Drive-In Discs, Vol. 3: I Bury the Living/The Hand

Starring:Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel, Peggy Maurer, Robert Osterloh, Herbert Anderson, Howard Smith, Russ Bender, Glen Vernon, Lynette Bernay, Ken Drake, Cyril Delevanti, Sam Flint
Director: Albert Band
Studio: ELITE ENTERTAINMENT
Product Type: DVD

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Newly appointed cemetery chairman Robert Craft (Richard Boone) notices some odd things about his new post: a creepy sense of déjà vu, an inability to get heat in the caretaker's shack, and Andy the caretaker's Scottish accent, one of the thickest in all cinematic history. Craft soon discovers to his horror that sticking pins into his map of the cemetery seems to make people die. As if this weren't bad enough, no one believes him. As Craft grows more and more distraught, his forehead covered in some of the most brightly glistening sweat you've ever seen, people keep trying to prove it's all a coincidence by getting him to stick more and more pins in the map. Though hilariously overwrought, I Bury the Living does take a couple of nice creepy twists at the end. Never before has a movie so eloquently made the case for keeping cemetery records in a text-only database. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

BEST TRANSFER - GET IT WHILE YOU CAN.......2007-04-14

The Midnite Movies series from MGM has been out of print for some time now and with the various changing of the guards for ownership as well as distribution, you may never get another chance to pick up this Official Release of "I Bury The Living". Single title Midnite Movies are the rarest so get it while you can. Skip the public domain versions... you won't find a better transfer of this late night movie classic.

A Classic Of Its Kind........2006-12-17

Let me start out by saying that I use the term classic loosely. I consider this 1958 film a classic of its kind but that doesn't make it a "classic". However it follows honorably in the footsteps of 1940s film producer Val Lewton in the "less is more" category by using sight and sound rather than shock to create a profound sense of unease. It's a B movie all the way and clearly shows what can be done on a meager budget with that most valuable of resources...imagination. Richard Boone (just before he played Paladin in HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL) stars as a caretaker who discovers that he has the power of life and death by sticking black and white pins in a cemetery map. The film becomes increasingly nightmarish when Boone decides to reverse the pins with terrifying results. If you've read a few of the other reviews you know about the ending that everybody loves to hate. It attempts to put a logical as opposed to supernatural explanation on what happens much like the ending to Tod Browning's MARK OF THE VAMPIRE. The original ending (part of which is in the trailer) was meant to be supernatural but it was ultimately rejected. Despite the present ending, I BURY THE LIVING still has the ability to remain with you long after countless other "scarier" movies have been forgotten. Just ask Stephen King who talks about it in his book DANSE MACABRE. If it's B movie blood and gore you want than head for the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD but if you enjoy a literate script with TWILIGHT ZONE/ALFRED HITCHCOCK twists and turns, effective music, and solid performances then check this "classic" out. Be advised there are a number of low budget DVD versions out there but the one to get is the MGM Midnite Movies edition from 2001. It's no longer available new but there are plenty of used copies at good prices. The print quality and sound are the best available and give this little black and white gem its maximum impact.

Fantastic Flick......just don't bother to watch the last 10 min........2006-07-08

It's a 1958 black and white horror movie that IS WONDERFUL......up until the last 10 minutes. The movie drastically spirals downward after that point. Overall, it's a Must See!

It's the story of a man named Robert who becomes chairman of some dumb volunteer committee for the small town. Part of his new duties are to manage the cemetery, which he is informed will be about as time consuming as one afternoon a month.

Inside the cemetery's office is a large map that displays the grave plots. Plots marked with a white pin denote plots owned by living people, and plots marked with a black pin denote plots with a body buried in them. Likewise, plots without any pins are up for sale. I am pointing this out because the map is a key focal point during the entire movie.

On the first day of the job, Robert accidently marks two recently sold grave plots with black pins. That day, the couple who bought the plots are killed in a car accident. After that, anytime Robert marks a grave with a black pin, the person is destined to die. Later on, Robert tries to reverse the process with white pins...

