Buried Alive (2007) User Reviews (36)

Some entertainment value, but not enough to make it worth it.

[Shattered_Wake · 4/10 · 17 September 2008]

Synopsis: A group of college kids at an abandoned house pull a prank that sets loose a murderous ghost.

Review: There's something strange, these days and in the past, that often happens to stars of major horror films. After their success, even if their fame is not at an end, they will star in random paycheck movies simply because they're asked, regardless of the quality of the film. Buried Alive is that paycheck for Saw-series star Tobin Bell (Jigsaw). When it comes to a straight-to-video slasher film like this (especially one marketed by the usually trustworthy Dimension Extreme), there are certain things horror fans have come to expect: Heavy gore, attractive women (who, most often, take off their clothes), and, at the very least, some entertainment. Unfortunately, even on as 'unrated,' the film does not deliver on the blood & guts. There is some violence, but not enough, and the result of the violence doesn't have enough splatter. The women are attractive, so they did deliver to us the eye candy. And, as far as entertainment and enjoyment go, well. . . it varied. At some points, the film is a good time and worth a few laughs. Other times, however, the film turns into a bit of a slow-drag bore (especially during the sorority stuff). From the plot to the effects, there's nothing here that hasn't been seen dozens of times before, so if you're in need of some predictability with a bit of enjoyability, you might want to check this out. . . but, you can do a whole lot better.

Final verdict: 4/10.

-AP3-

I Didn't Know what To Expect, But Didn't Expect It to Be Boring

[danthewrestlingmanorigin · 3/10 · 17 October 2007]

Robert Kurtzman is a seasoned horror vet, no one can deny that. However he made a truly terrible film in this case. The new Dimension Extreme label has gotten off to a hot start with the excellent Black Sheep and Broken. In addition you have a good director and the always at the top of his game Tobin Bell in the cast. Who by the way the way does have a decent amount of screen time, as some have said it's just a cameo. Now if you look at my past reviews you can tell I'm a generous critic who makes an effort to highlight the strengths' of a film, but thats really a difficult task here. For one the film is quite boring. The cast is annoying with the exception of Tobin. They didn't make me laugh and they certainly didn't make me care about there fates'. Most of all Buried Alive goes a good thirty or forty minutes before anything scary or gory happens, and then you have another long wait to the end. Your just stuck with the lame interaction of the characters lounging about, really not doing much. Tobin Bell is the only bright spot here. Now a couple things barely save this from a one rating, and thats a few much welcome moments of nudity, and maybe two kills done much better in Wrong Turn 2. Still it's so awfully boring for so long that I was actually just looking at the back of the DVD case for the running time, to see how long my misery would last. As an easy to please critic I give Buried Alive a "very" generous 3 rating. Kurtzman's other new film The Rage actually looks quite good, so I'll forgive this effort.

Not One of the Better Films You'll See, But It Has Tobin Bell

[gavin6942 · 4/10 · 21 December 2007]

A young man, his cousin, his cousin's boyfriend, a nerd and two sorority pledges go to the man's house in the desert, where everyone thinks they're just camping for the weekend. But the young man knows why they're really there: gold. There be gold in those hills! But does a family curse want them to be there, and what about the old caretaker, Lester (Tobin Bell)? Could be an interesting weekend.

Robert Kurtzman directs, which is a mixed blessing. Kurtzman has a good name in horror from his time at NKB doing makeup and special effects. And he directed "Wishmaster" which many consider to be something of a minor classic. The unfortunate thing about this film is that Kurtzman adds nothing special to his resume: while the directing overall seems much tighter than "Wishmaster", the story he was given to work with just isn't as enjoyable. Better film quality does not always mean a better film (in fact, it rarely means this).

The selling point to this film is probably Tobin Bell (Jigsaw from "Saw"). And I have to say his character is pretty decent, as the dirty caretaker of the desert homestead. Although, the role could have been given to just about anyone (it's a big cameo, but still a cameo). So unless you're a die-hard Bell fan, you shouldn't consider him the selling point. Maybe it's the nudity, as there is a good deal of nudity (plenty of female nudity, repeatedly, and a little bit of male bottom). The film has been called "oversexed" and I think that word fits this perfectly -- take the nude scenes out and the story is even more lame than it already is.

The killer wasn't all that great and the back story on her really made no sense to me. And the thing with the religious protection symbols... what? So in one scene the woman has a tattoo that scares off the demon or ghost or whatever, but in another scene it does nothing. And she covers her body in these symbols, all for no real reason.

Sure, there's a few good gory moments and people get chopped up... one kid even gets split not unlike the woman from "Wrong Turn 2" (which did it better). And again, plenty of nudity if you like women running through the woods or desert bare. Or in the tub. Or in the basement. But overall it was really boring and nothing particularly new... which I guess we should have figured out by the way they wrote the nerd character -- if there's ever been a more stereotypical nerd, I haven't seen him.

Dimension Extreme???..........without the extreme!!

