Table of Contents
Welcome to another daily horror digest! Today’s movie of the day was a little disappointing, but hopefully my quick review of it will at provide something useful. As always, stick around after the review for news and trivia!
Movie of the Day: Buried Alive
Today’s movie is the recently released Buried Alive. I’ve been watching a fair number of serious horror movies lately, so I was craving something full of action and fun. Buried Alive didn’t really give me what I wanted.
Buried Alive begins as a haphazardly edited crime movie. There are three scenarios happening at the same time: three guys stealing cryptocurrency from a rich maniac, a sting operation that results in a shootout, and two police officers dealing with a belligerent drunk driver. The movie jumps back and forth between these scenes at a rapid pace with seemingly no real dramatic purpose. We’re just getting introduced to a bunch of characters, only a few of who actually play a role in the main story. It’s a lot to keep track of, even though the viewer doesn’t know that none of these opening scenes actually matter much. So, not a great start.
After about twenty minutes, we get to the main idea of the story. Four police officers chase three criminals (the crypto thieves) into an old mine. One of the criminals tries to blow everyone up, and that ends up trapping everyone inside the mine. As they go further in to try to find a way out, they discover a seemingly abandoned military facility. However, the facility has power, and there is a voice emanating from a loudspeaker. The cops and criminals are now all part of an “experiment” that involves flesh-melting gases and furry monsters. It sounds more fun than it is.
There’s a lot of standing around and talking, and the moments of action aren’t enough to make up for the blandness of everything else. Buried Alive needed to be cheesier to be fun, it needed more story to be interesting, and it needed a sharper focus on fewer characters to be emotionally engaging.
Star Rating: 1 out of 5
I’m sad to say that Buried Alive didn’t satisfy my cravings for a dumb and fun movie. My interest in it dropped rather quickly, and it never came back. I don’t recommend Buried Alive, but you can judge for yourself on Prime Video where it is currently available to rent.
In the News
- Oren Koules of Twisted Pictures says that he and company co-founder Mark Burg sold the Saw franchise to Blumhouse because they couldn’t agree on how Saw XI would be executed. The script was written, and “everybody” was on board, but creative differences led to Twisted Pictures selling everything, including the Saw XI script, to Blumhouse. (Fangoria)
- Marlon Wayans will adapt the South Korean game show Midnight Horror Story for US audiences. The show features celebrities telling spooky stories, with the scariest story winning. (Deadline)
Birthdays
James Marsters was born on August 20th, 1962. James is best known for his role as the vampire Spike in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He also appeared in horror movies like Shadow Puppets (2007) and House on Haunted Hill (1999). He also does a lot of work in television and in voice acting.
Events on This Day
Piranha 3D was released on August 20th, 2010. The horror comedy seemed like a bit of a departure for director Alexandre Aja who was best known for High Tension (2003) and The Hills Have Eyes (2006) at the time, but the movie ended up being a lot of fun.
Also released on August 20th, in 2020, was The Night House. Rebecca Hall stars in this mysterious and unnerving horror film from director David Bruckner (Hellraiser 2022). The story involves a woman struggling with the recent death of her husband by his own hand, and the secrets she uncovers in the wake of her loss.
Thanks for reading!
