* Fun Fact #4: The first distribution company was Guinness (yes, the brewery), during their brief foray into the movie business.

 

Sources for this article: Blue Underground DVD commentary by Gary Sherman; Blue Underground DVD commentary by Ronald Shusett and Linda Turley (Shusett)