[impossiblehim · 1/10 · 7 March 2008]

Why am i even wasting minutes of my life writing this after already wasting over an hour of it watching this rubbish. Being a lover of all things gory and slashy i was excited to see this after reading about it in Fangoria(yes it's still going!!)...but alas i was hugely disappointed....and that's putting it mildly. I won't bore you with any of the story because quite frankly it doesn't really have one...in fact the plot is so thin that i found myself actually staring through the t.v and longing for the storyline to kick in.....i got to the end and it never did kick in.

Apart from the lack of a story..this film has terrible acting.....the two main guys are by far the worst and the leading lady isn't up to much either. What this film does have is pointless female nudity that seems to be there for no aparant reason except to give the director some nubile young bodies to leer over....i actually found myself feeling sorry for the two girls forced to strip at every opportunity...i bet after shooting they felt dead inside....but kudos to 'the cow' and 'the dog' for being the only half decent characters in this mess....even 'that guy from Saw' seemed ashamed to be in it. Another major criticism is for the 'effects'...oh my god....i've often rewound a 'death scene' because of it's coolness but very rarely is it to say..."did they actually just do that....did they actually just insult every person who will ever watch this film by allowing that scene to be included?"....some of the deaths are so badly done that it's hard to imagine they were in a film released this century..absolutely no care or detail...just stupid cgi fake looking kills that are over in the blink of an eye...i was left jawdropped....but not in a good way. Which begs the question why this film carries the Dimension Extreme tag....if 'extreme' stands for extremely devoid of any actually horror then it's suitably fitting....maybe the 'extreme' comes for the porno-like aspect to the ways the girls are paraded. Shame on you Dimension....we've come to expect better.

Buried Asleep

[StevenC428 · 2/10 · 24 August 2008]

'Buried Alive' seems too-good of a title to be placed on this piece of garbage. The cover art; though cheesy and unrealistic, actually looks half decent compared to the movie. The logo 'Dimension Extreme' is placed on top of the cover as if the film was somewhat 'too extreme or intense' to be shown in theaters.

I have lost a lot of interest in Dimension Extreme films mostly because they release films like this. 'Buried Alive' is a failed attempt to bring back a once promising genre (horror) and revive it into something new.

The main problem I had with this film is that it never truly finds itself a climax or a theme. It doesn't decide whether its a witchery film, a slasher flick, or a spiritual horror movie. I'm not saying that all horror films need to set one theme, but when the story gets so confusing and the plot gets all twisted up into nonsense, you kind of need a set theme to rely on. The movie tries to save itself by bringing up some foreign Indian voodoo symbolism story but by then, you realize that the movie just got too ridiculous to continue watching.

The poor acting did not help the movie either. The best performances were probably by Steve Sandvoss and Lindsey Scott. They both made their characters presentable and easy to understand, specifically Lindsey Scott's character who I found humorous and enjoyable. As for Tobin Bell, he played the dirty Lester character fairly well but my main issue with him is that we are so used to seeing him as the man behind Jigsaw that he ultimately fails in bringing a new character into life. All other actor's screwed up in some way or form. Their acting was really poor (mhmm...Leah Rachel) and it was hard for me to have any sympathy for them when they got butchered by the old ugly witch.

The gore and screams were minimum. I felt that the movie took way to long to explain the story that it waited till the very end to give us the blood-thirsty gore (which wasn't much to have been waiting for). The old witch that was killing everyone off was ridiculously stupid and did not even scare me one bit.

All in all, this is the typical stereotype horror film that doesn't offer anything new to the horror genre. It's a pathetic attempt and in the end, we're left with a horrible ending that does not resolve anything. I am being generous by giving it a 2 star rating, but thats only because of the two all-stars of the film.

Buried Alive: 2/10

Watch It or Miss It: MISS IT!

Attractive cast but that's it

[preppy-3 · 2/10 · 13 November 2012]

Zane (Terence Jay) and Renee (Leah Rachel) play incestuous cousins who get Renee's boyfriend Danny (Steve Sandvoss) nerd Phil and two fraternity pledges to a big old deserted house in the middle of the desert. It belongs to Zane and Renee's family and Zane thinks there's a treasure buried there. Also on hand is crazy old Lester (Tobin Bell of the "Saw" franchise). They're all attacked by an evil old spirit.

The story is old and characters familiar but that's not what sinks the film. It's basically boring! I kept dozing off cause there was nothing interesting on the screen! To make it worse the gratuitous female nudity here is REALLY gratuitous and annoying. On the up side there's some REALLY gruesome gore, the whole cast is attractive (especially hunky Sandvoss), the acting isn't half bad and it does manage to eke out some suspense at the end. Also Jay (or more likely a stand in) shows a nice butt. So it's not terrible but dull and awfully familiar.

Good visuals, but not much of a story in this teen slasher film.

[suite92 · 4/10 · 22 March 2014]

The protagonists are in their late teens or early twenties and in some college somewhere in New Mexico, USA. The characters are Rene, who seems to have a lot of bad dreams; Zane (Rene's cousin), who's looking for a lost fortune from his family's history; Phil, the nerd who's helping Zane; Danny, who's cool for some unseen reason; Julie (dressed as cow) and Laura (dressed as dog), two sorority pledges who try to make Rene happy.

