(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)
