I Bury the Living
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''I Bury the Living'' is a 1958
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by famed
B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
director
Albert Band Albert Band (May 7, 1924 – June 14, 2002) was a French-American film director and film producer. He was the son of artist Max Band, father of filmmaker Charles Band and of film composer Richard Band and the grandfather of Alex Band, Taryn Ban ...
and starring
Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early lif ...
and
Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ' ...
. It was written by Louis A. Garfinkle and produced by Garfinkle and Band.


Plot

Robert Kraft is the newly appointed chairman of a committee that oversees a large cemetery. The cemetery caretaker, Andy MacKee, keeps a map in the cemetery office displaying the grounds and each gravesite. Filled graves are marked by black pins and unoccupied but sold graves are marked with white pins. New to the position and unobservant, Kraft accidentally places a pair of black pins where they don't belong, only to discover later that the young couple who had bought the grave sites in question died in an automobile accident soon afterwards. He believes that he marked them for death. Hoping it will give him peace of mind, Robert replaces a random white pin with a black pin. When that person dies later in the week, however, he becomes increasingly convinced that either he or the map wield some kind of dark power. Repeated experiments, undertaken upon the insistence of skeptical friends and co-workers, yield the same result. Kraft slips into deep guilt and depression and believes he is cursed. The police, who are initially skeptical, eventually begin to take notice and, in the hopes that it will reveal the cause of the deaths, ask Robert to place a black pin on the grave of a person who is known to be in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Although he does so, Robert continues his slide into despair. That same night, he decides that if black pins give him the power of death, white pins might give him the power of life. He replaces all of the recently placed black pins with white pins. When he goes to the associated grave sites later that night, he discovers that all are open, with the bodies gone. Upon returning to the cemetery office, Robert receives a call informing him of the death of the man in France. As he hangs up the phone, the cemetery caretaker comes up behind him, covered in dirt. He reveals that he has been killing all of the marked people as revenge for being forced to retire. However, when Robert informs him of the death of the man in France, the caretaker, who couldn't have killed the man, begins to lose his mind, and collapses. When the police arrive, they find the caretaker dead and tell Robert that the news of the man's death was all a ruse to flush out the cemetery caretaker.


Cast

*
Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early lif ...
as Robert Kraft *
Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ' ...
as Andy McKee * Peggy Maurer as Ann Craig * Howard Smith as George Kraft *
Herbert Anderson Herbert Anderson (March 30, 1917 – June 11, 1994) was an American character actor from Oakland, California, probably best remembered for his role as Henry Mitchell, the father, on the CBS television sitcom '' Dennis the Menace.'' Backg ...
as Jess Jessup *
Robert Osterloh Robert Osterloh (May 31, 1918 – April 16, 2001) was an American actor. His career spanned 20 years, appearing in films such as ''The Dark Past'' (1948), ''The Wild One'' (1953), ''I Bury the Living'' (1958) and ''Young Dillinger'' (1965). Biog ...
as Lt. Clayborne.


Production

The film's music was composed by
Gerald Fried Gerald Fried (born February 13, 1928) is an American composer, conductor, and oboist known for his film and television scores. He composed music for well-known television series of the 1960s and 70s, including ''Mission: Impossible'', ''Gilliga ...
. The film was shot by Frederick Gately and edited by Frank Sullivan.


Release

''I Bury the Living'' was released in July 1958 by
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
.


Reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
it has an approval rating of 64% based on reviews from 11 critics. '' SFX'' critic Ian Berriman noted that ''I Bury the Living'' was "basically just like an extended episode of ''
The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
'', but that's no bad thing, since it's like a good episode". ''
Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...
'' said, "With a title like ''I Bury the Living'' (1958), one would think this picture should be sleazy 50’s horror fare; a product of Corman or at least AIP, but it is actually a pretty tense little psychological thriller". The review expressed disappointment with the film's ending, but praised its "dark, moody cinematography", "sometimes striking if sparse visual design" and "ominous music".


Legacy

Horror author
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
listed ''I Bury the Living'' as one of his favorite films in his 1981 non-fiction book ''
Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...
'', but criticized the ending. In the foreword to King's short story "
Obits Obits was an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2006 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. The band members are veterans of other independent rock bands: Guitarist/singing, vocalist Rick Froberg was previously a member of Pitchfork (band), ...
", published in 2015 in his ''
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams ''The Bazaar of Bad Dreams'' is a short fiction collection by Stephen King, published on November 3, 2015. This is King's sixth collection of short stories and his tenth collection overall. One of the stories, "Obits", won the 2016 Edgar Award fo ...
'' collection, he referenced ''I Bury the Living'' and noted that the story was inspired by the film.
Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
recorded the track "I Bury The Living", co-written by
Jesse Tobias Jesse Tobias (born April 1, 1972) is an American guitarist who is the lead guitarist and co-writer for Morrissey since 2004. Tobias first gained fame during a brief tenure with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1993, although he was replaced by Dave ...
on his 2017 album ''
Low in High School ''Low in High School'' is the eleventh solo studio album by British singer Morrissey, released on 17 November 2017 through BMG. It was produced by Joe Chiccarelli, and recorded at La Fabrique Studios in France and at Ennio Morricone's Forum Studi ...
''.


References


External links

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Filmschatten film online
{Dead link, date=January 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes 1958 horror films 1958 films American psychological horror films Films set in cemeteries Films scored by Gerald Fried United Artists films Films directed by Albert Band 1950s English-language films 1950s American films