Buried Alive is a fun, if not simplistic, horror-dark comedy featuring some good performances from its core cast with Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and William Atherton.
Buried Alive
(1990)
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller
Kino Lorber | PG13 – 93 min. – $24.95 | January 12, 2021
Date Published: 01/15/2021 | Author: The Movieman
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Kino Lorber provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3½/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Clint Goodman (TIM MATHESON) enjoys the simple life he’s created in the small town where he grew up. However, his wife (JENNIFER JASON LEIGH) yearns for a more glamorous existence and begins an affair with the local doctor (WILLIAM ATHERTON), who offers her a sinister but seemingly perfect way out. But the illicit couple’s insatiable greed produces some grave consequences that lead to a heart-pounding conclusion.
Quick Hit Review: Buried Alive, a TV movie that aired on the USA Network in 1990, is a fun horror-thriller (with darkly comedic moments) that’s short and simple and features some nice performances from the three key leads with Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and William Atherton who once again plays a sleaze ball. For his part, Matheson is charming and makes the dark turn toward revenge with ease and Leigh makes for your stereotypical spoiled beauty and femme fatale. The film particularly picks up the pace with a satisfying finale that resembles a Saw movie, just without the gore. For its time, albeit tame by today’s standards, or even that of 20 years ago with shows like CSI, could go a little further with the violence compared with the network TV movies that permeated the airways during that era.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 2/5 |
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This release comes with a matted slip cover and features include an Audio Commentary with Entertainment Journalist/Author Bryan Reesman and an Interview with Actor William Atherton. |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| Kino Lorber releases Buried Alive onto Blu-ray (as well as DVD) for the first time as, from what I can tell, was only available on VHS previously. The movie is presented with a 1.37 full frame aspect ratio as originally televised. The 1080p high-definition transfer does look great, detail is relatively sharp throughout and colors are well balanced and there didn’t appear to be any significant flaws like dust marks or scratches so it is clean. |
AUDIO – 4/5 |
| The movie comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which I found to be more than serviceable and very likely an upgrade over how the film aired on TV 30 years ago. There was no apparent pops or hisses and outputted clean and clear dialogue levels and some solid depth, especially for the ending sequence. |
OVERALL – 3/5 |
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Buried Alive is a fun, if not simplistic, horror-dark comedy featuring some good performances from its core cast with Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and William Atherton, all working well off each other. The Blu-ray release, its debut in disc format, offers up great video and audio transfers and while the features aren’t exactly plentiful, it’s enough for this obscure TV movie. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.