The six of them head out to the desert to find the 'treasure.' In parallel, Lester has been digging for gold out in the sticks, and seems to find some early on.

Zane starts seeing things. He does a panic stop at freeway speed to avoid running over someone; no one else sees anything. Oi. The group meets Lester, who is the caretaker for Zane's family's deserted house. There is friction there from the beginning.

Rene makes Phil tell the rest of the group about Zane's request for research on the family history. This is a bit troubled, but also seems a bit hard to have documented. The common great grandfather of Rene and Zane had two wives. When Phil goes outside for a better signal, someone kills him.

The group gets into a discussion of ancient totems and symbols. They find pictures of the great-grandfather's two wives; both of them wore the necklace which Rene currently wears. Laura has the symbol on the necklace tattooed on the back of her neck.

Rene sends Laura (dressed in boots) to bring back something from Lester's trailer. She gets there, selects a stuffed rabbit, and returns. Julie (dressed in jeans, poor choice; her feet suffer) makes the run to Lester's next. Zane carries Julie back after the ankle injury.

Still, no one checks on Phil, who is dead, but propped up in the car. After so many hours one might think they would notice something.

Looks like an elimination derby. How many of the remaining five will survive? Do Rene and Zane figure out the knot in their ancestors' history in time for it to do anyone any good?

-----Scores------

Cinematography: 10/10 Well done, no complaints.

Sound: 5/10 Leveling problems, conversation versus 'music.' The music during the credits was really hideous.

Acting: 4/10 Germaine Scott Grimes, Steve Sandvoss: useless. Lindsey Scott, Leah Rachel, Erin Reese: not that good. Terence Jay: almost OK. Tobin Bell: rather good in an extended cameo.

Screenplay: 2/10 The central threat, the motivation for the revenge, and the ending did not make a lick of sense. What was the point of the Danny character, except to supply drugs? What was the point of the Phil character, except to slam people with computer skills? What was the point of the Julie character except her pneumatic figure? The characters Rene, Zane, and Laura were not interesting enough to make up for the general lack of story.

One word: LOUSY

[blondehrtbreakr · 25 September 2011]

Wow. Before I watched this movie, I read the reviews here on IMDb. Since I tend to like cheesy "B" horror, I figured I would still give it a shot.

I really regret it! This movie is low-budget, which in and of itself is not bad - however, combined with the horrible acting, lousy special effects and the absence of any SOLID storyline, it simply does not work. The ending is beyond stupid, and it wraps up the movie as if it were a TV show that ran out of time. The characters are waaaay too cookie-cutter. You have the "nerd", the "dumb blonde", etc etc. Come on guys. Put a little more effort into developing the characters so that we, as the audience can get involved in this story and watch on the edge of our seats. Lousy, lousy, lousy.

I was VERY surprised that Tobin Bell signed on for this. I literally laughed out loud every time he appeared on camera. The cheap "jumps" were not scary whatsoever and failed to produce a "jump". Come on!

As far as the nudity, there was NOT that much. Typical teen horror. Some topless shots, but they were very quick or shot from far away. Close-ups of some female behinds (in panties), and a very long moaning scene with two people fulled dressed (he's rubbing her feet. Very PG-13). Friday the 13th's from the 1980's have better nudity...

The movie is BEYOND SLOW and feels like 180 minutes, rather than 90, because you just want it to end!!

Honestly, do not waste your time. If you are considering this movie, please pick something else. Otherwise, you'll be sitting here like me wondering why you wasted 90 minutes of your life. I would have rather cleaned my closet. Seriously.

Buried Alive

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 12 February 2009]

The ole "sins of the father" is mined once again in another vengeful spirit story as troubled college student Zane(Terence Jay)is hard up to find his great grandfather's buried gold and was recently put on probation for not paying as much attention to studies as he was clowning around and partying. He has the dweeby Phil(Germaine De Leon)studying up on Zane's past, letting him tag along for being such a loyal friend(..well, Phil also helped him in making better grades, using the kid's brains to get ahead). Zane's cousin is Rene(Leah Rachel), head of a sorority who will accompany him with two pledges, Laura(Erin Reese;looking like a young Charisma Carpenter)& Julie(Lindsey Scott), and boyfriend Danny(Steve Sandvoss). They head off to Zane's father's home for different reasons. Zane to find the location of the gold, manipulating Rene into thinking that the trip was so that she could mistreat her two potential sisters. A thorn in Zane's side is his father's grounds keeper, Lester(Tobin Bell, given star treatment), a foul, dirty lout who lives all alone, secretly discovering the spot in the sub-cellar where some gold was buried. Lester constantly warns Zane about being out when night falls because of the dangers of the dark. Lester is a perverted rascal who often makes sneering remarks and gestures to the girls, while also playing a series of scare-pranks on them.

