Buried Alive
Directed by Robert Kurtzman
Dimension Extreme


Do you remember the horror films of the 80's that mainly featured a cast of no names but had something of a horror icon playing a small role? It was quite common and this movie follows a similar pattern with Tobin Bell of Saw fame playing a small but effective role. The movie itself is a somewhat typical slasher film, but manages to have enough humorous moments and gory deaths to keep the pace quick enough to enjoy for its entirety.

This is a plot that has been done many, many times. A group of teenagers go to an old house with a mysterious past and after a series of strange occurrences they all begin to die one by one. The back story about gold prospectors and Native American mythology is slightly different and a bit more thought out than some slasher films, but at the end of the day this is indeed a stalk and slash film albeit they are being killed by a spirit and not the usual maniac in a ridiculous costume.

While I was anticipating this to be a low budget film it actually looks quite good and is a very professional looking movie. A few of the CGI gore effects do look a bit cheesy but overall the film is well edited and moves at the pace that a slasher film should once the killing begins. It takes a bit longer than I would have liked to get to the first killing though and unlike most slasher films the film didn't start with the usual murder before you get into the main plot of the movie, which is almost the standard for the movies that this is essentially a throwback to.

There are a few aspects of the film that could have been improved. The college initiation angle with the girls seemed a bit unrealistic and as dumb as they portrayed the girls to be I doubt they would even be in college. The nerdy character is also fairly unrealistic and actually reminds me of the three nerds from The Simpsons. It's far too animated of a character for the film and what I'm sure was meant to be comic relief ends up failing very flat. Altogether the humor in the movie is a bit hit or miss, some of it being clever while most is aimed towards a bit more of a low brow audience.

There certainly are problems with the film but in the end it is a campy slasher story with enough gore to please fans of the genre. The director succeeded in making the film a throwback to the 80's yet manages to make it modern. If gore, nudity, and axe murders are three ingredients that you feel make a perfect movie, Buried Alive is sure to please on all three fronts.

Official Dimension Extreme Website