All language subtitles for Dead.and.Buried.1981.RM4k.BU.1080p.BluRay.x265.hevc.10bit.AAC.7.1.commentary-HeVK.mkv4

Hi, I'm David Gregory from Blue
Underground.

And I'm Gary Sherman, who directed this
movie.

Do you want to start by telling us a
little bit about how the project came

together in the first place?

Well, this is a script that Ron and Dan
had been working on, and then, of

course, Alien came out, and they had
their great success with Alien.

So they were finally able to put this
project together.

It started as a bit of a black comedy,
which was really what it was supposed to

be and why I was actually initially
interested in doing it.

Unfortunately, the group that bought the
project to make it only was with us

through pre -production, then the
company was sold to someone else.

while we were making the picture, and
then it was sold to someone else while

were in post -production.

So as we'll talk about as you watch the
film is how things changed.

So where was all this shot?

The whole picture was shot in Mendocino.

in the city of Mendocino, in the county
of Mendocino, in Northern California.

And I had basically traveled the whole
coast of... We wanted to shoot the

picture in California, although the kind
of setting is really Maine.

Went to Catalina and looked at Catalina
and then looked at every beach town

from Los Angeles north to the Oregon
border.

and ended up in Mendocino, which is just
one of the most incredibly beautiful

places. It's just below Fort Bragg,
which is where they do most of the

work and harvesting redwoods. And so
everywhere along the water here,

there are tons and tons of logs that got
away as they were bringing them down

the river. And when it gets really
stormy, it's pretty amazing to see these

redwood trees just...

banging up against the headlands.

It's actually quite beautiful and scary.

You actually managed to make it look a
lot like a New England coastal town.

Well, it's very foggy up there, and we
basically shot most of the exteriors

it was foggiest. We would kind of work
our way around it going from interiors

exteriors.

We did not want to shoot in direct
sunlight. And it was funny because the

scene that starts the film off was one
of the last things that we shot.

And by then, the days were getting
sunnier and sunnier.

And at one point, we had nothing else to
shoot except the beach, and the sun was

out there bright, and we kind of
couldn't call it a weather day because

fact that it was sunny.

So our grip crew constructed a flag.

that was the biggest flag that you have
ever seen in your life. I mean, it was

bigger than a house, which we flew from
a construction crane on a bluff about

80 feet above the beach and had this
huge flag suspended to give us

shade and then basically a silk that we
flew from another crane to

diffuse the light so that it didn't look
sunny.

really good camera isn't it you

got to be a

professional photographer to have a
camera like that uh -huh are you really

oh that's exciting yeah sometimes and
this of course is

Lisa Blount and Christopher Allport
Yeah, Christopher Alport. And I don't

Christopher had done very much before he
did this film. And I know Lisa hadn't.

And, you know, she went on to do Officer
and Gentleman.

And she won an Oscar last year for a...
For a documentary. It was actually a

short film called The Accountant, which
was directed by her husband.

She was quite fun to work with. We had a
really good time.

And Christopher was really excited about
doing this part. He really got into it.

You know, it's funny, as a Monday
quarterback, looking at this film today,

think that we made a big mistake and
that the Christopher wasn't, you know,

in this part. But we should have really
cast a named person to play because it

would have been such a surprise.

Psycho type.

Yeah, that when he was burned at the
stake in the first five minutes of the

movie, you know, because we could have
gotten away with it because, of course,

he comes back. Reappears, yeah.

But I really think we probably should
have spent the money and not cast this

with an unknown.

It also would have been more
recognizable when we see him later.

That's true, yeah.

Now I want you to give me a nice smile,
okay?

All right, Haley.

Come on.

Look at Fred.

So this is a very shocking opening
scene. Did you mean it to really sort of

the audience?

Yeah, and kind of mislead them, do a
little sexual titillation and

make it kind of romantic. And the music,
obviously, is very

romantic. Joe Renzetti was doing his
strings thing here.

You know, it's just a matter of...

misleading the audience.

If anything, I think in retrospect that
it's a little long.

That I think we could have shortened
this up a bit.

I don't know. I still think it's quite a
jump when the locals finally appear

here. Yeah, well, you've definitely
misled the audience and then, you know,

little T &A there.

All misled. No, we think that Freddy's
going to get some.

Very close.

Must be a very disappointing day for
him. Oh, I'm sure it's very

He expected it to get hot, but not as
hot as it gets.

Hey! Why are you smiling?

And then they kind of beat him up a lot.

Can you talk a bit about the violence
that you wanted to show in the movie? I

mean, this is quite a violent sequence,
but it's not as if you're actually

showing blood and gore.

Well, I mean, I wanted the violence to
be fairly disgusting,

which I actually, in my next picture,
took that to a higher degree, where the

violence is just...

repulsively ugly and I wanted it to be
that because I wanted to show how ugly

violence can be, which was, you know, in
Vice Squad, which was the next film

that I did after this.

I guess I really wanted this to be as
violent as I possibly could and give no

relief to the violence and as opposed to
the violence being exciting, I wanted

it to be revolting. And I mean, it's set
against a kind of comedy that was the

original intent of this film, which is
why, you know, As you'll see, Jack

Albertson kind of plays it as broad as
he plays it.

Because it was really done for comedy.
Unfortunately, a lot of the comic

of the picture were removed. Some of
them couldn't be, fortunately.

But the third entity that came in to
become the studio that created this

didn't want the comedy at all, and they
just wanted the gore.

And as we go through the picture, we'll
talk about the gore that was added.

Because, of course, horror movies at
this time, this was at the height of the

slasher period in horror movies. So
Friday the 13th had already been out,

gory effects were very much the norm in
horror movies. They were what were

expected in successful horror movies. So
perhaps that's why the final financier

wanted to turn it into something like
that.

Yeah. Well, you know, it's true. I mean,
but we thought that we were balancing

off the gore and the comedy when we did
it. I mean, what you're about to see

right now, which is a pretty scary
moment in movies, this was absolutely

the original intent. This was an effect
that was created by Stan Winston, who

really is the master of effects.

