Le manoir de la terreur

Burial Ground is an Italian bonkers mix of audio horror, vile imagery and gutsy character work.

In the best manner, Burial Ground does all it can to make you feel uncomfortable. Forgetting the slow march of the decaying filth following the cast, the cast themselves are playing some of the most egregious characters ever committed to film. Each and every one of them seems wrong in some way. The framing of the violence, often in close up, with the camera remaining long after the skin's been torn, or the skull cracked makes for seat squirming viewing. The zombies, with live maggots and worms and eyes falling out of sockets, stir nasty feelings of disgust as they shamble and stumble and lay seige to the mansion.

In it all, though, is a sense of beauty. The grounds of the mansion and its interior are epic. The cast, even though they're being terrorised all night, look absolutely stunning in their pearls and perms and high neck sweaters. The blood flows like paint on a wet canvas.

But the kicker, the reason to watch this film, is the final scene. In a moment built up over the runtime, we get one of cinema's most depraved and insane developments ever committed to in film. A real horror crowd pleaser that I'm sure if played at any late night horror show would get whoops and gasps and screams of delight from the audience.

The Vestron Video version of this film appears to be uncut (it's hard to imagine what might be missing). Truly, though, the creepiest part of it is the one woman's so-called "son", Michael, who is OBVIOUSLY not a child but, in fact, some kind of 'little person'. Why the producers of the film decided to cast an actor who is clearly an adult as a child is beyond me, but it certainly ups the "ewwww!" factor in several scenes. Most notably is that following one of the (many) zombie attacks when Michael goes to his mother for comfort and then starts nuzzling her breasts and reaching up her dress. I'm not sure if this would have actually been creepier if the actor had actually been a child, but it is far more disturbing than any of the gore on display. The rest of the film is alright. I actually liked the fact that very little time was wasted on explanations on the source of the zombie-ism (eccentric professor raises the dead and then is eaten by them - "No, stop - I'm your friend!"), that they pretty quickly get down to the business of gut-munching and flesh-ripping. Any normal viewer will either despise or at least feel indifferent toward all of the non-zombie characters; we are aren't in any way asked or persuaded to identify or sympathize with anyone here, so (like all of the 'Friday the 13th' movies and most slasher flicks) you end up hating all of the victims and cheering on the zombies, taking great satisfaction when they get their intestines pulled out or heads cut off. It doesn't help matters that all the living humans behave, almost without exception, in a fashion that can at best be generously called moronic (no offense intended toward any of you morons out there) - which only makes you want to see them all die that much more. One complaint: the video transfer of this film is rather on the darkish side, which makes some of the best scenes (especially those at night) difficult to fully appreciate (most notably the maid's crucifixion/decapitation). There are better zombie movies, definitely, but you can also do a lot worse.

"Le Notti Del Terrore" (aka. "Burial Ground") of 1981 is a film with a mixed reputation. While some of my fellow Italian Horror fanatics regard it as being among the greatest Italian Zombie gore flicks, others seem to regard it as being completely worthless junk. In my opinion, it is neither. As far as I am concerned, "Burial Ground" does not nearly rank among the greatest Italian Zombie flicks, and yet it is an absolute must-see for my fellow fans of the living dead, mainly because of its extreme gore and its value as one of the most demented Zombie flicks ever made. Director Andrea Bianchi had already proved to be an expert for the sleazy kind of Italian Horror with his delightfully smutty Giallo "Nude Per L'Assassino" ("Strip Nude For Your Killer", 1975), and he also proves that he's a master of extreme gore with this yummy flick.

The storyline is extremely thin, and the existence of the zombies gets even less explanation than in other zombie films. However, the film's nauseating qualities easily make up for what it lacks in plotting. The living dead in this film are, without exaggeration, some the most disgusting Zombies ever in cinema. The makeup department really did an amazing job here - zombies do often look rotten, but these guys are literally in the process of rotting. The zombies have disgusting worms and maggots crawling out of their eye-sockets and other orifices, and the mere look of them is already a delight for every fan of nauseating and disgusting gore. Additionally, the film provides an enormous amount of remarkably nauseating gore, even for Italian Zombie flick standards. The film furthermore includes an extremely irritating little boy who has the face of an adult (and who was actually played by an adult, Peter Bark), and whose looks are not the only strange thing about him... I don't wanna give away more, as I don't want to spoil any of the fun, but I can assure that the fans of the really explicit and demented kind of gore-cinema will have the time of their lives watching "Burial Ground". The film is never even remotely eerie or suspenseful, and the plot is as thin as it gets, but there is no doubt about one thing: this is demented stuff! I recommend "Burial Ground" to all my fellow fans of Italian Horror cinema, especially to those who like their Zombie flicks extremely gory. If you want GORE, then this is for you!

