PREMATURE BURIAL

Director Roger Corman was on a roll by 1962, making horror films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe: In 1960, he produced and directed House of Usher, and the next year, the superb Pit and the Pendulum. The key word is 'based' as the various scriptwriters on these productions, including Richard Matheson and Charles Griffith, played fast and loose with the source material.

In 1962, American International Pictures (AIP) released Corman's Premature Burial. I had never seen this one before last night. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Burial has Daniel Haller's quality and atmospheric sets, polished cinematography from Floyd Crosby, ASC, rich and very effective music scoring from Ronald Stein, and good all round performances. Ray Milland plays the lead role of medical student Guy Carrell, a man who, for various legitimate reasons, in his eyes at least, has a horrific fear of being buried alive. The plot details the measures taken by Carrell to circumvent him being laid to rest before his body is ready, and those of some shenanigans going on which support and build on his immovable phobia.

In my opinion, this is all constructed very well by the filmmakers: The story moves and twists in a fairly simple and uncomplicated manner expected of good matinee fare.

My trouble started when I consulted my Leonard Maltin reference book afterwards and found that he -- or one of his editors -- was not overly impressed. Same case when I checked my other reference guide. (Checking these guides is only a curiosity. I like what I like.)

I liked Premature Burial and was satisfied with the film's conclusion... it all come together rather nicely, and explained what the other characters were up to behind Milland's back.

It was fun.