You know, it's funny, I've had to...

pleasure of working with some of the
real greats. And Stan Winston was just

amazing to work with. I also, you know,
had gotten to work with Dick Smith over

the years and Rick Baker. It's amazing
working with these people.

But Stan Winston, his genius, at this
time, nobody else was doing.

I mean, he had...

Stan had grown up under Dick Smith and
had Dick Smith's tutelage, but Stan

was doing stuff back then that no one
else was doing yet.

You think the county let me have this
rig from South Beach?

Anyhow, she said he's on his way.

Well, hurry.

The fellow's a definite goner.

Did you get a good gander at that face,
Danny?

Yes, Harry, I did.

Pretty, huh?

Here comes Doc.

Talk about an inch.

Doc, where's that? Just a minute.

And that, of course, is Jack Albertson.

Jack Albertson. Jack Albertson was just
a pleasure.

He was just an amazing, amazing guy, and
this was his last film.

He passed away while we were in post
-production.

I had just done his ADR at the time. I
mean, we knew he was sick, and, you

there were problems getting him insured
to do the film, but I really wanted him,

and it's funny.

His first film was Miracle on 34th
Street, where he was the postal worker

discovers the letter that's been
addressed to Santa Claus and says, hey,

we should send this to the county court.

Well, Mr. Dobbs is our official coroner
mortician. What would you say the cause

of death was?

That was the effect right there.

One of Stan Winston's great moments.

And, of course, when you watch that with
an audience, that's one of those great

jump moments. That is a great jump
moment. Although I must say that Stan

argued a lot about how it should be
shot, but I think that in the end we

work.

In this picture, a lot, I went...

for shooting scenes in ways that would
make them as strange and creepy as

possible, even if it was just impossible
camera moves.

Again, you know, this was before Luma
cranes were available and hothead

and so the camera operator really had to
be there with the camera. We didn't

have video assist.

The beginnings of video assist were
around then, but it wasn't common.

and even the establishing shot of the
town was just a crane move that was just

very strange and eerie and showed how
empty the streets were. He comes back to

his old hometown to help the poor folks
out. That's right. You people are very

lucky. Hey, Midge, how about that
coffee?

Coming right up, man. Hospital find out
about this fellow yet?

Do you have any idea when he might come
to?

They're not sure he will. Another thing
that you'll notice is that there's no

red.

anywhere in the movie.

Lisa Blount's blouse in the opening
scene is red, and you don't see red

until there's blood at the end of the
movie.

Unfortunately, some of the scenes that
were added in later do have blood in

them, which was not what I originally
wanted with the picture.

And this, of course, is one of those
scenes. We're coming up to one of those

scenes, yes.

As the fisherman is killed, this scene
cut away from the fisherman

before, the scene ended before he
started getting slashed and stuff.

So from Lisa Blouse until the harpoon

slashes the fisherman's face, there was
no red in the film, and there won't be

any red in the film again until...

one of the other added scenes.

But it was just a matter of so that when
you did see blood, it was very

shocking.

I mean, that was the original intent,
and unfortunately it got a little undone

along the way.

Nicholas Rogue used a similar technique
in Don't Look Now when the little girl

in the red blouse runs past. That's very
much the only time you really see her.

In the red mac, yeah. That's right,
yeah. That's true.

Steve did an amazing job, Steve Poster,
lighting this film. I think that the

picture has a great look, and it's one
of the reasons I'm very happy that a DVD

is being done, because people will be
able to see how incredibly well the

photography was done in this film.

You know, we did all kinds of tests on
makeup and everything because of the

that we were desaturating, and we didn't
want...

any red, so we would desaturate from the
red, which changed skin tones, so the

makeup on all the actors had to be done.

I've been a pilot for all of my life.

Besides,

the discussion is terminated as far as
I'm concerned.

Yeah, this is where it ended. He just
comes with the harpoon,

and the scene ended before he slashed
his throat.

So you actually went back months later
and had to match what happened before

with the same actor?

Right. We did, yeah, and we did it in
the studio as opposed to on location

the original thing was done.

But it was either a matter of...

Us going back in and doing it or
somebody else going in and doing it. And

figured I wanted to try and protect the
movie as much as I could.

Well, let's talk about how that actually
came to pass.

were you actually offered the
opportunity to go and shoot it yourself,

were going to take it out of your hands
and go and shoot inserts themselves?

They were going to shoot the inserts,
and basically they said to me, either

shoot it or we'll get someone else to
shoot it. And this is the production

company that took over the movie in the
final stages of production?

The third group, yes. The group that saw
my cut of the movie and said, To me,

it's a really good movie, but if we
wanted Bergman to make a horror picture,

would have hired Bergman.

They just thought that the original
version of the picture was a little too

intellectual.

It was funny, and everyone who saw it
just... I mean, Bob Ramey was the

president of AFCO Embassy at the time,
and he just absolutely loved my first

of the movie.

and they were to be the distributor of
the film. Just everybody that saw the

original version just really loved it.
It wasn't a lot different than this

movie. It's just the tone was different.
There was more of this kind of black

comedy in the... Not that dialogue's
missing or anything, but the focus and

shape was a little different, and the
gory parts were really designed.

just to enhance the comedy and for the
comedy to enhance the gore and the

violence. And it wasn't slapstick
comedy. It was definitely deep, dark,

black comedy.

Which still permeates through every
scene that Jack Albertson seems to be

Right. With the music that he's playing
and the way he's playing the role.

Yeah, I mean, that was the whole idea of
putting in the big band music, and I

think that the final group that took
over this film, if they could have taken

out the big band music, they probably
would have done that too, because Joe

Renzetti told me, who composed the
music.

and oversaw the score, said that they
actually did talk to him about, why do

want big band music? Who listens to big
band music?

And yet I think that there's a great
soundtrack to this picture.

