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Burial Ground - The Nights Of Terror (1980)
By lngway2go | July 6, 2009
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Starring: Mariangela Giordano, Karen Well, Peter Bark
Burial Ground is a film that lives in infamy among horror fans, not for the skill of direction or the strength of the story, not even for an excess of gore scenes - if that was the case it would be a sorry state, for Burial Ground is lacking to varying degrees in all departments. What Burial Ground is best known for turns out to be one of the few highlights of the film, a scene in which a child rips his mothers breast clean off with his young teeth, in an incestuous zombie feast. It’s not unusual for a horror film to have it’s moment of glory and recognition from one lone moment of triumph that last but a few seconds. There are many such examples. Another being the legendary video nasty Anthropophagus Beast, a film with two such highlights; the killer performing an abortion and consumption of a late term pregnancy, and the consumption of one’s own intestines. Classic stuff in both cases.
One could say that it’s a shame for a whole movie to be considered, and raised to cult status on such flimsy merits, but that’s what keeps things interesting; it can take so little to make something memorable, but there is a journey to get there, no matter how painful, and when the peak of the gory crescendo is reached we experience a moment of joy that allows us to forget the boredom or the ineptness of the other 85 minutes. Perhaps this is shameful justification for bad horror films, but there is usually some kind of silver lining even if it is like a needle in a haystack at times.
Now, that is not to say that the other 84 minutes of Burial Ground is a total waste of time, but it wouldn’t be fair to say it’s a rip-roaring journey in horror heaven, or the gore-fest that some might allude to. The story is a simple one, an evil is unleashed on an unsuspecting group gathering at a castle who then become victims of this evil, and for the most part it is handled effectively and manages to be entertaining.
I’m not sure what it is with meddling archaeologists but when they read ancient texts stating something like “Here lies the foulest most evil force imaginable. We sealed it so it can’t escape”, the first thing they do is grab a pick axe. There seems to be a masochistic element to archaeology. When Professor Ayres disturbs a seal in an ancient crypt in a cemetery he unleashes a horde of deadly, slow moving zombies, who ignore his pleas of being their friend and chow down on his flesh. No gratitude at all…
The professor had summoned a group of friends to his castle so he could reveal his discoveries, and impress all, but when they arrive he’s not around… The guests make themselves at home, either by getting their kink on in the bedroom or out in the grounds. It seems any time any of the couples are alone they test the springiness of the hay. When they take their canoodling outside, the zombies are a little irritated and strike out. Hordes of them appear and start giving chase (by walking), the poor unsuspecting love birds fly away home.
There is some moral fiber to the film, if we really look for it. There is an all loving American dubbed Italian family. Children were not allowed by law to appear in films such as this in Italy, which is just as well in the case of Burial Ground, so to get around this they hired a strange looking actor called Peter Bark, who was in his 20’s and looks like a smaller Dario Argento (Mini Argento?). Peter plays Micheal the son of Evelyn (Mariangela Giordano - Malabimba, The Sect), and he is one seriously weird looking guy who seems well suited for horror films, even if he wasn’t to appear in anymore. Michael has a slightly strange relationship with his mother, he gets a little jealous of his mothers boyfriend (or husband, it’s never really stated). Luckily for Michael, father figure George (Roberto Caporali) is quickly dispensed with when a group of zombies break in to the basement of the castle and feast on him while Evelyn and Michael make their escape.
The zombie action in Burial Ground takes more the form of a cannibal movie. Lots of chewing on the stuff they rip from the stomach of their victims. But it’s not long before there are some more inventive methods of victim dispatchment. When three couples (for the sake of argument and exploitative purposes it’s safe to conclude Evelyn and Michael being a couple, even if I’m getting ahead of the film here) manage to group together once more after the zombie madness and hole up in the castle. They lock the doors and then go barricading the second story windows, you read that correctly… Second. Story. Windows. But in Star Trek tradition there are some disposable characters, house staff - butlers and maids. They send a maid off alone to shut some windows. While leaning out a window a zombie hiding in the bushes throws a large nail at her. The nail goes goes through her hand and pins her to the shutter, then the zombie brings out the scythe… Off with her head! When her body is found by one of the remaining bunch inside, he just tosses it out the window for the zombie to feast on. Again, what gratitude.
Perhaps one of the interesting things about Burial Ground are the zombies. They don’t look particular good, effects wise, but not the worst I’ve seen, and for the budget that this film would have had it’s actually probably far more impressive than what I’m giving credit for. What is different about the Burial Ground zombies is that they are actually intelligent. They will work together, and pick up weapons to attack the victims. At one point they use a battering ram to get into the castle. While this could look pretty stupid in most cases, it seems to work fairly well in this scenario.
After Michael’s mother saves him from a zombie attack by slicing a zombie head from it’s torso, he makes it plain just how much he likes her. Giving her breast a little petting and reaching up her skirt, but when his hands slip in to her underwear shes had enough! Michael is very disappointed, and runs off… only to be attacked by a recently deceased member of the group of friends who is now back as a zombie.
With just four of the group remaining, it’s a sad state of affairs when they decide that the best course of action is to let the zombies in, after all maybe it’s “not us that they are after”. Um… Guess they forgot about those that have been eaten? It’s about this point that the film really starts to drag a little. It’s obvious that the story really wasn’t that well thought out, although for the most part that is forgivable when there are some humorous lines to witnessed and some interesting zombie murders. The problem is that when the vast majority of the film is simply everyone running from the zombies it just gets a bit too repetitive, and not enough is done with it. The only thing that really keeps us going is to be finally able to witness Michael’s return as a zombie, and the sucking of his mother breast right off her chest. Yeah, pretty twisted, but who’s complaining?
Burial Ground is perhaps one of the darker, in tone, zombie films of the era. Things don’t end happily, and there are no real victories over the zombies. The poor unsuspecting victims in the film, just manage to get their way out of trouble by the skin of their teeth, but mostly it’s their skin in someone elses teeth. There is also an over-riding gothic feel to the film, helped by the well chosen location and the abandoned castle in which the film was shot. The location alone manages to push the production values to more respectable heights.
The film is a lot closer to Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead series than it is, say, to Lucio Fulci’s Zombie. It definitely reminds me of Return of the Blind Dead, where the cast are holed up in a building for the majority of the film, and make a stupid decisions to get themselves out of the troublesome predicament. The Blind Dead movies have that overbearing cat and mouse aspect going on between the living and the dead, which also permeates Burial Ground. It is that cat a mouse element which ends up detracting from the overall flow of both Burial Ground, and the Blind Dead films - there ends up being little else to keep the viewer truly engaged.
Andrea Bianchi output has been fairly sparse, surprisingly enough, even though his name is very recognizable - that probably comes from the notoriety of this film. Most interestingly to us, he previously directed the sleazy Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975), which is a worthwhile entry into Italy’s giallo genre. The rest of Bianchi’s catalog seems to be on the erotic side, including Malabimba (1979). Bianchi does manage to once again to show himself as a competent director, even if some of the exterior footage is a little shaky makes things look a little to low budget, whether intentional or not. And, although the film definitely has its flaws, it is an entertaining slice of euro horror which for once actually deserves some of the cult status it receives.
Shriek Show’s release includes: a theatrical trailer, still gallery, interviews with producer Gabriele Cristanti, and actress Mariangela Giordano.
Topics: Italian Horror, Zombie Films |
February 18th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Worthless review from a pretentious idiot.