Dead & Buried has tv movie veteran James Farentino in a star turn as the local sheriff of Potters Bluff, a picturesque town that could be said to be idyllic if not for the fact that tourists get brutally murdered by the townsfolk only to reappear later as newly absorbed members of the community. Are the dead coming back to life and is the town filling up with zombies? Or is it a conspiracy along the lines of The Stepford Wives? Or could there even be an element of swapping out one identity for a second chance as something else, as with another coastally located film (Malibu) like Frankenheimer's Seconds? If any of those films grab your fancy, or even if you're just a fan of Six Feet Under, there are plenty of pleasures to be had in Dead & Buried - a film that ambitiously tries to revamp several genre ideas with a serious tone that is further anchored by Farantino's empathetic performance. Also sure to raise eyebrows is Jack Albertson, known to so many as Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, here taking on a decidedly different role in the corpse factory known as Potters Bluff.
Dead & Buried finally makes its dvd debut courtesy of Blue Underground, who pack the main disc with three audio commentaries along with theatrical trailers and a poster/still gallery and also include a bonus disc with nods toward special effects wizard Stan Winston, supporting role actor Robert Englund, and scriptwriter Dan O'Bannon, who makes some interesting observations about how "fear is a sensitizing emotion" and talks about his passion for H. P. Lovecraft. In reference to one of many flinch-inducing scenes wherein a person gets injected in the eye, O'Bannon confesses that "I don't enjoy eyeball mutilation scenes - maybe someday I'll come around." Thankfully, at least this dvd finally came around and, yes, it's been a long wait for fans of this memorable and creepy film, but the wait has finally paid off with more dividends than you can shake a hypodermic needle at.
For more information about Dead and Buried, visit Blue Underground. To order Dead and Buried, go to TCM Shopping.
by Pablo Kjolseth
