I Bury the Living

I Bury the Living is an enjoyable and creeper chiller from 1958. I've seen this a couple of times.

A chairman is newly appointed the head of a cemetery and there is a map with pins on it in the shed. Black pins are for empty plots and white pins for taken ones. Something strange then starts happening: when the chairman puts pins in the empty plots, the owner of that plot dies. Several deaths occur and the police come to investigate. Has the chairman got supernatural powers?

I Bury the Living is very creepy, helped by the music score. That map gives you the creeps too.

The cast is led by western actor Richard Boone and is joined by Theodre Bikel, Peggie Maurer and sci-fi/horror B-movie regular Russ Bender (It Conquered the World, War of the Colossol Beast).

I bury the Living is worth tracking down. Very good.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

'I Bury The Living' is a good example of a 50s low budget genre movie that despite a few creaks still holds up all these years later. Richard Boone ('Hombre'), best known as a star of Westerns, is solid as a businessman who is obligated to serve on the committee of a local cemetery, and inadvertently discovers that by using the map of the graves available he has the power of life and death. Boone is supported by Theodore Bikel ('The Defiant Ones', Zappa's '200 Motels') is an eccentric turn as an ageing Scots grounds keeper, and several half remembered TV character actors. The movie's director Albert Band ('Zoltan, Hound Of Dracula') is the father of 80s trash king Charles Band ('Trancers', 'Re-Animator', 'TerrorVision'). I surprised myself with just how much I enjoyed this modest thriller. Especially recommended to fans of early Roger Corman or (the original) 'The Twilight Zone' or 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' TV series.

So many people call this movie a modern classic and one of the scariest genre movies ever made. Why? I have seen it more than once and done some research on it and I question all those assertions. Okay, follow me on this, Richard Boone takes the job as caretaker of a cemetery because it is a family tradition. By accident he discovers that if he places a black pin into the map showing the empty plots, the owner of that plot dies. Several friends and business associates actually do turn up dead when Richard sticks black pins into the spots marking graves reserved for them. It then dawns on him that if he can kills people by sticking black pins into the map maybe he can bring them back by substituting white pins. Now this is where we get to the really scary scenes. Boone goes running through the cemetery and sees that all the recent graves have been opened and the bodies are gone. His plan worked! But is it too late?

WARNING WARNING! I am not about to reveal the real ending of the movie, just the way it was originally written in the script. I am not, repeat NOT, telling you how the real movie ends.

As written Boone was to have locked himself in the caretakers shed which was suddenly surrounded by the walking corpses of all the people he had killed by sticking black pins into their grave markers. They do not attack but stand patiently outside calling for him to join them. Richard's grief is so great at having caused their deaths that he dies of a heart attack. Yeah but that ISN'T the way it ended. A "logical" explanation is tacked on that totally ruins the supernatural theme that we have spent the whole movie getting used to. I for one felt let down by this and THAT is why I say this movie is no classic. Yes it has some well staged moments but the copout ending spoils everything. If they had just stuck to the original ending it could have pre-dated NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by 10 years.

First, let me state that I'm an unabashed fan of The Twilight Zone, so when I say that I Bury the Living is, indeed, much like a TZ episode, that's a compliment!

Boone's performance is excellent as the cemetery man who seems to have the ability...or the curse...to cause people to die by sticking pins into a map of the cemetery.

The movie has its flaws, including a tendency for anyone in the film who doubts Boone's ability (including Boone himself) to stick a pin in the map to find out if anyone dies, which is a bit like pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger to see if the gun's loaded. And the ending seems grafted on and at odds with the rest of the film.

The rest of the film, though, is pretty good and is imaginatively filmed, becoming positively Expressionist as Boone's "madness" sets in. All in all, I gave it a "7" for the things it does well. Definitely worth taking a look at...if you like The Twilight Zone.

What happens when Richard Boone, recently put in charge of a cemetery, mistakenly puts a black pin in the hole of a map of the grounds instead of a white pin(black meaning the customer is dead and white alive)? Why the person dies and convinces Boone that he has supernatural powers. What does Boone do then? He keeps testing his theory and people begin to die left and right. Is Boone still yet convinced? I'm really not sure. I Bury the Living is a unique film in many ways as it rests its foundation in the supernatural world. Nothing like it had been done..and little since in the same vein. Richard Boone is pretty good in his role, but none of the other actors seem to come close to over-achieving. The sets are cheap as is the film's budget. I liked the film overall, but must agree to a small degree with one other viewer(although not to the extreme he did)) that the film is overrated. Yes, the film has a good creepy atmosphere, but almost all of that is washed away by the film's ridiculous ending. And Theodore Bikel...a good character actor...is incredibly bad playing a Scotsman. I found myself groaning every time he opened his big mouth. I think for the uniqueness of the film that this will be an enjoyable film for most, however.