Dead & Buried – 1981 – Horror, Mystery
Directed by: Gary Sherman
Written by: Ronald Shusett; Dan O’Bannon
Main Players: James Farentino; Melody Anderson; Robert Englund; Jack Albertson

In a sleepy coastline town, a VW bus pulls up to the shore. A vacationing man gets out and grabs some photographer gear and sets off down the beach walking. He finds a scenic spot and snaps up the surroundings with his lens: birds, waves, junk in the sand, and… feet?? He spots a pretty girl attached to these feet, who admires the camera and asks the photographer about his life, smiling and flirting.
They seem to get along well despite an odd conversation. He snaps up shots of this lady, losing track of anything else. This photographer thinks he has struck gold!! Enter… plot. Uh oh. Things take a dark turn and sinister activity ramps up. Welcome to Potter’s Bluff.
So, after a horrific opener we join Sheriff Dan Gillis (Farentino). He is at the scene of a flipped car. The funeral home is running late and Mr. William G. Dobbs (Albertson) has yet to hit the scene. Dan talks to his deputy Henry (Englund) who wonders about possible vehicle salvage. Finally, Dobbs pulls up in his Ghostbusters hearse and some 1938 classical music bumping. He is at the sheriff’s service.
Dobbs is the official coroner and mortician and helps clear the scene. He looks inside and the victim… well it is not in good shape to say the least. Maybe it’s the man from the beach?! What is going on? Well, the tiny town is just happy to have Dan in cases like these. He has a Master’s degree in criminology, and big cities fighting over him, but instead he wants to give his old community some help instead. What a guy.
So, strange unknown bodies are just the beginning, as a mystery begins to form surrounding this small town. Strange people and strange happenings are afoot. Dan starts to notice and connect a few dots and away we go into a dark and twisted plot.
Dead & Buried does a lot with its likely miniscule budget. While it does not have traditional star power, that helps add to the creep factor a bit, as the story really does feel like small town people with some sinister secret bubbling under the surface.
It is a short film, and may be a similar experience to an elongated Twilight Zone episode, but the added gore, creepy vibes and horror give this the edge over a TV episode. The practical blood and guts special effect work is quite well done.
Horror fans that can handle a slower paced romp through a small-town mortuary should sign up for Dead & Buried. The story is just enough and the ending is good. Who is going to make it out of town, dead or alive?!
See This If You Liked:
Night of the Living Dead (1968; 1990); Dead Silence (2007); Hellraiser (1987; 2022) House of 1000 Corpses; The Midnight Meat Train; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974); Psycho (1960); From Beyond
Score:
7.0