Buried Alive (2007)

Too much of everything

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Journeying to a secluded house, a group of friends head into the desert as part of a sorority initiation activity but awaken the murderous spirit of an ancestor that is seeking out a way of revenge against her treatment and tries to stop their rampage before they're all killed off.On the whole this one wasn't that bad at all. One of it's better features here is the film's rather nice and enjoyable plot as once it gets going, it has a ton of good stuff to it. This one starts off rather nicely here with the group heading out into the desert and arriving at the house which features the start of the action as those early haunting scenes with the ghost appearing along the highway being quite creepy leading into the scenes of them around the house. As this leads nicely into exploring the house as well as their initiation tactics there's quite some fun times here which leads nicely into the later half which has some fantastic scenes here when the ghost really starts getting involved in the action with some solid stalking and haunting scenes. The first time it appears in the bedroom is quite a nice stalking scene, the surprise attack on the one friend in the middle of the basement and the big surprise ambush on them at the house which is where this one becomes really enjoyable with the build-up to the creature coming out of the darkness even though they don't realize the ghost is the cause and the fun chaos that results from the discovery of the bodies and the race to get out which is all classic slasher film fun. Filled with some fun supernatural-themed action to come from the big battle at the end and some great work tying in the legend of the ghost's ancestors to the whole revenge plot involved here, that becomes quite enjoyable as well detailing all the nice action to come from this part of the film. Along with the nice gore effects and plentiful nudity there's some fun to be had here, though it does have some some minor issues with it. The biggest one is that the film is still highly watchable but is rather uneven in the pacing as in order to deal with such a flimsy plot, more time than what is usually the case is spent on the setup of the group at the house and how they're interacting with each other, so this one has a long time without a whole lot of ghostly dealings. Despite how much fun they are watching the group there, this one is quite uneven in how it details it's ghostly actions with so much of it occurring in the last half that there's a rather uneven split here and it can feel quite plodding at times. As well, some of that here is due to the obvious stunt- casting of the ranch-hand with them who has no business being there, offers nothing during the film and serves no purpose other than to get the name into the credits so taking his time out would've probably made the film run along a little faster. Overall there's some good stuff here, but it does take awhile to get there.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Full Nudity.

I wish someone could tell me how many horror films are going to be named "Buried Alive" when it's all said and done? Yes I know, it's a question without an answer. This version of this extremely overused title introduces two cousins Zane (Jay) and Rene (Rachel) who are traveling to family estate in the middle of the desert. Rene arrives with two pledges from her sorority and her boyfriend Danny (Sandvoss). A slumming Tobin Bell plays Lester, the family loser who warns everyone to beware of an ex-family member who was a desert witch (Beth Biasella) and burned alive for her gold years ago. Make up effects man Robert Kurtzman is a wizard in his craft but this time he sits in the director's chair and the results are far from good. This thin excuse for a plot isn't helped by Kurtzman parading around all his actresses nude and then having characters split in half with an Ax. Of course every character is written and played as a complete asshole including lead Leah Rachel who takes the prize as a complete bitch! Apparently the writers felt like the characters should have another layer other than being asshole's so they came up with the idea to make them blithering idiots as well. If watching these lousy characters don't wear you down, the fact that it takes forever before the deranged desert witch show's up and does anything will. The sad part of this is that the film's monster, the desert witch has a great look and is quite scary. Kurtzman uses her well like in the scene where you see her in the distant in the middle of the desert as they drive by. This repeats several times until suddenly she is in the middle of the road. Kurtzman's F/X efforts certainly helped and a few chilling bits are included. Still, the movie can't seem to manage a Jump anywhere in its running time despite having a creepy looking killer. This killer in a different movie with a good script would be something to be excited about.

Zane, with help from the campus dork, goes to his childhood home, with his friends, as well as two sorority pledges, in tow. The caretaker of the place, the gold hunting, Lester (Saw's Tobin Bell) warns the gang not to go certain places but of course they don't listen. Not to soon afterwards they must contend with a violent ghost.The plot was cliché, the characters cardboard cutouts, not to mention a hint of incest that didn't add anything to the proceedings. I believed that if nothing else positive could be gleamed from this rather pedestrian slasher that special effects guru Robert Kurtzman as director would at least be adept enough to serve up some heaping helpings of spectacular kills, sadly this isn't the case as it seems strangely subdued in that aspect. On a side note, writer Art Monterastelli would totally and completely redeem himself with 2008's Rambo (a film that was simply spectacular)Eye Candy: Erin Lokitz shows T&A, and Lindsey Scott gets toplessMy Grade: D+Where I saw it: Sho Beyond

OK, Tobin Bell was in this one, but that is just about it.I really didn't find it to be more than the standard teen scare flick with a bunch of kids running around yelling and screaming. Maybe here just isn't anything new. Well, I don;t believe that because I did see a new horror film a few weeks ago with some original action and scare. Make me jump out of my seat! The only salvation was Lindsey Scott in her first full length film. I want to see much more of her, even if there isn't much more to be seen after this. She belongs in horror and directors should be listening.Oh, well, it passed the time.