A Native American girl was murdered by her husband, Zane's great-grandfather(..who remarried, which birthed the new family line that would lead to Zane and Rene), buried alive presumably where the gold was hidden. Her spirit seeks revenge on all those whose blood derived from the murdering bastard who left her to die a slow and agonizing death. Equipped with an ax and the ability to pop wherever she so wishes, and a very hostile attitude, the ghoul will take no prisoners..all are fair game. There's this amulet worn around Rene's neck which works as protection from death..it's symbol will assist in keeping one character safe from harm. One victim is sliced in half(..right down the middle) while another's face slides right from the head..the ax chop happens so fast in fact that you don't(..or can barely)see the blade. The film spends an amount of time with the characters as they get acquainted with their temporary environment, with Rene, basically a bitch always ordering her girls around(..I absolutely loathe this whole process, running candidates through a series of trials just to join some stupid institution)or jealous of Julie who has caught the attention of Zane..an angle established at the beginning points out this incestuous desire present between Zane and Rene(..Rene simmers with disgust when Zane and Julie flirt). I will admit that I could care less what happened to Zane, Danny(..your basic garden variety handsome jock, a WB pretty boy Rene keeps as a trophy), or especially Rene. Rene never gains our sympathy as she insists on ridiculing and tormenting her pledges, especially Julie, who is playful, naive, and bubbly(..not to mention positively yummy in a playboy bunny kind of way). Laura is the sultry brunette, with silky smooth skin and dynamic figure. She has a thing for religious symbols of various beliefs(..like a Celtic and Chinese symbols tattooed on parts of her body)and is well studied in the practices of other countries' cultures. Bell is basically a creep, nasty and crude..but the best thing about this supernatural slasher, for at least he has presence. Despite a grim conclusion for certain characters, I was rather satisfied..not sure that was supposed to be the appropriate reaction.

fun to watch, impossible to appreciate, typical B movie viewing

[Stryde22 · 6/10 · 6 November 2007]

#i'm trying a new simple review system like this so i don't know if its hard or easy to read XD#

IN A NUTSHELL: hatable teen personalities stay in a haunted house. a potentially good plot line is lost within the endless repetition of sorority rituals. good movie to sit and laugh a with friends.

Positives: -the movie is fun to watch. the acting is very laughable in most parts and actually add to the enjoyment of the film IMO -there is at least one creepy scene. i wont say where, but the classic horror style of "things changing their position at the speed of light" really gets used in an okay, albeit clichéd way. -THE SOUNDTRACK!!! i don't know who most of the artists are...but the soundtrack was so catchy for me the whole way through, especially tracks by Poets & Pornstars -Constant TnA throughout makes it a real teen horror movie. -an attempt at a deep plot is introduced roughly halfway, which, although failing miserably by the end, does give the viewers the chance to pick out he plot holes and make a better fold of events in their minds. -I'm not really a fan of Tobin Bell, but he wasn't awful in this. -some gore, although much of it was so bad that it was laughable again. -fairly decent special effects for a B-movie -nice set, even if it did seem highly unusual to me that a mansion sat in the middle of the desert. -predictable, but overall acceptable ending.

Negatives: -as described in the positives, the acting is laughably bad...and for some it may be turn off straight away -the constant insinuation of incest seems unnecessary as it doesn't add to the plot.had it been developed into the plot line it may have worked, but it wasn't, and it didn't. -the personalities of all the characters sucked. rich, stupid, snobby and bitchy seemed to flow through most of the characters. a little diversity could have gone a long way. -MASSIVE lack of back story behind the only remotely interesting character, who didn't even become remotely interesting until the last third of the film. -lots of repetition -lots of repetition -lots of repetition

VISUAL: decent sets, some great and not-so-great specialFX CAMERA: decent shooting, nothing too special, but good placements SOUND:great music choices, average sound effects CAST: great to look at, but their characters seemed out.

CUTE: no CREEPY: nope DRAMATIC: no FUNNY: Yes MELODRAMATIC: not really GORY: not very SAD: no SCARY: No SEXY: moderately SMART: not at all TENSE: maybe WORTH WATCHING: for fun WORTH PAYING: no

RECAP: -worth watching purely for some eye candy and something to chat about with friends once in a while. not scary-

IF YOU LIKED THESE, You'd LIKE "Buried Alive": horror movies that sucked but had potential: Dead Mary Dead Silence Deadly Visions Rest Stop

Overall: 6 out of 10:

www.myspace.com/strydetamashii

Coming from an amusing B movie horror filmmaker, this is pretty lifeless.

[hu675 · 4/10 · 16 May 2008]

Two college students Rene (Leah Rachel) and Zane (Terence Jay) invite their friends (Erin Lokitz, Lindsay Scott, Steve Sandvoss and Germaine De Leon) to their family ranch for the weekend somewhere in the desert. Which like any college students, they just want to have a wild party and getting laid. The Caketaker (Tobin Bell) is been trying to look for gold in the house. He accidentally digs the dead body of a old witch. Her spirit wants revenge and one by one, they are killed by this vengeful ghost.