And when Joe and I talked about this at
the very beginning, about taking the big

band music into score and going atonal
with it, just those little nuances.

to make the film feel strange.

You know, I mean, the way it lit, the
way it looks, the way it sounds.

We went for as much strangeness in the
picture as we could.

This is an art, and I am the artist.

What can you remember about a sealed
box, a sealed casket? That is obscene.

As I said, you know, the way we
photographed scenes, I wanted to make

as uncomfortable to watch as possible.

And we'll get into some scenes here that
I think people watching the picture for

the first time really wouldn't notice
how strange the camera moves are.

And just little things to make it
uncomfortable, but yet pristine.

Of course, I think most people can
probably relate in some way to going to

small town and it being just a little
bit different and a little bit strange

not feeling quite welcome for being
there.

Yeah, it's true. And, you know, that
small towns give a feeling of

And one of the things that we did with
this small town, if anybody's ever

actually been to the city of Mendocino,
and they've seen this picture, they're

going to think they're in different
places because by camera angles, I

completely changed the geography of the
town.

I actually drew a map of the town and
decided to take buildings and move them

around and make it much more
claustrophobic than the real town was by

that we shot angles and reverses.

This is certainly not an accident.

That's right, Don. It's a murder.

And I'll bet you I'm right about the guy
in the house.

Morning,

Ben.

Dan, how you doing?

All right.

Ben, have you recently had anybody check
out without... James Farentino plays

Sheriff Dan Gillis. How was he to work
with?

Jimmy was really fun to work with. We
had a really good time on the picture.

was very excited about the part.

You know, he'd done so many television
series and things, he was very excited

about doing a movie and moving his
career into movies.

And, you know, being cast opposite
Melody Anderson, who was expected, you

she had just shot.

Flash Gordon, it wasn't out yet.

And everybody thought Flash Gordon was
going to be the hit of the decade.

It didn't quite happen that way. No, and
we thought we had pulled off quite a

coup by getting Melody her first picture
after Flash Gordon, but unfortunately

Flash Gordon bombed.

But you never know what's going to
happen.

You know, one didn't know that 20 years
later we would be doing a DVD of Dead

and Buried.

Target. That's not a damn thing with his
name.

Make and McAllen, who plays Ben, the
hotel owner, was kind of fun. He really

the main accent down.

He wanted to be very specific about
exactly where Potter's Bluff was.

And, you know, really got into it. He
was kind of fun. Added another eerie

quality. And again, we wanted to take
his character a little over the top,

because it's part of this whole...

Kind of almost mystique of whether
you're watching something that's serious

something that's irony.

Try.

Of course, of course.

Thanks, man. I'll talk to Janet.

Now, had you spent a lot of time in
Maine?

No.

So basically you were going on the fact
that how you imagine a small seaside

town in Maine to be.

Well, I'd spent a lot of time in seaside
towns on the East Coast, actually.

Spent a lot of time in Upper State New
York, and I'd been to Maine and Vermont

and Martha's Vineyard and, you know,
along Rhode Island.

you know, in there, but not especially
Maine.

And then also I'd written another film
that took place along the New Jersey

coast, and so I'd spent a lot of time
there.

But, you know, little towns are little
towns. I mean, and, you know, even

growing up in Chicago and going to the
little towns around Lake Michigan and

into Michiana and, you know, there's a
feeling of those little towns that's

pretty...

specific to little waterfront towns.

Right.

And Mendocino really had the feeling.
It's a fishing village, basically, and

mostly Portuguese, people of Portuguese
descent who live there.

It's an interesting little town.

Is he a friend of yours, Jen? Not
really. It's just the kind of thing you

think happens to other people.

That's Melanie Anderson.

Yes, this is Melanie Anderson, who is
absolutely fantastic.

I mean, Melody is great. She's a real
trooper. She just gets in there and does

it. Took her role in this film very
seriously.

I've always, you know, I mean, Melody's
had a career, but I've always wondered

why it didn't go a lot further than it
did. I mean, she's wonderfully beautiful

and very talented and very sweet.

Now here's a shot that's another one of
our little weirdnesses. We actually had

a dolly in the back of the Jimmy that
he's driving, you know, the GMC,

and actually did a dolly move as Mr.
Haskell's car moves in and

come into the profile for the over -the
-shoulder of Jimmy Ferentino.

And you don't realize you're actually
looking through a windshield.

No, no.

We have a few of those in here that just
you're disoriented as to what you're

seeing.

And again, it's just, you know, a way of
disorienting the audience to make

things feel a little strange.

I am the principal.

Yes, of course. Thank you.

see the chart. And here's another one of
Stan Winston's miracles.

The body in that bed is a fully
reticulated dummy. Every part of it

The hands, the head movements,
everything is being operated from

cables where operators are working
everything.

The blinking of the eye.

Chris Alport is not inside that. Oh, and
this nurse here?

Yeah.

That's Jill Fossey, who lived in
Mendocino. She was a local cast. She's

the niece of Bob Fossey.

They told me downstairs he pulled out of
a coma. How's he doing?

It's touch and go.

We might pull him through, but... So the
only time we actually see Chris Allport

in the bandages is when you have the
close -up of the eye?

No. Not even. Not even. The close -up of
the eye, this is a fully reticulated

dummy. It's a casting of Chris that Stan
Winston sculpted and

did all of the armature in it.

But Chris was never wrapped up in
bandages. It is only the dummy that's in

bed.

Come on, let's sit down.

Well, then we might be able to talk.

See, and here again, you know, in the
scene of the doctor and Dan Gillis,

Sheriff Gillis, coming down the hallway,
it's all shot very symmetrical, which

is just a strange way to look at things.

It gives the feeling more of some kind
of portrait. It's like a magazine layout

as opposed to a way that you would
normally shoot a scene. And there are

and lots of scenes in this picture that
were shot completely.

that things were just centered, just to
make it kind of uncomfortable.

But yes, this

is a dummy.

There is not an actor inside those
bandages.

