BURIED ALIVE

US, 1990, 93 minutes, Colour.
Tim Mattheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hoyt Axton, William Atherton.
Directed by Frank Darabont.

Buried Alive is a thriller/horror telemovie with a good cast. Tim Matheson, all genial at the opening, is the devoted husband who is murdered by his wife and her lover, survives, emerges from the grave and turns, quite alarmingly, into a man of vengeance. Jennifer Jason Lee is very good as the self centred, would-be glamorous wife. William Atherton is the self-centred, weak but shrewd doctor who leads the wife into killing her husband. Hoyt Axton is the genial sheriff.

The film is quite implausible, though presented in the more realistic vein. This doesn't always work, straining credibility. However, as a mixture of the credible and incredible, the film has its moments and is a rather elaborate revenge story. Direction is by Frank Darabont who went on to direct The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile (both nominated for Best Film Oscars).

1.Entertaining horror/thriller? Nightmare? Revenge story?

2.Telemovie and its style, for the home audience? The picture of the small town? The importance of the house, the physical nature of the house, Clint's extentions and the final trap? The burial ground, the grave? The musical score?

3.The title, audience expectations, Clint's experience, the experience of Joanna and Courtland?

4.Clint, his name (Goodman)? Genial, in love with his wife, his work, not wanting to sell his business, building the house, anticipating a family? A good man? Sam and the fishing? The meal, the toast, his dying struggle? At the mortuary? Buried? Waking up? Fear, pounding the coffin, his scream? The storm? Pushing through, the dog's vigil, coming out of the grave? His vengeance, seeing Joanna and Courtland? His welding mask, terrorising his wife, not killing them quickly? Building the elaborate maze? Confronting them, their deaths? At the grave, the encounter with Sam, leaving the town? What future - alive, but really dead? Buried alive until he died?

5.Joanna, the type, the red dress and makeup, self-centred? Ignoring her husband, arguing with him, wanting to sell the house, the city? The news about the abortion? The affair with Courtland, his plan, her hopes, Beverly Hills? The poison, her throwing it away, getting it out? The wine, the argument? Killing her husband? Her response to his dying? Acting the widow, her tension, the sheriff, the bottle on the floor, Courtland helping? The decision to sell the business, the cheap funeral and no wake? Wanting Courtland to visit, his arrival, her being trapped in the basement, the confrontation of the two, the poison and the syringe? The maze, being trapped, Courtland dead, being left alone, the house burning? Buried alive?

6.Courtland, his clinic, penniless, the affair, the poison, the abortion? Acting as doctor and adviser? The tension with the bottle, handling the sheriff? Wanting to kill Joanna, his answering service and the debts? His love, her discovery of the truth? The confrontation, her persuading him to use it on their tormentor? The maze, the confrontation, his fear at seeing Clint, falling on the syringe? His body thrown in with Joanna?

7.Sam, genial sheriff, going fishing, the investigation, kind to Joanna, the grave, his realising the truth, warning Clint to go away?

8.The mortuary, the old coffin - and the irony of its use? The blood not being removed and the embalming fluid not injected? The mortuary personnel, the experienced man, the fainting new man?

9.A conventional story of horror, the twists, the character delineations? The revenge?