To properly critique this film I will attempt to rate some of it's key elements individually.

Entertainment Value: 10/10 This is a very entertaining movie that moves at a fast pace. The best part is that the zombies are twice as clever as the living. The undead concoct plans to outwit the living, similar to tapping on the left shoulder then standing behind the right one.

Plot: 1/10 Thank goodness there were other zombie films made before this one, otherwise you wouldn't know what the heck was going on! This is basically derivative of all the better done, and known zombie films of the 70's, with some totally bizarre twists thrown in to keep you guessing. The script is very disproportional, and the dialog is awful. Basically, it would be extremely challenging to write another script as horrible as this one ever again.

Production Value: 2/10 This movie has almost no directorial style, and the class equivalent of an 80's porno movie. The gore and makeup is done with very little, or no attention to detail, so it's hard to believe that the same guy that did the make-up effects for Fulci's "Zombie" did the effects for this one. Also, the image looks murky and the camera compositions, undesirable. The crew is seen once, for certain, and the dubbing is sloppy. However, it should be noted that now and then the score is pretty good.

Acting: 0/10 or 10/10 (depending on how you look at it) The acting is completely overdone, and definitely one of the funniest parts of the movie. I found myself gleefully anticipating every line.

So there you have it, a very entertaining, very bad movie. Possibly, one of the most entertaining films I have ever seen. Check it out!

This is the one. This is the one that puts them all to shame. Fulci, Romero, no one has ever made living-dead cinema seem so dark, gritty, and down right apocalyptic as Andrea Bianchi. Obviously less expensive than anything from those other guys, Burial Ground is certainly no more complicated than anything else from the genre, three giddy couples and a depressed man-child are vacationing in an old mansion in Italy. They couldn't have picked a better location. Little Michael, the man-child is in love with his mother, and he seems a bit jealous of his step-father, I'm not exactly sure what they intended with this little sub-plot but all I know is that incest is hilarious, regardless of what genre it's thrown into, and being completely random makes it all the better. I'm just glad little Michael is a character in a movie and not someone I have to deal with on a regular basis.

Enough about Man-children and incest, there's much more fun to be had. The first twenty minutes of this epic mostly involves the giddy couples spouting ridiculous dialogue, flirting with each other, and frolicking about with not a care in the world, until it happens, the dead are coming back to life, and unfortunately, for some reason, there are a dozen or so rotted corpses buried in the garden. As bad as the English voice-overs are, they do a great job at sounding terrified once the madness begins. Probably more powerful than it was meant to be, Burial Ground gives you the strong impression that these dozens of zombies, some of which resemble the Toxic Avenger, just might take over the world after they're done with these guys. Burial Ground is a prime example of grainy, bad film quality unintentionally enhancing the horror quality. Some scenes, you cant even make out what's going on. Although the sci-fi-ish sound effects are out of place, it adds an apocalyptic feel that makes things seem even more hopeless and dismal. Some how, the unintentional humor doesn't overshadow any of this. Calling Burial Ground creepy would be an insult, nightmarish would be a good start.

The darkness of this masterpiece goes far beneath the dark, grainy quality of the film, even when they show a sunny day, all I see in this film is darkness, things just seemed doomed from the very beginning, and that, exploitation fans, is the makings for true horror. Burial Ground is best Italian gore has to offer, better than The Beyond, even better than Beyond the Darkness, Burial Ground has no equal. The only thing I can recommend more than this, is this on VHS, the film quality is even worse, the sky looks almost pink. VHS really brings out "that look" that the DVD format has ruined. Plenty of Gore, nudity, incest-humor, Burial Ground is the measuring stick of any horror sub-genre it may represent. Aside from the profecy being mis-spelled, the ending leaves quite an impression. Don't talk to me about no damn Evil Dead. Burial Ground has them all beat. That one wasn't that great anyway. 10/10