And this, of course, is one of the great
shock sequences of the film. Yes,

well...

It was all done like this so that we
could do this.

So that she could do what she's about to
do.

A lot of people have a fear of needles,
particularly big needles.

Squish.

Yeah, a big needle in the eye. It
doesn't get much worse than that. No.

And George gets buried.

Michael Pataki, who plays the grave
digger here, who's done a lot of

stuff, and Michael did this little tiny
part, which at the time was a

little tiny part for him, because he's
Linda Shusett's uncle.

Really? Okay. Ron Shusett's wife, who
also plays the waitress in the cafe.

with Linda's attempt at becoming an
actor.

But I think she enjoyed the role of wife
of a producer better.

Michael Pataki had been in a number of
movies where he played the lead.

Right, yeah, Michael.

No, this was a favor, Michael. And he
liked the fact that he could play it

really weird. And I just told him, I'd
just go for it.

Let's just go as weird as we can.

The shot that's coming up here was one
of the shots that I designed to,

again, just create this feeling of being
watched.

From this point here where Melody
Anderson's coming up the stairs, the

the house is attached to the front of
the camera.

And as we pull back here, the door
locked into the door frame,

and the camera continues to dolly back.

So that we started as an exterior, come
on now into the house. We now come

through the wall.

And this was at a real house. We
actually cut a hole.

And the camera just continues to be
voyeuristic.

There are no cuts in the sequence at
all. It's all one shot.

And it just, you know, it starts with
melody. Now, it actually went on longer

originally, and this was one of the cuts
that was done by the...

The third entity. The scene now will end
with just moving in closer, closer,

closer on Jimmy, and then he's holding
the film.

And what happened after that is he looks
towards the window, the camera followed

his eyeline, picks up his reflection in
the window, and then focuses through his

reflection to her driving away in the
car outside so that it starts and ends

an exterior.

was the idea of the shot and just to
make it feel like somebody was watching

the whole thing, to make it feel very
much like it's, give it

a voyeuristic kind of feeling.

It was a very difficult shot to do and
to get everything working together and

get everything choreographed and to get
the performances.

Now, was there any specific reason why
the third entity would want that ending

of the shot taken out? They just thought
it was going on too long. There's other

places in the picture where they cut
tracking shots.

They just thought were too long, you
know, which was... I've always had that

my career, people thinking my tracking
shots are too long. You know, it's like

in Death Line. There's a real four of
the movie is all one shot.

The entire reel.

I think it's eight and a half minutes
long.

And I remember when I was shooting that,
Jay Cantor and Ellen Lott Jr., who were

the executive producers on the movie,
came down to the set.

And they said, well, how much to shoot
today? And I said, well, we haven't shot

anything today. We're just rehearsing a
shot we're going to do tomorrow.

They said, what are you talking about?

I said, well, we have to rehearse the
shot and get it lit, and it's going to

take all day today, and we'll shoot it
first thing tomorrow morning, and then

we'll move on.

Right. They said, you're taking all day
to do one shot?

I said, yeah, but it's going to be eight
and a half minutes long.

So in one day, I'll have eight and a
half minutes of finished screen time.

And they accepted that, did they? Well,
they said, well, it better be good when

we see it in dailies. And when they saw
it, it blew them away.

Excuse me. Good evening.

Can we help you?

I hope so.

I'm lost.

Well, you're in Potter's Bluff. Where
did you want to be?

The Seaview Lodge.

Oh, you're not lost.

Just take that highway, Highway 12 over
there.

Oh, thanks.

Oh, my, what a cute little boy.

Uh, Jamie has to go to the bathroom.

Well, come on, honey, I'll show you
where it is.

Oh, you want your mommy and daddy to
take you, right?

Well, what is it that you want? When
Chris Allport turns around here, if

have had a star... Yeah, yes,
absolutely. If, uh...

It would have been quite the surprise
here.

Oh, Ron, gas.

Oh, is there a gas station nearby?

Yeah, right at this point, right now.

Sure thing.

It's just down the street.

I mean, hopefully, you know, and I think
that most of the audience did recognize

him, but if it had been a known star, it
would have been a real surprise. It

wouldn't have even needed as much
musical.

Absolutely. Speaking of the

music, Joe Ranzetti did the music you've
worked with a couple of times in your

career. I've worked with Joe a lot. I
knew Joe from the record business

I used to be involved in rock and roll.
I was a musician. I had a group.

was quite involved and did a couple of
records. Actually, I worked on a lot of

other people's records as a studio
musician.

So anyways, I had known Joe. I mean, Joe
had quite a prominent career in the

rock and roll business, and he's
produced lots and lots of different

written quite a few hit songs.

So anyways, Joe had just done the Buddy
Holly story.

and was nominated for the Oscar for it.
And I was doing one of my first TV films

that I did when I came over to the
United States from Britain.

So I talked to Joe. I said, you know,
God, you're doing movies now. You should

do this TV movie I'm doing.

And I went to the producer of the TV
movie and said, look, I want this guy,

He said, no, we have all our own, you
know, the studio thing. We have all our

own people that we work with. I said,
this guy's been nominated for an Oscar.

And, you know, he said to me, he says,
well, he said, you know, on the day

the Oscars, there'll just be another guy
that got nominated. Well, Joe won the

Oscar and ended up doing the score to my
first American film and has done almost

all of my films and television series
since then.

So he's one of my best friends, and I
love working with him, and he's

incredibly talented.

Let's go back to the car.

an accident out in the street, and if we
could get some help.

Anyone in there?

No. The lights don't work. There's
nobody.

Maybe they're upstairs.

There's no lights, honey. We need some
help.

Hello?

Is anybody here?

Ron, I saw a light. Try in there, then.
For Christ's sake.

Is there anyone here?

Hello? Hello?

Listen, we have a son who's injured.

The entire haunted house

had to be shot during the daytime
because the county

where you're working is in charge of
administering the child labor laws, and

they would not grant us the opportunity
to work with the children at night. So

because we had the kid in this thing, we
had this tent, this entire house, but

we had the light from inside there, so
we had a tent that was about a quarter

a mile long.