Directed by Robert Kurtzman (The Demolitionlist, The Rage, Wishmaster) made an pretty dull, lifeless supernatural slasher horror film with some neat special effects and good production values can't save it. Most of the college students are pretty unlikeable in the movie expect for Scott as the cute blonde. Only Bell seems to be having any real fun with his supporting role, he is the only one to give some class in this movie. Kurtzman's previous features are more fun than this. Especially he's one of the best make-up artists around and he owns an independent film production titled "Precient 13". Which he is named after John Carpenter's cult classic "Assault on Precient 13". Too bad this premise is very uninteresting and even Horror fans will find boring. (* ½/*****).

Buried Alive: A Sexy and Sleek Teenage Horror Flick

[kyleallen_9 · 10/10 · 24 February 2009]

Im so glad that Dimension Films, one of my favorite companies, released this kick ass slasher flick. Im came across this flick last October and i read about it and the DVD artwork is sweet!! This flick featured some gruesome and inventive death scenes and a very creepy ghost killer. This movie did have the typical horror movie storyline, a group of college kids terrorized by a killer at a remote location, but this flick, the killer is a angry spirit. It is centered on a group of college friends Erin Lokitz, Leah Rachel, Terence Jay, Steve Sandvoss, Lindsey Scott, Germaine De Leon and it featured Tobin Bell as the creepy caretaker of the home that the friends plan to party in for the weekend deep in the desert. Its not too long fro the slicing and dicing to happen, as a family curse takes it's toll on the group. This movie really freaked me out, so definitely check it out!!

Light-hearted murder that amuses and entertains

[rbennet9-1 · 6/10 · 25 October 2007]

I often write movie reviews for various groups. I don't usually review slasher movies. People who go to see slasher movies aren't looking for Academy Award material. They are looking for blood, guts, and brains, and some moments of real excitement. But since I know some actors in this movie, I decided to do a review. I hope no one gets angry at me because I write truthful reviews. I had been anxiously awaiting the release of this movie and couldn't wait for my pre-ordered copy to arrive, so I went to Blockbuster and got a rental copy. I enjoyed the movie, and enjoyed it more so because of who was in it. We know that in slasher movies almost everyone dies. If anyone escapes, it is only one or two. The question in my mind was "who's going to die, and how?" Well, I won't tell you. I will avoid that part because I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment. I do want to make some criticisms of this movie, though, and let me get those out of the way first.

Buried Alive is basically a solid slasher movie but there are some real problems with the script that detracted. That's a shame. This movie could have been far better with some rearranging and tightening of the script. My first complaint is the dialog given to the blond sorority pledge (sorry I don't know her name). She was obviously a good actress and her delivery was good for the role she had to work with. They made the character unbelievably dumb. College students aren't dumb. Her role would have been much better as a temptress and a tramp. It would have heightened the coherence of the movie greatly. And it would have been in line with later segments of her role. The second great disappointment was the character given Steve Sandvoss who is one of my favorite actors. His character, Danny, vacillated back and forth between adult-like characteristics and juvenile ones, almost junior highish. Steve is a fine actor, and he delivered his role with skill, but he should have been given a better character who was more believable. His talent was wasted. He could have raised the level of this movie and made it even better. Danny would have been much better as an adult-like character with an "attitude." Unfortunately, actors do not get to write their own script. I hate to see good talent wasted, although in the end, he gives a splashing performance.

One other criticism of this movie - not enough blood, guts, and brains. Some of the special effects were good but most end up too tidy. Gruesome murders leave lots of blood and unnamable residue all over the place, and this movie should have had more. Now that I am through complaining, let me say some positive things.

Terrence Jay delivered a solid performance as did Tobin Bell, but the real surprise of the movie for me was newcomer Leah Rachel. I did not have high expectations for Leah because this is - as far as I know - her first movie. So I was prepared to forgive a lot. What a surprise! Leah had the best character in the movie and her performance was exceptional. Her performance raised the level of the movie and helped to save it. She and Steve could have been given a more torrid and scintillating affair since this movie does have some nudity and eye candy. That would have had people intently watching between murder scenes. Everyone likes eye candy and everyone likes sex and both these actors have plenty of it. So I was very pleasantly surprised and almost forgave the problems with the script.

I liked the ending as will most viewers. If you like horror/slasher movies, then you will have an enjoyable time and the movie is worth watching. I'm keeping my copy! Go rent or buy the DVD today.

Not boring, just very uninteresting

[jhpstrydom · 3/10 · 13 January 2008]

I went out to the video store to get myself something to watch besides the boring drama films that keeps showing on TV all day long, and so I found buried alive, it wasn't boring just very uninteresting, the pace is extremely slow and I would sum up the storyline, but the whole sorority thing, the one guy on a treasure hunt and the ghost story thing makes it a little confusing, because judging from the cover you'd expect a horror film but its over shadowed by a very slow storyline consisting of very dull and stereotypical characters, although the cast isn't bad but they should'vie considered something other than this, and the gore effects are very forgettable and not as well done as in many of the good horror films

Overall, a good horror film is one that scares you so much you lie awake at night still thinking about it, a bad horror movie is one that bores you so much you fall asleep during the day and you won't even remember it the following day, so consider getting something like saw if want to see Tobin Bell at his best, or vacancy for mixture of 80's horror with a modern twist, because this won't satisfy horror fans very much.

