Dead & Buried, 1981

 

    Potter’s Bluff is a picturesque coastal village with a small fishing industry and a very close-knit community of townsfolk.

    This ‘close knit community' of locals, however, does not take too kindly to outsiders, (in particular, ‘big city’ outsiders.) Groups of Potter’s Bluff residents regularly get together to capture, torture, and kill visiting interlopers. 

    And all walks of life comprise this band of ill-doers - from fishermen to waitresses, gas station attendant to school teacher, dispatching assorted travelers with more and more gruesome methods… Oh and the whole gang of them taking photos as they proceed.

    Well, the whole thing stinks of a Satanic death cult, believes the local sheriff, (played by James Farentino, somewhere between Christopher George and Paul Michael Glaser,) and he sets out to follow this line of investigation.

    Not long after, bodies are disappearing and reported seen alive and well about the same time Sheriff Dan finds a book on Witchcraft in his wife’s draw, and his suspicion is aroused!

    We are now around halfway into the film and the whole voodoo/living dead theme is finally beginning to show. Potter’s Bluff’s own town mortician, William Dobbs, (capably portrayed by “Grampa Joe” Jack Albertson,) is starting to seem less screwed-down properly and his affable appeal begins to raise an eyebrow.

    But, as I said, this transition takes place midway into the movie. Some might say all of this time was spent ‘to develop atmosphere,’ which it does. But there is plenty of downtime, here. Exposition scenes seem plentiful and extended, (but I guess, grisly small town murders are fairly infrequent!) 

Still and all, to me, it suffers a bit from pacing.

    Maybe I am nit-picking, but the film felt a little like a 70s late-night television ‘murder-mystery’ special, albeit an extremely violent one!

    But Dead & Buried does boast a good cast and decent  acting, enjoyable and root-for-able characters, and quite the unusual premise with twists and turns to keep it moving.

The ‘zombies’ in Dead & Buried are in essence of the voodoo variety, (see Zombie Classification Chart,) but with a twist of their own.

Scrutinized with the ZMR, (Zombie Movie Rubric,) my grading tool to help keep me as objective as possible, Dead & Buried scored a 2.38 points out of potential 4. This translates to ‘a decent and enjoyable watch.’

    And I did enjoy this movie, but not so much as a ‘zombie apocalypse/walking dead’ film entry, but more as a ‘early 80s horror/drama mystery’ film. 

    So, I DO recommend it, but y’know, with caveats.

Original 1981 YouTube trailer here: DEAD & BURIED