A quarter of a mile wide, just this
whole framework was built, this huge

and all the lights had to be put in
there, and then we had to ventilate it,

the ventilation fans made so much noise
we ended up having to post -sync this

whole sequence because there was no way
to record dialogue because it was so

noisy from the fans and the generators
and the lights.

There was just no way to soundproof
anything from what we were doing.

Anybody here? How many days did the
sequence take, just for one day?

I think we were two or three days inside
this house.

There's a lot of setups in here, as you
can see, and a lot of very creepy camera

moves.

Specific lighting as well.

The lighting was... I mean, almost every
shot involved a move of some kind and

a camera move as well as little things
going on like... As she moves away,

there's movement behind her.

You see shadows going across the
windows.

The drapes blow at very specific times
just to create

the creepiness.

I mean, nothing's accidental in this
sequence. It was almost like being in a

studio, although this really was an
abandoned house that we found outside of

Mendocino.

The house had been abandoned for years.

There's not any ice in here for your
head.

What's the matter?

Oh, you scared me, Ronnie.

There's nobody in the basement.

Oh, God. Now, come on, let's get out of
here, all right?

Welcome to Potter's Bluff. You might
recognize that voice.

Welcome to Potter's Bluff.

Yeah, as I said, we had to post -sync
this whole thing. That guy that came

through the window was a stuntman, so I
just added his voice when we were doing

the post -syncing.

How would you direct the movement of the
actors who were playing the Potter's

Bluff residents when they were on the
attack?

Because they're very subdued. You know,
I basically just told them, you're

really cool.

I don't want you to be specifically
evil.

But all of this was shot under the tent.

On the street,

yeah. Of course, because the child's in
all the shots.

Yeah, well, some of this, and the
child's not in the shot, some of it was

at night, but the shot with them running
into the car with the child, and the

interior of the car was actually done on
the stage.

in the film here.

I'm not sure I remember exactly how it
was originally, but this scene was much

later in the movie because we had gone
into a, you know, as I said, the shape

the movie was changed entirely, but
you'll notice that the hitchhiker that

killed and reconstructed by later in the
movie is in that scene.

I see. But the powers that be that
reordered the film and changed the

shape of the film around, they just
thought that we needed some violence at

point. Because I wanted to really build
some creepiness in there without the,

you know, I mean, this scene was where
it was supposed to be and everything,

the film was reshaped from the original
script and what Ron and...

the way Ron and I had originally
formatted the film to put it together

started pre -production on the film.

So the hitchhiker's death would have
been earlier in the film.

The hitchhiker's death would have been
earlier in the film, would have been

where it is in the film, and this scene
would have been later. I see. The

haunted house sequence was to happen
later. I see, so there was more

in the third reel where things are
revealed. There's lots of things that, I

mean, I would really have to...

It's been a long time.

And I'd really have to sit down with the
film and I could figure out exactly

where, because after the family, after
the haunted house sequence,

you see the kid in the classroom.

And so things were restructured some,
but I guess they didn't care about

the inconsistencies. Oh, nobody will
notice her.

Maybe they don't. Maybe you didn't. I
didn't notice, I'm afraid.

For the point of clarity, can you just
give sort of a potted history of the

three different entities that were
financing the movie? When you talk about

third group changing the movie, can you
tell us sort of how it happened from the

first to the second to the third?

Well, originally it was a company that
normally was not in the film industry,

Guinness makes ale, the brewery.

was getting into the film industry, and
they had bought a studio, and that was

the studio that we originally made, or
that Ron Choucette had originally made

the deal with to make this movie.

Anyhow, Guinness, kind of halfway
through our pre -production, had had a

of disasters on other things and decided
to get out of the business.

Well, the production company that had
been hired by Guinness to oversee this

thing, as I remember,

then took over with financing from
another source.

So all of our executives changed, and
there was a slightly different idea

what wanted to be happening, going into
phase two, which was going from pre

-production into production.

Just around the time we finished the
picture and were in post -production, a

third entity came in and bought out the
second entity, and this was a major

distribution company.

And they took over this company and all
the other projects that this company had

going.

And then we had our third set of
executives who had a completely

feeling about what this film was
supposed to be.

Completely different.

And, I mean, you know, maybe we would
have made adjustments, but... So

you and Ron had to kind of enter into a
dialogue with this third entity as to...

try and bring the movie, keep the movie
as much the way you wanted it, but try

and bring it around to the way they
wanted it at the same time, which didn't

seem to be on the same page at all.

No, none of it was on the same page.

It was a pretty awful experience because
I had very high

hopes for this picture in a very
specific kind of way. I think

stepping back from it and trying to be
less myopic about it, I think the final

result of the picture is pretty close to
what the final result of the picture

would have been. I think the picture
that we were trying to make might have

just a little better in my point of view
than the picture that we ended up with.

I don't like some of the gore that we
added because I just felt it was

gratuitous. There's also some problems
in the shape of the film.

I mean, like the fact that we go right
from the chicken coop scene to Dan at

home.

you know, with his wife and going
through this questioning thing, which

attitude is completely wrong in the
scene after the chicken coop and then

going into the scene at home.

These scenes were not supposed to be
together.

There were other things that were
supposed to happen in between.

So there are some inconsistencies that
bother me because I know that it was

well planned out.

And just so fans of the film know, you
did have a director's cut that was

screened, but that director's cut no
longer exists in any shape or form. So

can't restore it for DVD.

It cannot be restored.

Every copy of it was... You know, the
studio that was going to distribute the

film, AFCO Embassy, had seen my cut of
the picture, and they loved it.

The distributor...

The promoter, who was the third entity
that bought this thing, was kind of, you

know, was locked into the Avco Embassy
deal for the United States, and they

wanted a different version of the film
for Europe, and they weren't willing to

foot the expense of having two versions
of the film.