3 out of 10

Buried in a Blockbuster discount bin

[movieman_kev · 3/10 · 24 May 2012]

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 topless

My Grade: D+

Where I saw it: Sho Beyond

Junk

[gianmarcoronconi · 1/10 · 9 September 2022]

What is there to say about this little piece of junk that has the courage to be called a film, well first of all we have to talk about the generic plot, which is a shivering stupidity and nonsense and is adorned with small holes and inconsistencies that they also make it unnecessarily complicated to make. Then we must necessarily talk about the characters, written in a stupid way for behavior and decisions, then the film is clear that for its attractiveness it points on two things: the violence of the killings and the beauty of the girls, two points that can attract but not enough to base an entire film on it. Moreover, most of the time we ask ourselves what the protagonists have in mind and we also ask ourselves the meaning of the whole story, because the initial and final explanation of the whole situation simply do not have the slightest sense.

Resurrection?

[jamhorner · 4/10 · 10 February 2008]

This was a pretty descent movie compared to some horror movies that I've seen. I though, based on the cover art and the hype that Tobin Bell is in it, that it would be a terrible movie but it's pretty good. Essentially it's about a group of college kids who take a trip up to a Native American style house where there is supposable treasure. The problem is, there may be a ghost haunting the house and killing people and the fact that Tobin Bell is a complete creep. The acting was okay, there was some gory bits and for a somewhat indie movie it was okay. I enjoyed it.

The acting was pretty good and the obvious Tobin Bell did a fantastic job, like he always does but you also had some great acting by Terence Jay and Leah Rachel. Granted, there were points that they seemed a bit too scripted and they didn't quit perform to their potential, but they made it up for a good effort. You have Germaine De Leon, whose character Phil, was so annoying and seemed as an oddball in the story. They really could have done without him. Lindsey Scott, who played the ditzy eye candy, did an okay job portraying a complete rube. To say the least, the acting could have been a lot better, but it could have been a lot, a lot worse.

There was some pretty good gore effects, though coming from Robert Kurtzman, who did Dusk Till Dawn, I was a bit disappointed to see noticeable pre-cut and pre-expression dummies, CG blood and rubber bodies. Though a nice attempt at cutting people in half and taking off a face or two, but compared to his other work, this kind of gore seemed to out of place. Granted, I enjoyed the chopping and knifing and "face off" scene, but when you do good blood effects, please take it to the next level and not rely on computers.

The one thing that I did not like about this movie was the unnecessary nudity and sex. Right after touring a creepy sub-cellar you do it on a couch, let's strip down for no reason, lets run naked to the nearby trailer home and steal something for no reason at all, there were just too much nudity and udder ridiculousness when it came to the sexuality. I think that by half way into the movie, the writers or the director wanted more nudity and sex so they though of excuses to show it. Bad excuses like "it's for a sorority" or "because I want to." They could have done without all of that and it would have been a movie twice as good as it could have been.

What this movie did accomplish, that surprised me, was the plot set up that the writers had pieced together. Usually when it comes to these kinds of horror movies, you can tell who gets killed before the movie even starts, and for the most part that is correct, but at the end it's a complete twist. The person who survives was the last person who you'd think would make it. It's almost freaky to have a would be cliché ridden and obvious movie turned into a half-descent movie with a good twist ending.

Overall, this is one of those movies that you would normally pass by at the library or the Blockbuster, but when you get it, it leaves a whole new impression on you than what you originally though. I'm not saying it's a work of art, but I will say that if you enjoy horror movies, give it a whirl. The worse that could happen is it turns out to be a comedy. I recommend this movie mainly to those who enjoy indie horror movies as well as horror movies that have a cult following. However, to those who enjoy a more sophisticated palette of horror, I recommend this movie to, but with a warning that it may not turn out the way that you intended. I enjoyed it, for the most part, but I would certainly not see it again and it is certainly not the best piece of indie horror there is.

bury this movie please

[trashgang · 3/10 · 9 September 2009]

Again and again I'm warning people not to fall for words on DVD covers like "starring Tobin Bell from Saw" or "it's gory". Even made by the director of Wishmaster, the ghost looks like the Wishmaster 20 years older, this is total crap. It's never frightening or scary. And nothing happens until the last 15 minutes. Tobin is in it, alright, but performs maybe 15 minutes in the movie, and is just a guy. The movie never really starts, it's more about belonging in the group and doing things to belong to the group. So here we go, of course it's the girls who have to do things like, dress yourself with one piece of clothing. Do I have to say more, one chooses only to wear her jeans the other to wear her boots. So naked they go, you think, even there it goes terrible wrong. The black haired one, Erin Lokitz, is running around naked but always covering her boobs. Men, if you know you have to do this and you don't want to do it don't take the role, you know what I mean. And look, I'm talking more about those part of the movie then the blood part. it's easy, it's all done in CGI, and CGI never is and never will be scary or gory. It could have done so beautifully, the storyline is there but next time, Kurtzman, do it in the old fashion way without CGI and if you are teasing with nudity do it full frontal as in MBV remake and Friday the 13th remake. Bury this movie, alive

