In 1989/1990, producer Harry Alan Towers produced three Edgar Alan Poe adaptations for Menahem Golan’s 21st Century Film Corporation: Edgar Allan Poe’s The House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death, and the film we are reviewing today, Edgar Allan Poe’s Buried Alive.
The film stars Playboy Playmate Karen Witter as Janet, the new teacher at Ravencroft Hall, a school for delinquent and troubled girls that is run by an impassioned Robert Vaughn. From the moment Janet arrives at the school, things seem off, girls are going missing and Janet is having vivid nightmares about breathing walls and many many insects. Throw in a truly weird Donald Pleasance performance as a fellow teacher at the school and you have the makings of a late night cable favorite. I had a fairly decent time with this film, it didn’t reinvent the wheel, but for being a DTV horror film in this time frame, you can do a lot worse. Pleasance and Vaughn bring their particular talents to their roles, even in the most dreck of dreck, they can elevate the material they have to work with, and here it works in spades. Director Gérard Kikoïne and DP Gérard Loubeau make the best of an obviously low budget production to give the film some style, and for the most part it works. What doesn’t is a copious amount of dubbing due to this being a South African production and what I can only assume is a hefty amount of local talent filling in the smaller supporting roles. Overall this was an enjoyable film that is definitely to be enjoyed with a cold soda and a hot slice of pizza.
Vinegar Syndrome being Buried Alive to blu, touted as a new 2K scan of from its 35mm interpositive. MGM previously put the film out on dvd as part of its old MOD line in an ancient crusty tape master, and of course this blu blows that prior disc out of the water and into the grave. There is a bit of a softness to the picture that’s pretty usual for a lot of lower budget horror films of this time but other wise everything looks real good, grain is intact, few specks and flakes here and there but nothing too terrible, overall it is a really lovely picture and the usual great quality from the MGM licensed titles from Vinegar Syndrome.
Only one audio option here, the English mono track here is clear, no pops or hisses I could hear, Frederic Talgorn’s synth score puts in the work and you really get the creepy heaving breathing of the wall, it’s not a real sound mix intensive movie but this track does well where it counts.
Special features are a little sparse, only two interviews with two members of the cast, one with adult film legend Ginger Lynn, and the other with actor William Butler, also the disc includes newly created art with a reversible insert with original poster art.
-Billy Jarrett