This 1981 horror film stars James Farentino, Melody Anderson and Jack Albertson. This takes place in small town, Potters Bluff where the residents are not who they seem. When strangers turn up dead, local sheriff, Dan Gillis (Farentino) starts to investigate and discovers that various townspeople look like the murdered victims. Anderson (Flash Gordon) plays Dan's wife, Janet who is a school teacher and the late, Albertson (The Poseidon Adventure, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory) plays mortician, William Dobbs. Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Currie (Halloween III) and the late, Lisa Blount (Prince of Darkness) are also featured. This is a good horror flick with twisted moments that combines aspects of "The Fog" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" plus there's a scene that "Halloween III" kind of imitates. Fans of the genre may want to check this one out.

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.

This film is a horror/thriller masterpiece that all frightfest fans can enjoy. The story is good enough that it can stand alone without all the special effects. However, there is enough gore and mayhem to sustain the interest of the modern horror fan who craves that sort of thing. No one who has seen this movie can forget Christopher Allport getting burned at the stake or the lab technician getting his face fried, or, and let's not forget, Lisa Blount jabbing a syringe into a patient's eye.DEAD & BURIED centers on a quiet, rustic, seaside community named Potter's Bluff. The inhabitants all look like your normal, run-of-the-mill quiet smalltown folk, but in the opening scene we learn otherwise. These seemingly normal people are sadistic for some reason and learning why is the fun of the film. Town sheriff James Farentino has to put the pieces together when a rash of murders rocks Potter's Bluff, but the sheriff may not like the truths he unearths during his investigation.STORY: $$$$$ (This might be my all-time favorite horror story. Yes, the isolated community has been done to death in the horror genre but these characters are quite interesting and the witchcraft, re-animation subplots left me enthralled. As the viewer, you'll be hooked to the screen as Farentino tries to solve this mystery--one he fears strikes too close to his home. As the movie rolls along, you get the impression that there isn't a soul in Potter's Bluff that Farentino can trust. The screenplay builds to an effective, creepy and nail-biting climax that is far greater than any masked-killer chase scene).AVTING: $$$ (The acting is quite good. Jack Albertson shines as the eccentric Dobbs--town mortician. He talks to his cadavers and likes playing classical music as he drives out to murder scenes to retrieve his corpses. James Farentino is great as the hero. He expertly bottles his emotions and lets them out at the proper time. Melody Anderson, as Farentino's wife, is solid as the school teacher who seems a bit too interested in witchcraft. NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET'S Robert Englund has little to do and the Lisa Marie in the cast isn't the buxom former Mrs. Tim Burton. Lisa Blount also gives a quality performance as the sensual yet depraved nurse).NUDITY: $$ (Near the end of the film Farentino has a sex scene with Melody Anderson but nothing is seen. In the first scene of the film Christopher Allport plays an unfortunate photographer who takes photographs of the beach at Potter's Bluff. When Lisa Blount comes down to pose for him, he can't believe his good fortune when she doffs her top for some nudes, but his fantasy quickly turns to a nightmare when he is tied to a pole and burned alive).