"Hey, I was buried alive and I'm not that happy about

[Backlash007 · 25 November 2007]

~Spoiler~

Buried Alive is the new film from effects man turned director, Robert Kurtzman. It follows a bunch of tweens who upset a vengeful ghost while partying, conducting sorority initiation pranks, and looking for gold. It's yet another variation of the dead teenager flick. I knew that going in so I wasn't expecting much. In fact, if it had been helmed by another director I'm sure I would have passed on it completely. The film takes a while to get going, but that's not a complaint. I like movies that take some time to introduce their characters. Unfortunately for Buried Alive, the characters are all one dimensional: the dumb blonde, the beer-guzzling jock, the computer nerd, et al. The only character I was interested in was Tobin Bell's caretaker, and he gets the least screen time. It was nice to see the Jigsaw vet outside of the Saw series though. The effects were pretty good, but I just watched Wrong Turn 2 before this, so some of the thunder was stolen from a few of the kills. Kurtzman is 1 for 2 in the horror genre now. I can't believe it took him 10 years to helm another movie after Wishmaster. I can't believe it's been 10 years since Wishmaster was released. Kurtzman's upcoming film, The Rage, had better deliver where this one did not.

Eh ... It's OK

[larawoolley · 4/10 · 1 September 2012]

Like a lot of other people, I was sold this film on the fact that it starred Tobin Bell. Well, he was great in it.

The story line is pretty bland ... I didn't get it until half way through the film. Though, half way through the film, things do get a little more interesting. Killing takes a while to set in, in fact any action takes a while to set in. I did enjoy the film after an hour or so.

It's not scary, creepy or anything; I did find a couple of the killings (the ones outside) were pretty good and original, but other than that, I wouldn't really say that this was a horror. There were only a handful of killings, definitely not enough to consider this a slasher film.

Other than Tobin Bell I thought I'd enjoy this film because it was described as a 'haunted house' film. I guess it is; but it's not a very good one. There's a ghost type thing, but it's pretty rubbish.

The film isn't that bad if you're not expecting too much. Maybe I was when I read that Tobin Bell was in the film. Don't expect anything like Saw. There isn't anywhere near enough gore, killing, scares, anything.

I wouldn't say avoid this film; but don't watch it if you want a horror.

A rather ho hum stab at the slasher genre...sometimes you need more than just the usual to make it good

[Robert_duder · 6/10 · 3 December 2009]

I think the creators of Buried Alive took a dare. Someone said I bet you can't make a good horror/slasher flick and they said 'oh yes we can...you need hot buxom girls too old to be teenagers, gratuitous nudity, an old man, a haunted house, and some gory death and its gonna be perfect.' In all fairness that idea doesn't sound half bad. However the makers of the film managed to prove that there does need to be something else and if you asked me to nail something down I would say a far more solid story was necessary to really make Buried Alive worthwhile. Its true enough that they had some of the recipe right and for horror fans its decent enough to entertain but it certainly won't blow your mind and essentially it will leave you feeling like you need more out of it and that's just disappointing. Buried Alive is part ghost story, part slasher flick and part cheap thrills and cheap scares. All can be worthwhile especially if you're aiming to make something more cheesy. However Buried Alive sadly doesn't even hit the level of cheese, and it falls short of being serious or truly scary so it sits in limbo and therein lies the problem.

Most of this cast are newcomers or at the very least early in their acting career and I'm not sure that this film will boost them in any way. The characters don't get a lot of back story and they are mostly shallow in the writing. I could easily lump most of them into one swoop of a category. The lead college 'kids' are played by Leah Rachel, Erin Reese, Germaine De Leon, Terence Jay, Steve Sandvoss, and Lindsey Scott. They all fit their extremely stereotypical roles and purpose. The bimbos, the jocks, the sorority girl and the geek. They all have one single purpose and they look the role and therefore do a decent job at it and yet its a shame none of them really get to flex any acting muscles at all even being scream queens or horror hunks. Then you have the man who is becoming synonymous with horror Mr. Tobin Bell who is always awesome and actually does have a more meaty role and is fun to watch. He is appropriately creepy and has great screen presence and ups the ante on the film just enough to be reasonably watchable.

