Oh my God, this was so nearly a perfect horror film... So what went wrong?This starts off brilliantly with the titles which give the audience the feel of a classy and elegant movie. This is a bold move for a horror but the director, Gary Sherman knew exactly what he was doing. Sherman continues this ambiance into the opening scene of a photographer snapping piccies of driftwood and fishing tackle. He is joined on the beach by the beautiful Lisa (played by Lisa Blount) and after a few flirtations she removes her blouse and asks if she could be a model. As the photographer closes in for a romantic clinch...This is when all hell breaks loose... I cannot say anything else otherwise "Spoilers" - and we don't like them do we.The opening sequence does a fantastic job of drawing in the viewer in and making them wonder just what the hell is going on in the little seaside village of Potter's Bluff. It's up to Sheriff Dan Gillis (strongly portrayed by James Farentino) to solve the murders and the mysteries behind them. Coroner William G Dobbs (splendidly played by Jack Albertson) is helping him with his investigations. These are the main two characters in the movie and are well crafted with their own personal attributes and qualities making them likable and relatable.The writers, Jeff Millar, Alex Stern, who wrote the story based on a Chelsea Quinn Yarbro novel, and screenwriters Ronald Shusett and the skillful Dan O'Bannon, give the Zombie mythos a new spin. Along with special effects wizard Stan Winston they all create a tangible tension and eeriness that adds to the power and atmosphere of the movie.Then the reveal comes... ...and everything falls apart.Suddenly the strong personality of Sheriff Gillis becomes that of a screaming and wailing weak-willed person; the off-beat Dodds becomes comically insane; Gillis' wife Janet (played by Melody Anderson) falls apart mentally; and the story ends with a whimper rather than a scream. This ending makes a brilliant movie a mess and a shambles.However, it's still worth watching for the earlier part of the film and not the last ten minutes. I now want to find a copy of the novel to read to see if this ending is also the book's finale... it may work better in words and in imagination than it does on film.

Surely in 1981 this was a quite original concept and I think it's still interesting and different than the living dead movies we see today. Still despite this the movie was for me a drag to sit through. Sure we have this mystery of why people get killed in such a violent way and how comes they suddenly show up again in exactly the same or even better state. Well the answer is somewhere before halfway that there is some kind of witchcraft involved that violent deaths can bring people back to life. Way too soon I knew though that the sheriff's wife was one of those living dead and it came as no surprise to me in the end that the protagonist himself apparently had forgotten he was one too. Of course if he knew that in advance there would be not much of a movie or story to tell. Can I really blame the movie for being predictable that way? I think it is because I have seen it already quite a few times before. However the movie didn't provide me with really interesting characters either except for the mortician. The others including the sheriff as protagonist were dull as dishwater to me.

A suspense horror film set in a small coastal town where, after a series of gory murders committed by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life.Officially, the script was written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett; O'Bannon later disowned the film, claiming that Shusett had written the script by himself but needed O'Bannon's name on the project to promote it being from the creators of "Alien". (Shusett and O'Bannon co-wrote "Alien", but the latter was the bigger name. Even today, Shusett is not well known, despite producing such science fiction hits as "Total Recall" and "Minority Report").The most noted horror name here is Robert Englund, who appears as Harry. At this point Englund had appeared in "Eaten Alive" but not yet "Nightmare on Elm Street", so he is given relatively little screen time and few lines to speak. In retrospect, I am sure the creators wish they had featured him more. But stealing the show was Jack Albertson, who portrayed William G. Dobbs as no one else could (as then passed away the same year). Although the film has a solid plot and good gore, the Dobbs character is what makes this a cut above the average film.Definitely a film that should be seen by those who have not yet had the pleasure...

Horror story full of tension, thrills , chills and restless terror. The writers of alien, Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon , bring a new bizarre terror to earth . Suspense/horror film set in a small coastal town in Rhode Island where, after a series of gory murders committed by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life . Bouts of insanity in the populace , realising a plague of murderous madness that are leading several grisly killings . In the little town some people begins to kill and rioting, and things really start going to hell with this sudden death-wave . The strange events drive its victims mad before killing them, with a difficult line between normal hysteria and actual insanity . Meanwhile the sheriff Gillis ( James Farentino married to Melody Anderson ) is investigating the weird deeds , but has no tracks to what's going on. Fortunately, the coastal small New England town has a magnificent mortician named William G. Dobbs (Jack Albertson) , who is glad to take care of these deaths which is good for his business . The puzzling seems to be resolved at the creepy final packed with twists and turns .This one is of the highest earning horror movies of the 80s and contains a good cast as James Farentino , Melody Anderson and special mention to Jack Albertson as the mysterious undertaker . Furthermore , early apparition of the future terror icon as Robert Englund and film debut for Lisa Blount . It's a solid movie , a terror story plenty of suspense and intrigue in which the victims seem to be coming back to life. Film itself takes place from point of sight the sheriff and the mortician . The living dead appearance is the high point of the movie , they deliver the goods plenty of screams, shocks and tension . The horror moments are compactly made and fast moving . It packs tension, shocks, thrills, chills and lots of gore and blood . There's plenty of moments of gore and a number of scenes that are quite horrifying , resulting to be definitely the spotlight of the film the surprising ending . This gory chiller is well made by Gary A. Sherman . Gary is an expert on action genre as proved in ¨Wanted : dead or alive¨ , ¨Vice squad¨ and terror as ¨Death line¨ , ¨Poltergeister III¨ , and ¨Dead and buried¨ , this one is his best film . Rating : 6,5 , good horror movie .