Premature Burial

...reviewed October 2nd
 

Premature Burial has always been interesting to me because it rests in amongst the classic Corman Poe films, featuring Oscar-winner Ray Milland this time, sliding into the spot mostly occupied by the great Vincent Price (who was preoccupied with another film). I think because Price isn’t involved, Premature Burial kind of finds itself in the background while the likes of The Pit and the Pendulum, Masque of the Red Death, and House of Usher are at the forefront. Milland, an actor I think is terrific when in the right part, had seen better days in his career by this point.



When you get stuck in a giant turd called Frogs, playing crotchety sorts that offer little sympathy, Milland had reached a rather unfortunate stage in his career. But Premature Burial was an opportunity for Milland to star in a colorful Corman production, and the part gave him the means to play a character we can actually empathize with. His fear of being buried alive is shared by many. I can’t imagine too many of us would want to be in that position. So why not take Poe and milk the idea of that fear becoming a possible reality for Premature Burial’s hero. I think the main problem I see with this film is that I always felt a sense of familiarity with the material.











House of Usher already touched on being entombed while still alive, seemingly dead yet not so. The suspicious wife who feigns concern for her husband, infiltrating his bachelorhood with an obvious intent to wed him, using her charms to persuade him not only to marry but later destroy a “safe crypt” against the fear of catalepsy. Milland builds a mausoleum that has ‘safety measures’ that equip him with escape methods if he were to fall prey to catalepsy, where it appears as if one has had a heart attack, yet it is just a self-induced, temporary comatose state. Of course, not long after the safe crypt is detonated, an event where the skeletal remains of his father spill from their crypt causes him to fall victim to catalepsy…this isn’t a surprise but expected. It only makes sense that with all this scriptural allegiance to building Milland’s progressing horror of catalepsy and premature burial, the film pays off with that event taking place. I have to think I’m not the only one who immediately suspected the ravishing Hazel Court (that delightful Hammer women bosom just ready to burst from her dresses) was not to be trusted. She forces her way into Milland’s life; it’s all too obvious. The gravesrobbers and their whistled tune (that haunts Milland because of an experience where a man’s casket was unearthed to reveal he had tried to claw his way out of it; yes, he had been buried alive), often re-occuring in the foggy wilderness near Milland’s castle, with other moments (a cat’s meow revealing its momentary cage behind a wall; a nightmare in green haze where Milland envisions that his safety precautions in his crypt were all in disarray and disrepair; a terrible memory (which could have been caused merely by Milland’s fear) of Milland’s father being buried alive) only further enhancing that overwhelming fear, until he’s in mental shambles, “returning from the dead” in a state of distress and madness he is no longer to be trusted.

This, to be honest, is Corman kind of relying on the tried and true formula of an eccentric aristocrat allowing his emotional crises to get the better of him, until a collapse changes him into a violent madman. He gives us a castle and grounds that looks rather well used from better films, and instead of Price, Milland is a rather okay substitute…he wears paranoia and horror well on his face. This could be looked at as an interesting curio if just because Milland stars in a Corman quickie, during the Poe era, with Court getting a more delicious part than usual, able, for a change, to seem caring and affectionate, and demanding attention instead of the crypt getting it all. Even when the material was less than sufficient, there’s the usual suspects that always makes these films fun like the family crypt all cob-webbed, the foggy wilderness outside the castle with its rickety dead trees and branches, and the lavish castle with all its mood. Even if a bit underwhelming from a story-line sense, there’s still much I can enjoy, and I’ll take entertainment in the horror genre when I can get it. I’m easy, I guess.

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