Special effects master Robert Kurtzman helms the film. I call him a master mostly because he has had some incredible experience doing special effects over the last three decades and even has a classic horror (more cheese than horror) Wes Craven's Wishmaster. Still his directorial experience is limited and he just seems to want to crank this out and get it over with. Considering his experience with special effects I would also have expected to see more in that field in this film although there are some bloody, and cool death scenes its nothing extreme. Also there is a lack of people in the film to be victims so you can only get so much out of the film from a horror/blood perspective. Buried Alive is campy but worst of all it is slow and not incredibly endearing. It won't stay in my horror collection and if you have the choice I would avoid this one because it isn't going to provide you with a favorite by any means. Maybe more can be done with some future (certainly straight to DVD) sequels but we will see. 6/10

Not recommendable

[aronharde · 4/10 · 2 December 2023]

Buried Alive was directed by a man who is pretty known in the genre, Robert Kurtzman and while his work as a special effects artist is pretty respectable, his work as a director is definitely expendable, at least in this movie. You have lots of pretty bad effects and actors that can't act, add to that that the plot is not really interesting and the pacing definitely has issues. Also for some reason two of the female characters are taking their clothes off in every chance they get for some reason and don't get me wrong I don't mind nudity in horror movies at all but it just felt so out of place and unnecessary that it really made me uncomfortable. One of the very few and things that is enjoyable in this movie is that it is starring Tobin Bell, but even he is more of a side character. While this movie is not completely terrible or complete trash it's definitely not recommendable in my opinion. [4,1/10]

Lester don't write no reviews.....

[SYFYguy · 9/10 · 8 August 2009]

Buried Alive Tobin Bell deserves an Oscar for best actor in this gripping horror film. Lester is not just any creepy gold digger who lives in the middle of the desert alone in his RV, but really tries to warn the dumb kids not to go into the creepy "sub-cellar". If only those dumb college kids would have listened to Lester and his third person warnings none of this would have ever happened.

Phil plays his role to perfection and his stuttering goes almost unnoticed during his few but crucial lines. You can tell the other college kids not only look up to him but also fear him because his is allowed to go unquestioned on his routine 8 hour phone call.

One scene I did not enjoy was where they clearly killed live innocent snakes in order for a cheap scare. I do not condone any Mike Vick behavior from film producers and they should be punished.

I do not fully understand the cousin make-out scene right in front of the girls boyfriend. I mean I guess if I had a girlfriend I would let her make-out with her cousin too…….CUZ LESTER Ain't GOT NO CABLE!!

OK, don't go mad cow on me!

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 4/10 · 7 May 2011]

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.

Competent but should have been better.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 11 July 2010]

Buried Alive starts as cousins Rene (Leah Rachel) & Zane (Terence Jay who also composed the music) decide to spend a weekend at a family ranch in the middle of the desert, Rene wants wants to play some tricks on two sorority wannabes Laura (Erin Reese) & Julie (Lindsey Scott) while Zane wants to search for some legendary buried gold. On the way there Zane has a few strange visions of a ghostly old woman holding an axe, doing some research it turns out that Rene & Zane's ancestor buried his first wife alive although her body was never found. As the teenage friends try to enjoy themselves it seems that the vengeful ghost of the buried woman has returned to seek revenge on the ancestor's of the man that murdered her...

Directed by Robert Kurtzman who used to be part of KNB Effects buts seems to like directing horror films as much as providing gory make-up effects for them, while Buried Alive is competent as a teen slasher I suppose I expected a little bit more. There are several problems with Buried Alive that are common for this type of direct to video horror fare, the biggest problem is surely the pace & the fact that it's so bloody slow. The first kill doesn't happen until the fortieth minute & then nothing else happens until the final fifteen minutes when things finally pick up & the script realises that it's a horror film & not a cure for insomnia. The character's are walking clichés, there's a spotty nerd type who wears glasses & carries a laptop around all the time, there's the bitchy popular girl & her jock boyfriend, there's a crazy local who warns the kids about dangers & the whole back-story about the woman being buried alive & coming back for revenge is underwhelming. The majority of Buried Alive feels like padding, the subplot about Zane not taking his pills is seemingly pointless for instance & why does he start having visions even before they reach the ranch? Why is the ghost visible to some of the character's some of the time & not other's when at the end she is visible to everyone? At a shade over 90 minutes there's very little story here & the idiot, annoying, clichéd character's make the film a drag to watch & the lack of any proper kills until the last fifteen minutes means Buried Alive is a bit of a chore to sit through.

Even though there's no much here the gores pretty good, someone is chopped down the middle with an axe & the two halves of his body are seen later, there's some blood splatter & a cool bit where someone gets his face sliced off with an axe but disappointingly some of the kills are off screen. As well as gore there's a bit of nudity & virtually all the tasks & pranks played on the two sorority babes involve them taking their clothes off. Although set mainly in the daylight to start with the end is set at night & Kurtzman directs things adequately, it's not that scary really though & the shock ending isn't that good either. Buried Alive is a fairly generic sounding title & there are at least ten other films that use the title.

Filmed in Santa Fe in New Mexico this is well made with surprisingly good production values, it actually looks like a professional film even though it's rather dull at times. The acting is OK at vest, Tobin Bell for Saw fame gets about five minutes of screen time.

Buried Alive is well made & has one or two decent gore scenes but the sluggish pace & predictable plot means actually sitting though it is harder than it should have been. Could have been fun, it isn't.