Very Cool!!!

The greatest movie ever made..!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

'Buried Alive" is one of those films that has some different ideas, but problems arise in transposing those ideas to the screen. While the performances by Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Atherton, and Hoyt Axton are totally acceptable, there is a gnawing distraction called lack of logic, that permeates the film. The shallow burial, and the amazing carpentry work, to name just a couple things that are bothersome. Nevertheless, if you suspend disbelief, the movie maintains interest, and the ending is very satisfying. Sometimes it's worth sacrificing logic in the name of entertainment. ........................ - MERK

Imagine the nightmare of being buried… alive! Suddenly opening your eyes to find yourself in such a condense space… to only realize where you are. In a panic, heavy-breathing kicks in and you begin scratching the inside top of the coffin in frantic desperation. Then you punch continuously as your fists go numb not feeling the pain as the adrenaline rushes to your head. Screaming out your lungs with no prevail, until you break through the coffin to have dirt pouring in. But the remaining strength you preserved, you go for bust as your hand breaks through the top layer of dirt followed by the rest of the arm to eventually pull yourself up, as your head arrives to take a big grasp of air and to finally end it yelling in growing pain. Resurrection… ready for vengeance! The TV movie 'Buried Alive' is an exceptionally solid and always compelling atmospheric little revenge thriller with a considerable dark streak and a fitting sense of humour. The performances are very strong with Tim Matheson's hearty performance leading the way. The gorgeous Jennifer Jason Leigh's sassy, but extremely cold-hearted turn is picture-perfect and William Atherton hammers down his seamy role. Hoyt Axton is good with his short level headed part as the town sheriff.Clint Goodman is very likable, do-it-yourself man with a very productive timber business in a small town. However his unhappy wife Joanna is having an affair with her Doctor, the weasel Cortland Van Owen. He gives her a deadly serum, taken from the ovaries of an exotic fish which will induce a heart attack. She tries it during dinner (dropping it in a glass of wine), and it comes off. Well not for long, as he didn't die and rises from his grave in anger for revenge on his wife and lover.The brooding story sometimes moves in and out of the profound concept with it leaking some contrived aspects, but it's scheming and double crossings are pulled off in a very entertaining (if not convincing) manner. Director Frank Darabont (best known for Stephen King adaptations of 'Shawshank Redemption', 'The Green Mile' and 'The Mist') makes his directorial debut with great assurance. The direction is well-grounded and tightly handled with quite a few well-derived set-pieces of striking imagery and atmospheric tension. Michel Colombier's score is just as calculative as the story melding in a dangerously soothing current with some eerie piercing. Screaming riffs with beaming basses.A commendably amusing TV thriller entry.

**SPOILERS** Breaking his back by working long and hard hours at the construction site to make things fine and wonderful for his ungrateful wife Joanna, Jennifer Jason Leigh, the good natured hard working but somewhat naive, in what Joanna is planning for him, Clint Goodman (Tim Matheson) is unaware that his wife has been cheating on him. Joanna's having an affair with the family doctor Courtland "Court" Van Owen, William Atherton.Wanting to have a child to add to his family Clint has been very disappointed in not having Joanna conceive feeling that maybe it was his not her fault, thats about he only bad thing that has happened to him since he married her. What Clint doesn't know is that in fact he did get Joanna pregnant but she had the fetus aborted by, you guessed It, her secret lover Dr."Court". Dr. Court, a Japanese fish and food gourmet, gives Joanna a vile of this poison from a tropical fish that he had, together with her, for dinner. Telling Joanna that it, by putting poison in his wine, will not only kill Clint but make it look like he had a sudden and fatal heart-attack. The next day Joanna, after having second thoughts about doing it, slips the poison into Clint's wine as the two have a toast to their great and happy marriage. Within seconds Clint suddenly goes into excruciating convulsions and falls to the floor as dead as the tropical fish that Joanna, and Court, ate the previous evening. Joanna is to inherit almost two million dollars from her late husbands estate but is so cheap that she doesn't even want him to be embalmed and buys the cheapest and flimsiest coffin, that you can easily put your fist through, that she could find at the funeral home which in the end will do her not Clint, who it later turns out is not really dead,in.The story reminds me of something that I read in an old "Tales from the Crypt" comic book where Clint raise from the dead, and his grave, and comes back home for a surprise visit to both haunt and finish off his two "killers" Joanna & Court. With the help of the family dog Duke Clint has the two, after he put them both to sleep, locked in the house with Duke keeping them at bay as he sealed all the doors and windows to make sure that they don't escape. The ending is just too much even for a couple of swines like Joanna and Court when Joanna finds out that her "Lover" Court is really trying to do her in, and take off with all the money. The claustrophobia of Court & Joanna being locked in the house, like rats in a maze, had the two play right in to Clint's, wearing a black visor covering his face, hands.Gut wrenching and horrifying ending that even made you feel sorry for the two slime-balls, Joanna & Court, who ended up where they wanted to put their intended victim Clint Goodman together with the money that was the motivating factor for them wanting to murder him.

This film is certainly not run-of-the-mill. The director of Shawshank Redemption shows how, once more, he knows how to tell a story. The soundtrack is one of the best in creating mood and ambiance, communicating without telegraphing. The casting is great and Tim Matheson is what he's best at--a TV actor who fits the small screen as well as, well, some guys fit their jeans. He's watchable. The first time I saw it, the end was a total shocker. After numerous viewings, it's still one of those compelling tales, admittedly not deep, but filled with little details and nuances, like a good Stephen King short story. Definitely deserving of at least a loyal cult following.