Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

There are some genuinely frightening visuals in this "movie of the week" where a seemingly rotting but still living woman calls for help from deep down in the dirt. Olivia de Havilland is a wealthy lady, recently released from a mental institution, happens to come across a dog digging, and upon further discovery happens to see the mud covered woman, and runs screaming into her mansion where her greedy son (Charles Robinson) and dipsomaniac wife (Laraine Stephens) don't seem to believe her. Joseph Cotten as de Havilland's attorney and Walter Pidgeon as her doctor, become involved, revealing the truth and bringing on more shocks. Pretty decent for a "hag horror", and de Havilland gets to do a lot of running around and huffing and puffing, giving motivation for de Havilland's breathy line delivery. At times a bit over the top, at least here she's got a motivation for her melodramatic behavior. Ed Nelson also appears as a character seemingly unrelated to the main plot, second billed, but having less to do than Robinson, whose character is despicable from the moment he comes in. It's all cleverly tied together in an intelligent manner, with the twists and turns deeper than the poor unfortunate lady in the ground.

Working with this wonderful performer was a great thrill for me. She was like and beginner with great joy and loved every suggestion I made and wanted to rehearse over and over again. I was shocked somewhat because few Oscar winners seem to want to do that with and "unknown" which I kind of was in those days. When waiting around we talked once about Errol Flynn who I think did 8 pictures with her, back in the Warner Bros, days. She said all the bad press he got on being Pro Nazi and other things, was to quote Her. "was ridicules, and believe me I knew him better then anyone." Joe Cotton,all the way back with Wells in "Citizen Kane," was a regular guy, and was the star of the first film I did, still in New Orleans, It was entitled "The Steel Trap" with the wonderful Teresa Wright. I was an extra and scared to death standing next to him in a big scene. The title of this ABC TV movie was something else and they changed it after we started shooting. Olivia really hated the title saying, "All the audience will see is my face screaming from this title."I wrote this because you all liked the picture so much. Thanks Ed Nelson

The theme of a woman buried alive on the grounds of a wealthy woman's estate is nicely handled here for a maximum of shock and suspense. A bit overwrought at times, with Olivia de Havilland having to convince police, family and neighbors that they need to rescue a woman whose faint cries for help have startled her. The trouble is, she's a woman with a known mental illness and nobody believes her.This was a highly popular ABC made-for-television movie and successful at the time. Nice to see the supporting cast includes Joseph Cotten, Walter Pidgeon, Charles Drake and Ed Nelson. Nelson has a pivotal role as the man who knows the truth about the woman's screams.Suspenseful and worth viewing despite the now grainy print of this TV film being shown on cable. And by the way, it was photographed in technicolor, not black and white as a previous comment suggests. That viewer must have been having trouble with TV reception!!

I saw this TV movie as a kid with a babysitter and ended up so freaked out that I spent the night in tears waiting for a hand to reach up from under the bed and grab me. I saw it again as a young adult and it still sent chills up my spine with the side profile shots of the buried woman. Very haunting images.