And even though Avco Embassy wanted the
picture kept the way it was...

They contractually did not have the
power to keep it the way that it was,

got very messy. And all of the versions
of my cut were destroyed so that nobody

could make the changes.

And the other entity changed. Well, it
was after the

studio, after Avco Embassy saw the PSO
final cut,

which is this.

that they wanted it taken back to the
original cut.

And that's when all of my cuts were
destroyed.

To make sure that it couldn't be. To
make sure that it couldn't be because it

would have cost PSO money.

Right. And I was just kind of completely
pushed out of the picture at that time.

And Bob Ramey said to me, why don't we
just make another movie?

And that became Vice Squad. That became
Vice Squad, yeah.

You may be right.

It's very possible.

Take it somewhere else and then place it
in the wrecked car to make it look like

an accident.

Why wouldn't he make the fisherman look
like an accident?

How should I know? I'm not the
detective.

You are.

And keep up the good work.

Bye -bye.

Danny, Harry here.

Yeah, Harry.

Listen, I just pulled a late model Ford
out of the water down by the South

Beach. Robert England.

Robert England.

I had worked with Robert England on a TV
movie that I had made just before Dead

and Buried. What was that called?

The Mysterious Two.

And had really enjoyed working with him.
He was just really great to work with.

And when I had this... Part of the tow
truck driver.

In fact, I talked to Robert while we
were doing the television movie. I said,

look, I'm doing this feature right
afterwards, and there's a part that's

absolutely perfect for you, and I'd
really love you to do it. And he read it

said, yeah, right, right, great.

And this was all before he became
Freddy.

At the time, he'd had a small role in
Tobey Hooper's Eaten Alive. He was also

Big Wednesday, the John Milius movie.
Right.

But, of course, now he is known, not
recognizably known, but obviously known

Freddy Krueger. Yeah, well, but, you
know, I think Robert did well enough off

Freddy Krueger that he doesn't have to
worry about being anything else.

I mean, facially recognizable.

You know what? He's somewhat
recognizable through the Freddy makeup.

But Bob England is great. I mean, I
really enjoyed working with him a lot.

Ben, what are you talking about?

He's over at Norman Station pumping gas.

Ben, he's dead.

You go over there and take a look. I
never got a look at his face, Ben.

Obviously, it's a guy who looks just
like him. It's the same guy.

Dan, I was standing right next to that
man. You ask your wife.

The saddest part about this film was
Jack Albertson's condition.

While we were shooting, there was one
scene that we were shooting in his

where Dobbs was sitting at his desk and
James Ferentino sitting opposite

him, and they're in conversation.

And when we were shooting Jimmy
Ferentino's side of the conversation,

Albertson kept dozing off.

And at one point, I mean, because he was
under medication, he was quite sick. At

one point, he just went completely out.

And Jimmy just freaked, ran off the set,
and wouldn't come back onto the set.

I thought maybe he was upset that Jack
had fallen asleep while he was doing his

dialogue. And I went out to his trailer
to talk to him, and he was just in

tears. We sat and talked, and he told me
that that's how he lost his father.

He was sitting and talking to his
father, and his father just died while

were in the middle of a conversation.

And he said it just...

He said every time he was doing a scene
with Jack, he was reminded of his

father, and when Jack just basically
went over while Jimmy was in the middle

a sentence, it just flashed him back to
his father dying, and he couldn't deal

with it.

You want to hear the really creepy part?

Yeah! Okay?

In order for the master to retain the
control over the souls of his undead.

He had to cut out their heart and keep
it

hidden. This is a scene that we've
already had in the movie, or is this the

scene that's coming up? This is the
scene that was in the movie, the first

conversation between the two of them.
Right.

And Jack Albertson, his career goes
right back to vaudeville. He was one of

few actors who won an Oscar, a Tony, and
an Emmy.

recognizable to modern film audiences.
Well, he did very few feature films, but

the ones that he did... Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory. Yeah, the ones

that he did were cool. My buddy Mel
Stewart directed that.

You know, the first film he did was
Miracle on 34th Street, where he played

little tiny role.

Unfortunately, the last film he did was
Dead and Buried.

We had just done his looping.

And I had dinner with Jack and his wife,
and he was in really bad shape. And

then I think it was two days after we
had dinner, I get up in the morning and

the radio they said, Better an actor,
Jack Albertson died during the night at

Cedars -Sinai Hospital.

And I went, whoa.

It was kind of sad.

Yeah.

Oh, I'm going up here to Ponders Bluff.

Well, if you stop at my place up the
road piece here.

Hey, you want to come on up and meet a
potter's wolf?

It's a real nice little town.

You ever been up there?

Never heard of it before.

Oh, well, come on in out of the rain,
honey.

There we go.

All right.

Well,

here we are. See, now, I've picked
somebody to play the part of the

who had a very identifiable face.

Lisa Marie.

Lisa Marie. Lisa Marie had a nose that
only existed on Lisa Marie, that's for

sure.

Well, I suppose the thing is you hadn't
seen her up until this point when you

see her earlier in the film.

It's probably not that noticeable,
obviously, unless you watch the film a

times. Right. It isn't because, you
know, she's not that noticeable in that

scene. There are no real close -ups of
her smile.

Several video versions of that film,
actually a couple that have been on DVD

Europe, don't actually include the fade
to black and the sound of the rock

hitting her head. It just cuts directly
from picture to the picture of her.

Oh, really? Well, actually, the cutting
from the picture to the picture was much

different. Again, that was one of my
tracking shots that was taken out, and I

don't know.

It went to the black, and then it went
to a close -up of her.

His mutilated face as the blanket gets
put over her and then the camera starts

moving back.

And the camera just moves back and back
and back as Jimmy Ferentino walks to his

squad car and drives away.

I don't know. I mean, there were a
couple of comments made about you don't

away from action. I mean, like, you
know, these strange rules that, you

that's an ending.

It's not a continuing thing. You should
move into your action. You shouldn't

back off.

