Rugged TV star Richard Boone ('Have Gun, Will Travel') headlines this modest little chiller whose horrors are largely of the psychological variety. As written by Louis Garfinkle, and directed by Albert Band, it shows how the events of the story take their toll on the main character, and how he deteriorates physically and mentally. Band and company create some good visual tricks and nice scene transitions as they establish a suitably creepy atmosphere.
Boone plays Bob Kraft, a department store executive who as a tradition in his company assumes the duty of cemetery director for a year. He finds that he seems to have a power over life and death when it comes to the grave owners. On a map of the cemetery, white or black push pins mark graves either occupied (black) or designated for future use (white). When he puts the black push pins in, the owners of those graves mysteriously perish, and he comes to feel great guilt over this horrible ability he seems to have acquired.
Granted, this film could have had even more punch had the filmmakers gone with the ending as scripted, which would have been more eerie and more in tone with the rest of the film. In the finished film, they make the unfortunate move of giving everything a "rational" explanation.
The film is at its best when Boone is left alone to ponder the macabre situation in which he now finds himself; there is a strong point made in the script about the unknown powers of the mind. Boone is excellent in the lead, and receives sturdy support from a cast also including folk singer Theodore Bikel as amiable cemetery grounds keeper Andy McKee, Peggy Maurer as Bobs' girlfriend Ann Craig, Howard Smith as Bobs' concerned uncle George, Herbert Anderson as jovial reporter "Jess" Jessup, and Robert Osterloh as hard nosed police detective Lt. Clayborne.
Clocking in at a trim 78 minutes, "I Bury the Living" just gets better as it goes along, with a superb climactic sequence of the weary Bob starting to succumb to guilt and terror, and discovering some nasty surprises in the cemetery. As has been said, this comes best recommended to people who like "horror films for the thinking person". It's both interesting and entertaining throughout.
Seven out of 10.
Boone plays Bob Kraft, a department store executive who as a tradition in his company assumes the duty of cemetery director for a year. He finds that he seems to have a power over life and death when it comes to the grave owners. On a map of the cemetery, white or black push pins mark graves either occupied (black) or designated for future use (white). When he puts the black push pins in, the owners of those graves mysteriously perish, and he comes to feel great guilt over this horrible ability he seems to have acquired.
Granted, this film could have had even more punch had the filmmakers gone with the ending as scripted, which would have been more eerie and more in tone with the rest of the film. In the finished film, they make the unfortunate move of giving everything a "rational" explanation.
The film is at its best when Boone is left alone to ponder the macabre situation in which he now finds himself; there is a strong point made in the script about the unknown powers of the mind. Boone is excellent in the lead, and receives sturdy support from a cast also including folk singer Theodore Bikel as amiable cemetery grounds keeper Andy McKee, Peggy Maurer as Bobs' girlfriend Ann Craig, Howard Smith as Bobs' concerned uncle George, Herbert Anderson as jovial reporter "Jess" Jessup, and Robert Osterloh as hard nosed police detective Lt. Clayborne.
Clocking in at a trim 78 minutes, "I Bury the Living" just gets better as it goes along, with a superb climactic sequence of the weary Bob starting to succumb to guilt and terror, and discovering some nasty surprises in the cemetery. As has been said, this comes best recommended to people who like "horror films for the thinking person". It's both interesting and entertaining throughout.
Seven out of 10.