The movie itself had a fantastic buildup. It's rare to find a movie that is THAT engrossing/enchanting/spellbinding/etc. I couldn't wait to find out how they would finish it. (And of course I was hoping to see some ghoulies or zombies). However, I think because of the great start and middle - the climax was very, very, very, very, disappointing. To put it ineloquently, the ending was crap! The writer was obviously trying (very poorly I might add) to finish it with a realistic approach and ended up ruining the entire effect.

I highly recommend watching this movie, and then turning it off when you get to the part where Andy McKee comes into the cemetery's office covered in mud. Let your imagination finish the scene. Just about anything would be better than how they ended it.

A wonderfully atmospheric thriller -- but the ending disappoints.......2006-05-03

I Bury the Living is one of many classic films that prove you don't need big money, big names, and big effects to achieve suspense or completely capture your audience's attention. I found the premise of this film quite intriguing, and the pace plays out just right as we descend further into the realm of the surreal as our protagonist inches closer and closer to possible insanity. It's unfortunate that all that commitment and effort was significantly offset by the ending. Personally, I thought the conclusion fell flat on its face. It's like going to Disneyworld, only to find a great big hole in the ground when you get there; you could squeeze the state of Texas through the plot hole at the end. I was all set to give this film five stars, and now I feel as if I'm being rather generous in giving it four.

The setup's rather simple. Robert Kraft (Richard Boone) is this year's chairman of the Cemetery Committee in town, which means it's now his responsibility to oversee the paperwork down at the Immortal Hills Cemetery. When someone buys a plot, you stick a white pin on the designated spot on the big cemetery plot map; when someone dies, you replace the white pin with a black pin. Doesn't really sound like a recipe for disaster, does it? When a couple of newlyweds show up wanting reservations for the hereafter, in go the white pins - then, when the couple dies soon thereafter, Bob is creeped out to find two black pins where the white pins should have been. He decides to pick a white pin at random, replace it with a black pin, and see what happens. Sure enough, that fellow falls over dead. Experimenting seems to be really popular in this little town, so a quick succession of pin replacements - and deaths - follows. Pretty soon, Bob starts wigging out, and the cops actually get involved - even though all of the deaths were seemingly due to natural causes.

Except for the ending, this film is great. The suspense really builds up, the writer keeps things interesting by giving you several things to think about in terms of your own theory, and there are some rather impressive visual effects. The big cemetery plot board is just weird in and of itself, as it sports some weird swirls that look like something in between a Dali-drawn bicycle and a distorted human face. The director uses light to great effect (an art form quickly lost once color became the norm), zooms in and out with the best of them, and basically just adds a Hitchcockian touch to it all.

Don't be fooled by the various posters and DVD covers, as you will find no real frights (and certainly no zombies) here. I would not classify I Bury the Living as a horror film at all - it's a suspenseful mystery/thriller. That's why, to some degree, I think you need to be a fan of classic B-movies in order to really enjoy this film. Otherwise, there's a chance you'll find it somewhat boring, as it's remarkably free of action, monsters, and fiends. While the building suspense is effective, it's not the kind of suspense that digs its claws into your arms, and there really is a sort of woodenness about each of the characters. I also have to believe that a number of people, B-movie fans or not, will be rather disappointed by the ending of this otherwise well-made film.

This is what a Cartographer's nightmare feels like..........2006-02-06

Marketing ruined this film. Think about this for a moment. The taglines to I Bury the Living have absolutely nothing to do with the actual film. The distribution team behind this feature was obviously trying to connect to the zombie fan-base when attempting to release this film. With taglines like, "A creature to freeze your blood!" and "A story to chill your bones" it becomes clear that the creators of this film did not realize the full potential of what they were sitting on. I Bury the Living is better than most zombie films and gives us a powerfully original story that will capture your attention and keep you guessing until the final moments. While most films will clutter the center of most films of this nature with meaningless love stories or idiotic secondary character development, I Bury the Living keeps us focused throughout the film on one centralized and intense character, Richard Kraft. By keep our attention based on this one man, we are able to feel the insanity beginning to creep up on this mild-mannered executive. Take this decent "B" acting and couple it with a director that knew, and felt passionate, about the story and a cinematographer that challenged the predetermined structure of most films like this during the 50s, and you have the collective body of I Bury the Living.