The whole idea of this film is to do
things wrong and strangely because

everything in this film is strange, you
know.

Anyways, I'm going to go into this
sequence of seeing her face being...

kind of fun because this is a dummy.

This is another one of Stan Winston's
creations.

She has an eyeball in one eye and
nothing in the other.

and Dobbs is about to insert an eyeball.

Was Dan Winston your first choice for
effects on this film? Yeah, absolutely.

Dan Winston was the king of effects
then.

You have a very nice mix of music as
well, accompanying this with the

The suspense and the big band stuff.
Here's one of the places where the big

stuff went atonal.

And another eye thing here, and he
closes her eye, and she looks absolutely

beautiful, and that is a dummy.

Now, right now, while we're looking at
Dobbs, the dummy's being moved away, and

the real Lisa Marie is being put into
play.

And now when he leans down to kiss her,
that's the real Lisa Marie.

Now you can sleep peacefully.

Now we're getting to a moment in the
film that I don't remember.

I really, as much as I try, do not
remember exactly why we did this.

The idea was Dobbs walked out and then
Lisa Marie

sits up.

But we added, and I must admit I can't
remember why we did this.

That's Melody Anderson.

And it was just an element.

I believe it was Ron Shusett who wanted
us to do this, but I can't remember for

the life of me the justification for
doing this. And, I mean, we talked about

it, and we actually, I think we shot it
both ways, with and without.

As if there was some kind of...

that had to happen before she wakes up.
Yeah. That's kind of what it inferred.

Yeah, I guess that, but anyways, in the
finished version of the film, I believe

in my cut, I did it without Melody.
Because that leads you to believe that

there's something sinister going on that
Dobbs doesn't know about.

Right, which is a lie, and I don't like
lying to the audience.

Three or four months.

Why? When did you think this hit -and
-run happened?

It wasn't recent.

Absolutely sure.

Of course I'm sure.

Oh, you're wrong, Doc. I know you're
wrong.

This is another one of those added
scenes.

Is this entire sequence added? From the
time that he walks into this laboratory,

just this.

Dan seeing him and talking to him about
the sample, that was there.

And there was a big space in between
where you don't see the doctor for a

and I guess the powers that be decided
that this was a place to add in a gory

scene, and this was a scene I tried to
do it as... I was hoping we would only

get to the point that they actually
shoved the things in and we didn't have

see the rest of it, but that's not the
way that it ended up to be.

And as I remember, this was the only...

visual effect that was not done by Stan
Winston.

I don't believe Stan did this one, and I
don't think it's really up to his

standards. Yeah, this is the one time
you can tell it's a dummy. It looks like

dummy, yeah.

Stan Winston's dummies don't look like
dummies.

And, you know, with Stan Winston doing
the sculpting and Zoltan Elik doing the

makeup work, it doesn't get any better
than that. I mean, you know, Zoltan.

You know, as a makeup person, as an on
-set makeup person, is absolutely

and has several Oscars to prove it,
including Mask, which was, I think, one

the most brilliant pieces of makeup.

Eric Stoltz.

Yeah. But Zoltan's just amazing and also
wonderful to have on a set. You know,

great makeup men, great makeup people
are just so...

wonderful with the cast.

I mean, they just make your day. Like,
you know, on Deathline, I had Harry

Frampton, who was just one of the greats
who had done Alec Guinness and

everybody, you know, over the years.

And he just created an atmosphere, the
first place that the actors got during

the daytime, and Zoltan Elik was the
same.

Where is he? I've got to speak to him. I
don't know, but I can try and find him.

No, no, no, never mind. Look, I'll go
find him myself.

But yeah, here you can see that that's a
dummy.

I really was not happy with this effect
at all, but I didn't think that it was

actually going to make the movie. Right.

And again, this was another one of those
scenes that was moved around.

I would have to spend a lot of time
looking at this, and I haven't really

at Dead and Buried a lot over the last
20 years.

There was a novelization of the movie.
Was that actually written before the

film, or was it written after? It was
one of those, hire somebody to do a tie

-in book. I mean, we did a lot of
rewriting while we were making the film.

I worked with Ron a lot. Dan wasn't
around much while we were actually

the picture. And Ron and I were
constantly doing rewrites on dialogue

just to kind of enhance the characters
and really make it Jimmy Farentino

and Jack Albertson and Melody Anderson
as opposed to some...

fantasy that someone had created before
to you know to allow the actors to

really take the parts where they wanted
them to go and where we all wanted them

to go but you know it's funny when you
shoot one movie and it ends up becoming

another movie it's kind of strange to
look at it the differences as I've said

before are very subtle but there's still
differences you know there's a gestalt

kind of thing

Having done Deathline a few years prior
to this, and this film, is it safe to

say that you're a fan of the horror
genre?

I am a fan of some of the horror genre.

I like really good horror.

I mean, I think Psycho is one of my...
That's the top of my list.

I just think that Psycho is absolutely
brilliant.

And, you know, in my childhood, it's
like Guillermo del Toro talks about

How Deathline was what formed his want
to be in the horror film business.

And with me, it was the House of Wax.
And I saw the House of Wax in 3 -D.

You know, when 3 -D was the big thing. I
mean, the guy with the ping -pong ball

paddles and shooting him out at the
audience. I was so affected by that

Charlie Bronson's first major role,
actually.

Was he called Charles Baczynski in the
credits? Yeah, right.

He didn't have his stage name yet. But,
I mean, I've had nightmares my whole

life about, you know, the people clasped
down inside those boxes, you know,

about to have the...

hot wax poured on top of them, and that
face when the face breaks away, which

I've done breaking away faces in several
of my movies, and I think that it's

done in here at the end of the film, and
then when we see Bill Quinn, who plays

the druggist, when he moves his hand
after he gives Dan the film, and his

breaks. I think that's my ode to House
of Wax, which I thought was one of the

most... But, I mean, I was a little kid,
and my brother took me to see it, my

older brother.

I think it's kind of shaped a lot of my
feelings about horror pictures.

