Really Surprised!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I am a big fan of Roger Corman's work, even some of the schlock you find in those bargain bin collections that are, now, public domain. I think that the man was exceptional at doing a lot with nothing. That fact that his low-rent films are still remembered, while so many others are lost to the sands of time, show that he was doing something right. That something was that he really understands story and how to make a riveting movie.I had, until now, seen all of Corman's "Poe Cycle" with the exception of this film, the anomaly in the group. Corman was in a dispute with AIP, who had produced his previous two Poe films and tried to create one without them. Since AIP owned the rights to Corman's muse, Vincent Price, he went with Ray Milland in the main role. Milland is best known to horror fans for THE UNINVITED and another Corman classic, X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, though his most famous role may be in Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER.As with most of the movies in this cycle, the Poe short story is not enough material to fill out a 90 minute movie, so Corman has to pad the proceedings with other material. Most of this movie is a "parlor film" much like the classic Gothic movies (a la Dracula), meaning that a great deal of the action takes place in the same few rooms, with minimal camera work and movement, but focusing on our actors and their lines, sort of a play on film. That can be disastrous in the wrong hands, but the acting here is what makes it work so well. Milland is fantastic, as usual. He plays a man whose father may (or may not) have been buried alive. His fear of repeating his father's fate is propelled by an incident at the beginning of the movie, where Milland's doctor robs a grave, only to witness a clear example of another man buried alive. As the movie goes on, the viewer is never sure if Milland is just plain crazy, or if anything has real grounding in reality. He builds an elaborate vault with a dozen escape routes to prevent his burial and his obsession begins to tear apart his marriage to AIP beauty Hazel Court. Milland is the main reason all of this works. He never feels "hokey" even in the most bizarre circumstances and evinces a clear sense of investment from the audience as they share his fear.In the end, we find that what Milland really had to fear was much more mundane, as we get more of a "whodunit" plot in the final act that is, also, played out with tight film making until our exciting finale. Corman's eye for Gothic detail is on full display here. Even though most of the movie takes place in a few rooms, they add to the sense of constriction. The dungeon laboratory is a great scene, full of cobwebs and vaults. There is so much fog in this movie, you feel the dampness coming through the screen. The most feels far more "epic" than the limited scenery would warrant.It's not the best of the Corman/ Poe Cycle, for that check out MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH or PIT AND THE PENDULUM, but it is certainly a great example of Gothic 60s horror and well worth a watch.

The wealthy cataleptic painter Guy Carrell (Ray Milland) believes that he overheard his father, who also had catalepsy, crying in the crypt of his family when he was a kid and is obsessed by the fear of being buried alive. He leaves his fiancée Emily Gault (Hazel Court) and lives alone with his sister Kate Carrell (Heather Angel) in the family manor. However Emily seeks him out and convinces Guy to marry her, despite the disapproval of Kate, promising that she would never bury him without the certainty of his death by her friend, Dr. Miles Archer (Richard Ney), and her father Dr. Gideon Gault (Alan Napier). After the wedding, Guy does not travel in honeymoon to Venice, as he had promised to Emily, and builds a crypt with safety devices to avoid that he is trapped alive inside. However Emily and Miles convince him to demolish the building. Guy has nightmares and visions with the gravediggers and weird events happen in the mansion. He decides to prove that is cured of his fear and opens his father grave, but someone has moved his skeleton and Guy is diagnosed of heart attack. However he is catatonic indeed and is buried alive as he has always feared. Will be the end of Guy? Who might have caused the shock on Guy? "Premature Burial" is a creepy tale of paranoid obsession and madness, with good scenarios and locations and good acting. Ray Milland is a great actor but does seem to be miscast for the role of Guy Carrell that should be of an insane man instead of so dramatic. The conclusion is disappointing with the overprotective Kate disclosing the mystery after killing her insane brother. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): Not Available on VHS / DVD / Blu-Ray

An artist (Ray Milland) grows distant from his new wife (Hazel Court) as an irrational horror of premature burial consumes him.The story of this film's creation is almost as interesting as the film itself. This film was the first one Roger Corman made after "The Intruder" flopped. While today "Intruder" is considered one of the highlights of his career, its failure at the time convinced Corman to stay with horror -- much to our benefit.Also of interest, Corman went to Pathe, rather than American International Pictures, in order to make this film. Thus, he had to cast Ray Milland rather than Vincent Price, who was under contract with AIP. Sam Arkoff, the head of AIP, was furious, and purchased the film back from Pathe (threatening to pull lab work from them) before it was made -- but after Milland was cast.Thus, we have only one of the two AIP Poe films without Price (the other is "Murders in the Rue Morgue", which also did not have Corman). Is this a blessing or a curse? Well, among horror fans, Vincent Price is probably the single greatest figure in history. However, in general, Milland is probably the better actor. So what we have here is a film that is probably less campy, less overly dramatic than it would have been with Price. This makes the tone somewhat different from the others in the series, but perhaps not in a bad way.Mike Mayo says "Corman makes the fullest possible use of a few richly decorated and fog-shrouded Gothic sets" and calls the story "a cracking good yarn." I completely agree on the sets. While the scenery is minimal (we rarely venture out of a single-room mausoleum), it works by being elaborate. The many-layered escape plan scene really is the highlight of the film.Like Mayo, Howard Maxford points out that we witness "the studio dry-ice machine working overtime." Indeed, if you remember nothing else about the outdoor scenes, you will recall the seemingly endless amounts of fog drifting by. Perhaps a bit too much?Overall, the story is well-told, well-paced, well-acted and builds up as it goes. Maybe the premise is a bit far-fetched, because even the severest case of catalepsy would require breathing, but it serves as a great plot device and I can handle that.Bonus: the legendary Dick Miller appears in a cameo role.

"The Premature Burial" is not a bad movie. It's got a very sumptuous look, good performances from Ray Milland and Hazel Court, solid cinematography by Floyd Crosby, and strong, atmospheric direction by Roger Corman. But it still may not satisfy and I think I know why. It's because, by the time this movie came out, Corman's Poe adaptations had fallen into a predictable rut. The combination of morbid insanity, betrayal, and psychological trauma that was innovative and daring in "House of Usher" and "Pit and the Pendulum" had gotten clichéd. Ray Milland's Guy Carrell is a very close twin to Vincent Price's Don Nicholas Medina - even their childhood trauma is the same. No matter how much atmosphere, fog, set direction, musical stings and acting juice that Corman injects into this movie, it has a hard time overcoming that almost-fatal flaw. Having said that, I still like this movie. Some have said that Ray Milland is miscast - he is, if you think of his age, but if you insist on viewing it in those terms, so would Vincent Price have been. He does bring great acting talent to the table, and carries the role well. Hazel Court, as his paramour, never looked lovelier or behaved more despicably. The dream sequence is actually quite unsettling and disturbing, with the swirling mist and gel lighting. It's still nice to see such a pristine presentation of this movie. The DVD is just gorgeous, with absolutely no wear visible. There's no commentary from Corman (shame, MGM!) - instead, all we get is a very short interview with him. Not the best of the Poe movies, but still a good example of old school, American-made Gothic horror.