Director Gerard Kikoine apparently loves the classics. His psychological horror film Edge of Sanity, released in 1989, starred Anthony Perkins as Jekyll and Hyde with an erotic twist, and his other film from the same year, Buried Alive, pulled from the works of Edgar Allan Poe (despite the title card’s misspelling) for its inspiration. While the subject matter diverts wildly from anything Poe would have written, there are smatterings of his ideas at play here, including the presence of a raven and a black cat, as well as being walled away, not to mention the titular event. But Kikoine’s film is primarily rooted in its own unique storyline, about a school for troubled girls that has a problem with its clientele going missing; and of course, new teacher Janet (Karen Lorre) has just started working there, stumbling upon the school’s various secrets.
Buried Alive is a fairly average psychological slasher; it really doesn’t have anything remarkable about it, but what it does it does well. It has a number of bigger stars that help buoy the film’s rather stolid approach to the subject matter, including Robert Vaughn as the school’s headmaster Gary, Donald Pleasence as the Freud-educated psychiatrist Dr. Schaeffer, and John Carradine in a surprise appearance as Gary’s father. The star power elevates the film, especially when Pleasence is chewing through scenery, and you’ll also notice an early role for Nia Long here as one of the girls attending the school. Notable too are the acting chops of hardcore porn star/actress/artist Ginger Lynn, playing the main mean girl of the cast.
While the film kind of meanders through its various Poe-inspired happenings, its main attributes besides casting are the death scenes. Inventive and often brutal, with a penchant for cruelty, Buried Alive gives viewers their money’s worth with gore effects that certainly make Poe’s suspenseful tales a lot more explicit. The film trades tension for bloody fun, and it’s not exactly a bad thing to make up for a tepid storyline.
Viewers will probably find that Buried Alive‘s killer twist is unsurprising, though, and that does tend to make the film’s conclusion somewhat lackluster. But if star power and violence is enough of an attraction, Buried Alive isn’t a bad way to spend 90 minutes – provided you’re not expecting a faithful adaptation of Poe’s work or his nuance.
Blu-ray
Vinegar Syndrome has released Buried Alive on Blu-ray with a new 2K scan of the film’s 35mm interpositive. The results are pretty good, though viewers will most likely notice the inferior source and some apparent damage and degradation. Most of the time, the film features a pretty consistent medium-bodied grain scale which can sometimes give the appearance of softness. In darker scenes, which are fairly omnipresent throughout, there is definitely some loss of clarity at times and grain can appear much harsher; despite that, there’s no evident crush, and most likely this is a limitation of the film’s lighting and the source itself. Otherwise, color timing is consistent and there’s no egregious damage to report. This should definitely suffice for viewers who have been waiting for a quality version of this film to surface.
Audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that sounds acceptable, with no dialogue drops or other volume issues; however, occasional muffling is present, which may be inherent in the original soundtrack. English subtitles are also included, though not accessible via a setup menu.
For extras, Vinegar Syndrome has assembled two new interviews. The first is with Ginger Lynn Allen, who discusses her experience on set including difficulty working with Robert Vaughn, her enamoring of Donald Pleasence, and how this film caused her to become a smoker. The other interview is with William Butler, who has a pretty small part in the film playing Ginger Lynn’s boyfriend; he talks about Donald Pleasence encouraging him to see the bright side of any small role, his difficulty working with Robert Vaughn, and a few other anecdotes. Together, these add about 30 minutes of extras.
This release also comes with reversible cover artwork, and if you get the limited edition, a slipcover.
Extra Features
- Region A Blu-ray
- NEW scanned & restored in 2K from its 35mm interpositive
- NEW “Ginger’s Antics” – an interview with actress Ginger Lynn Allen (1080p; 12:35)
- NEW “Well, I Wanna Be An Actor” – an interview with actor William Butler (1080p; 18:38)
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles
Verdict
While Buried Alive may not be everyone’s favorite slasher movie from the ’80s, it certainly has its charms and a number of cast members to entice viewers. This Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome may be the best we get for the flick, and while I wouldn’t recommend a blind buy, for the right person this would be a worthy item on their shelves.
