User reviews

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.

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.

'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!

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.

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.

#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:

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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

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!!

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.

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/*****).

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.

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.

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

One interview video I watched once involved, after the interviews, the interviewer/presenter stated that the reason one person wasn't hired was because she would've made a good drinking buddy, but wasn't the material they needed.

"Buried Alive" is kinda like that. Little happens, but the characters are very entertaining, and mostly juvenile, but their antics stopped the movie from being boring.

Tobin Bell is essentially a poor man's Tony Todd, wondering around and providing some sense of menace.

There's some very gory murders, but much screen time is taken up watching the amusing potential victims, which alone should tell you whether you would enjoy watching this or not.