I BURY THE LIVING
US, 1957, 77 minutes, Black-and-white.
Richard Boone, Theodore Bickel.
Directed by Albert Band.
Rather a strange little film. It has touches of horror, touches of madness. In fact, the plot is rather bizarre, especially when introduced by information that science tells us that some people have psychic superpowers and exercise them.
Richard Boone, comparatively early in his career, plays Robert Kraft, a business manager who has connections with the local Cemetery and is appointed to be in charge. He is reluctant, thinks he is too busy. His uncle wants him to take the job.
In the meantime, there is the Caretaker of 40 years, Andrew Mc Kee, played in rather heavy disguise by Theodore Bickel. Scots accent, incessant chatter, he works around the cemetery, with the gravestones, keeping the graves – but is to be retired after 40 years with a good pension.
There is a mysterious map of the cemetery, shown in close-up, sometimes twisted, sometimes glowing. Robert Kraft puts pins in various plots that have been purchased. However, after he puts in the pins, the persons concerned die. There is a young married couple. There are three businessmen who all seem to drop dead independently and mysteriously. There is his uncle. And, as a test, with the police and his friends, a plot is reserved for somebody in France – with his wife ringing to say that he needs a plot because he has died in Paris.
Robert Kraft thinks he’s going mad, wants to avoid the situation, is concerned, consults the police, talks with his friend. And, all the time, there is Mc Kee pottering around, carving names on the headstones.
Just as the audience might be thinking that there is something in Robert Kraft’s superpowers, it emerges, of course, that it is all logical, that Mc Kee is quite mad, resents being laid off, and his revenge by killing off people, especially frightening some to death. The Paris situation is a police set up to trap Mc Kee.
Relief for Robert Kraft, for his girlfriend, for his friends – and the end of a strange little film with a strange story about special powers and about madness.