For me to sit here and say that the acting in this film was phenomenal would be a downright lie. This was a "Midnight Movie" special meaning that there was "B" grade actors attempting to break into the bigger Hollywood pictures. Typically, especially in today's horror/suspense genre in the independent arena, the acting is what generally hurts the film. You cannot create amazing special effects for your film if most of your money is going into bigger named stars, so this is why you see very original horror films coupled with terrible acting. In this film, it is a little better. Richard Boone is a decent lead that actually conveyed quite a bit of human emotion and fully demonstrated the obsessive nature surrounding the events. I believed in him both as an actor as well as a character. This is tough to pull off, but Boone did a decent job. He seemed like a regular "Joe" that was caught up in a supernatural force that he could not control. The character of Andy McKee (played by the energetic Theodore Bikel) was also another great character. What made I Bury the Living great was that the characters were simple, you didn't need this deep complex story to fully bring these guys to life, they did it themselves. They were fun, yet freaky instantaneously. This is a rare combination in modern Hollywood horror cinema.

While the acting was decent, it is the map that fully takes credit for stealing the film. While I have watched other films where inanimate objects rule the screen, this one was by far one of the best. The map in this film was spooky. It nearly had a face when you removed all the pins and backdrop. It felt, and looked, like a demonic face staring at you. It allowed this possessed feel to come through the television screen. Throughout the film I found myself staring at the map when the other characters were talking about the plot. The map was that engrossing and perplexing. I wished there were more discussed about this map, perhaps a back-story on its arrival to the cemetery or a quick opening on how it was made. Director Albert Band did a great job of giving the map the spotlight it deserved. He even did a fantastic job of bringing suspense to the pins which determined who would live and who would die. There were several scenes in which the camera lighting would shift, we would zoom into the marked plots, or follow the pin symbolizing death. This was extremely creative and effective tool used especially in the 1950s. It is hard to find films today that would use that type of emphasis on the elements, but Band was not afraid to experiment. That is why this film succeeded. It went beyond your typical suspense film and brought you an original tale that kept you engrossed until the final scenes. Even at that time, Band doesn't quite give you all of the truth, leaving some parts up to the imagination.

While I do speak very highly of this film, it wasn't perfect. I don't expect many horror/suspense films of the 50s to be unless big-budget Hollywood released them. With I Bury the Living, there could have been more dedicated to the plot. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched this film because Robert is causing these deaths by replacing white pins with black ones. Yet, after the second occurrence, nobody seems to believe him so they keep asking him to put more pins in. You would think that somebody would play the counter-conscious with Robert saying that if he does put another pin in the map, another will die. I think we needed a stronger bond between death and humanity. I didn't think Robert cared about those he was obviously marking for death. I especially saw this when the entire Board of Directors asks Robert to place black pins on their plots, then nearly following this horrific event, the police officer asks Robert to put another pin on the map. I would think that by this time Robert would be mad with obsession. I wouldn't think that he would want to do that again, but even with this minor sidestep, I Bury the Living is still a deeply conceptual film.

Overall, I thought this was a great early horror/suspense film that will play Parcheesi with your mind. The characters are strong and enjoyable (who doesn't enjoy a good Scotsman?); the plot needed some more work, but was carefully balanced out by the exceptional work by director Albert Band and his cinematographer. I didn't see the ending happening until the final door opened revealing the truth. It didn't overdevelop useless plot-points like love, secondary characters, or that annoying alien copout. I Bury the Living kept it simple, and it succeeded. I would not be ashamed to show this film to my friends on a dark and spooky night. For being created in the 50s, I believe this film could challenge the originality of some of the Hollywood hits today and find itself victorious each and every time!

Grade: **** out of *****

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