Dead and Buried 4K (1981/Blue Underground 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray and CD)

4K Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+ Sound: A Extras: B+ Film: C+

The cult classic Dead and Buried (1981), directed by Gary Sherman (Deathline, Exorcist 3), lands on a super deluxe edition on 4K UHD for the first time ever thanks to Blue Underground. This packed edition features a new 4K transfer of the film and bonus features detailing the production, and the soundtrack album. For those who haven't seen the film, it's a little bit like John Carpenter's The Fog in terms of atmosphere and its slower pacing.

The film takes place in the small town of Potters Bluff where various murders start occurring in bizarre ways. The Sheriff (played by James Farentinto of The Final Countdown) uncovers a bizarre plot involves a mad scientist style Mortician who will take his new morbid technique of bringing back the dead literally to his grave! It sounds campier than it is portrayed as the film has a pretty serious tone and doesn’t shy away from some considerably gore filled moments. One shocking scene involves lighting a man on fire and another where a needle is stuck into an eyeball, both of which are sure to make some viewers a bit sick!

The film also stars Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Robert Englund, and Nancy Locke. The film also features special effects by the late master Stan Winston (Jurassic Park). It is written by Dan O'Bannon (Alien) and Robert Shusett.

This is a brand new 4K, 16-bit restoration of the film from an interpolative approved by the Director of Photography, Steven Poster. Dead and Buried is presented in 4K (2160p) with an HEVC / H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and audio mixes in lossless English Dolby Atmos and English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), and HDR (high dynamic range.) There is additionally a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono mix on the disc as well. Also included is a 1080p high definition version of the film that sounds and looks fine for the aging format.

The film has several very dark scenes that are still pretty dark despite the 2160p upgrade, although you can see a little more detail in the shadows and contrast overall. The film has been color graded nicely and is more noticeably defined in the HDR as well. This was obviously shot a little more realistically than most night scenes are in films nowadays, where some productions use day for night photography. The film on a whole has aged well and there isn't anything noticeably distracting from the image. All in all, this is a solid 4K transfer of an older, lower budgeted film. To my knowledge, this film hasn't always been easy to find. and so it's nice that there is now this deluxe edition available so that more horror fans can see it now.

Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary #1 with Director Gary Sherman

Feature Length Audio Commentary #2 with Co-Writer/Co-Producer Ronald Shusett and Actress Linda Turley

Feature Length Audio Commentary #3 with Director of Photography Steven Poster, A.S.C.

NEW Audio Commentary #4 with Film Historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson

NEW Behind the Scenes of Dead & Buried

NEW Dead & Buried Locations: Now & Then

NEW Murders, Mystery, and Music - Interviews with Director Gary Sherman and Composer Joe Renzetti

NEW The Pages of Potters Bluff - Interview with Novelization Author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Stan Winston's Dead & Buried EFX

Robert Englund: An Early Work of Horror

Dan O'Bannon: Crafting Fear

Theatrical Trailers

NEW Poster & Still Galleries

Steven Poster's Location Stills

BONUS! Collectible Booklet with a new essay by Michael Gingold

BONUS! DEAD & BURIED Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD by Joe Renzetti with fine sound quality for the older format

and Various 3D lenticular covers with different images from the film.

While a little dated, Dead and Buried also features a fun appearance by a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund. The film feels like a short film you would see in an anthology movie, but strung out to feature length. While it may not be as effective as John Carpenter's The Fog in many respects, it is an interesting precursor and worth checking out for its cult movie status.

- James Lockhart

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