I guess I hadn't learned that about science. There is no citation - so I can't confirm nor deny it. The "one" in question in I Bury the Living is Robert Kraft (played by Richard Boone), a business man who has recently been chosen by his peers to be the director of a local cemetery. In the main cemetery office there is a big map of all of the grave plots - white pins for those reserved for the living, and black pins for those that are already taken by the dead. Robert accidentally learns that if he puts black pins in a living persons grave plot, the person will die shortly thereafter!
So don't do that! That was my biggest issue with the movie. Once he realizes he has this mysterious power, he continues to put in black pins, or continues to be talked into doing it. He calls a reporter friend who says "there isn't a story here." My, how things have changed - now the press would be all over this like Bird Flu, or another topical disease. The cops can't find anything either. I don't know, if this happened to me, just once, I would just be all "hey, I shouldn't do that again!" and probably not tell anyone. But then there isn't a movie, I guess.
What I liked
Basically, this reminded me of a lesser Twilight Zone episode. It's a fifties flick, so it was never violent or all that scary, but the general mystery (is it him? is it his supernatural powers? a supernatural map?) is interesting enough to keep you invested over the relatively short run time (76 minutes). All told, it's well paced and never really drags, especially when you consider that there isn't really much happening - he puts the pins in the wall, smokes some cigarettes, then waits to see if the person will die.
There were some nice directorial flourishes too. Director Albert Band brings some cool psychedelic effects to the last act - when Robert thinks he's going crazy, we get some dream-like shots of him and the map. It looms bigger and bigger whenever we see it, until it looks like Robert will literally be consumed by it. Kind of trippy for an otherwise square 1958 film. And the map itself is visually interesting - kind of like an ink-blot test. Subliminally, is it supposed to be eyes? Breasts? A poor self-portrait by way of Picasso?
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| You decide (I want to start adding more pictures!) |
What I didn't like
The first thing that bothered me about this movie was the cemetery groundskeeper played by Theodore Bikel. My first impression was that he had the most grating, fake Scottish accent I've ever heard. Although imdb's bio has him listed as "a master of languages, dialects and accents," so it's possible I just have no idea what I'm talking about. Anyways, it was tough for me to take him, or any scene he was in, seriously.
Also, as I mentioned earlier there just wasn't a lot happening. Pins go into the map, you wait, someone dies. Robert feels bad, more pins go into the map, you wait, and someone dies. Robert feels bad, more pins go into the map, you wait, and someone dies. Looking back, it's actually amazing that the movie moves along as well as it does.
There is a pretty significant cheat too as it pertains to the end. Robert figures if he has the ability to turn the the living (black pins) into the dead (white pins), the reverse should work. You see some creepy graveyard stuff, that makes zero sense when the big reveal takes place shortly thereafter. I'm all right with taking some creative license to make a cool visual, but when you negate that literally 10 minutes later it doesn't sit well with me.
Weird Coincidences
Director Albert Band is the father of Charles Band, who was the Writer/Producer of Terror Vision from earlier this week.
Ultimately...
I would see if a person had access to some high quality Twilight Zone episodes. If not, I guess I would recommend this film.
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