In the United Kingdom, Dead & Buried was added to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) list of 72 video nasties. It was one of 33 films unsuccessfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959.
American filmmaker Gary Sherman is often overlooked when discussing the history of British horror. His darkly comedic debut – the 1972 London Underground horror Death Line (aka Raw Meat) starring the legendary Donald Pleasance and Christopher Lee – should be as frequently discussed as the frightful features from Hammer Horror’s oeuvre; a perfect example of the direction British horror was heading in the 1970s. Fast forward to 1981, the dawn of home video, and Sherman enters the British subconsciousness once again – this time through unjustified moral panic – with Avco-Embassy producer Ronald Shusett’s American creeper: Dead & Buried.
Originally penned by Alex Stern and Jeff Millar, Shusett enlisted the help of his Alien (1979) co-writer Dan O’Bannon to re-write the screenplay. Shusett wanted O’Bannon’s name on the project for marketing purposes. Indeed, Dead & Buried released with the tagline:
“The creators of ALIEN…bring a new terror to Earth.”
But speaking with Alan Jones for STARBURST (September 1983), O’Bannon concluded that Shusett didn’t use any of his ideas and has therefore disowned the film. “I hated it but as [Shusett] pointed out I couldn’t take my name off it.” Interference from PSO International – the third financier, having bought out Aspen; the second financier, who bought out Guinness; the original financier – also resulted in an increased emphasis on gore!
Arriving in a quaint coastal town, an amateur photographer quickly realises something’s amiss when the beautiful blonde in the red blouse, who had offered to model for him, snatches his camera away and starts taking candid photos of his dour demeanor…and the mob of townspeople that now surround him. Beaten almost to death, the photographer is doused in gasoline and set aflame to four softly spoken words: “Welcome to Potters Bluff.”
Discovering the burnt wreck of a VW camper, and the crispy remains of the photographer, town sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino) and mortician William G. Dobbs (the late, great Jack Albertson in his final feature) receive a fright when the seemingly dead outsider begins to scream in pain! Under observation at the hospital, having survived the attack, the photographer is approached by familiar blonde nurse holding a syringe. “Hi. I’m so glad to see that you are feeling better.” Struggling desperately, but unable to move due to injury, nothing can stop the hypodermic needle piercing the photographer’s peeper.
This was one of many grotesque special effects from Stan Winston that caused Dead & Buried to fall foul to British hysteria surrounding horror home video. Originally passed uncut with a X rating by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) for UK cinema, Dead & Buried was later released on VHS by Thorn EMI, bypassing further classification. Uncut horror flooding the unregulated home video market – with films like Cannibal Holocaust, The Evil Dead, and The Driller Killer – led to public debate concerning the exposure of violent “video nasties” to children. Considered “obscene” material, Sherman’s horror flick was added to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) list of 72 “video nasties” for violating the Obscene Publications Act 1959, banning further distribution. Copies of the “video nasty” were then seized from video rental shops across the country.
“Gary Sherman really tried to – with Steven Poster who was the DP [Director of Photography] – give Dead & Buried a stylish look” said Winston. For example, Sherman had purposely avoided using the colour red in any scene (with the exception of the blonde’s red blouse), so the sight of blood would provide a more visceral shock. “I was on a shoestring, it was a low-budget movie; I know that I put a hundred and ten percent of myself into the effects.” From death by fire to death by stabbing to death by acid injection (though infamously not a Stan Winston effect, but an example of PSO’s dumbfuckery) to death by bludgeoning to live burial, Dead & Buried’s lurid subject matter was at the mercy of the DPP; which ironically elevated the film’s cult status!
Once the Video Recordings Act 1984 came into effect to ensure home video certification by the BBFC (now known as the British Board of Film Classification), Dead & Buried was re-submitted for classification by distributor VCI, but stricter censorship resulted in 30 seconds of gore – including that infamous hypodermic needle scene – to be removed from the 1990 VHS. Fortunately UK censorship has relaxed in subsequent years and Dead & Buried has seen numerous uncut re-releases since 1999. Yes, it’s grotesque but Sherman’s direction remains effectively creepy, Winston’s SFX is impressive 40+ years later – and Joe Renzetti’s soundtrack is to die for! Only censorship should remain dead and buried.