You know, I like the British horror film
of that time. I used to watch all the

Hammer films and Hammer and Butchers
and, you know, all the Christopher Lee

Peter Cushing movies and then stuff like
Wicker Man and, of course, one of the

greats, which is Witchfinder General.

I suppose there are certain similarities
from Wicker Man in this as well in the

way that it's the seaside town.

the person against the entire village.

Yeah, but I've got to tell you, I really
didn't think a lot about Wicker Man. I

saw Wicker Man once.

Wicker Man was out about the same time
as Deathline, and Wicker Man was okay.

It's not one of my favorite movies.

It's not a movie that I don't like.

But it's not a film that I think made a
lasting impression on me. There's parts

of it that I think are really good.

So being a fan of the Christopher Lee
and Peter Cushing movies, was he your

ideal choice for casting in Death Line?

Oh, absolutely. I was really excited.

And Christopher, you know, and I knew
Christopher. I had met him and we had

mutual friends and stuff.

And I asked Christopher if he'd do the
movie and he said...

Only if I can do it without teeth.

I said, well, this is a police officer,
an MI5 inspector, and you don't have to

wear teeth.

He said, perfect.

It was at a time that he just was really
tired of playing Dracula.

It's a little more Michael Pataki
weirdness.

Damn.

We've actually gone through, we passed a
lot of the weird shots while we were

talking about other things.

But I think, you know, it's interesting
to watch this film and really watch for

the camera moves because the camera
moves are very voyeuristic.

We'll get you shovels, Sam. We're going
to have to dig them up.

Dig up?

I don't dig them up. I just bury them.
Which one are you going to dig up?

Uh -uh.

Not without Mr. Dobbs' permission.

Sam, you don't need Dobbs' permission.
I'll take full responsibility.

I can start it.

So how long was Michael Pataki on the
film for? Just one day?

I think Michael was up in Mendocino with
us for about a week or something.

But, you know, he was up there visiting
Linda, too. I mean, we were in Mendocino

for, like, a long time.

Between pre -production and...

I think he was up there for about three
months.

A little weirdness. Dobbs taking a nap
in a...

In a body drawer.

Did you have a decent budget on this
film, Gary? You know, it was a decent

budget. I don't remember what the budget
was, but of course, you know, the

budgets at that time were nothing
compared to what budgets are today. I

the costs of filmmaking have just
escalated exponentially

since then. I'm sure that if this film
was made today...

You know, exactly the way that it was
made, it would probably be in the 20

millions.

I don't actually remember what the final
budget of this film was.

But, I mean, you know, we had to cut
corners in certain places, but in other

places we were... You know, like the
fact that there was no red in the

just finding fire engines that weren't
red for those scenes. We'd change the

taillights of every car and put purple
taillights in.

You know, because it was no red.

And what we're about to see here is a
real heart.

It was that of a cow or a pig or
something, but it was real.

Then again, when Sheriff Dan pulls into
the gas station, if this had been a

famous actor, it probably would have
punched it up even a little more.

You know, this is funny. Just the age of
everything and the periodness.

You wouldn't think that 20 years ago it
would become completely period.

An electric typewriter?

It's a telex machine.

I mean, now it would all be, you know.

and, you know, hey, you could do it from
your Palm Pilot, what he's doing right

now. I mean, he could be, you know, he'd
be out there and he says, oh, I want to

find out about Dobbs, and you just go on
your Palm Pilot and send it out, you

know, go online right from your pocket.

Or cell phones, you know, no cell
phones.

Changes, you know, the whole way
writing, writing changes.

Of course. The way that you structure
scenes, because now everybody's in

communication all the time. You know,
you either lose or break or run out of

juice on your cell phone.

Yes, because even if he was a detective
in a small town that wasn't quite up

with the modern world, he'd still have a
cell phone. Yeah, and this whole thing

with the super 8mm film that her kids
shot, this will be video now.

I mean, if you'd have a DV cam, I
wouldn't have to go to the drugstore.

So, I mean, you know, plots just change
completely.

Or you could just make it a period piece
from the early 80s.

Yeah, that's true. That's what you have
to do. You have to make stuff period

pieces in order to get out of everybody
being in communication.

You know, there's all kinds of suspense
devices that you used to be able to do

that you can't do anymore.

Especially in cops' stuff.

I mean, cops are in communication now
all the time. There's no way, there's no

time that they're out of communication.

So you have to send them to a rural area
where there's no signal.

Is there any way whatsoever to reanimate
people after they have died?

To get them to walk around?

Oh, you have been working too hard. I'm
not joking.

You're serious.

Do you remember what you said after
examining that particle of human skin on

supposed hidden run?

Sure, I said it had been dead months.
But it wasn't months.

It was my car, it was my accident.
You've known Steve Post and the DP for

some time. We were kids.

Our parents knew each other. We both
grew up in Chicago.

And then I didn't see Stevie for years
and years. He went off.

He went to art center school in Los
Angeles, and I had gone, well, Stevie's

older than I am.

Anyhow, Steve ended up coming, I was at
ID, at the Institute of Design, at the

Illinois Institute of Technology,
majoring in photography, and I think I

like... my second year, first year,
second year, when Steve came back to I

as a graduate student, and we were in
some of the same classes together.

And then we started working together,
and as we'd pick up jobs, if I got a job

as a camera operator, I'd bring Steve as
my assistant. If I got a job to light

something, I'd bring Steve as my
operator, and he would do the opposite.

So we'd always keep each other in pocket
change. I mean, we were doing, like,

you know,

whatever little kind of jobs that we
could pick up together.

So it was pretty exciting.

Steve and I had done a television movie
together, and then off of my

television movie, actually, I got Steve
his first feature, which was Blood

Beach, Jeffrey Bloom's film.

Is that how you got him on this? Because
he'd already done a horror movie. He'd

already done another horror film, yes.

Although I wanted Steve to do this. And
I knew, I mean, I was scheduled to start

this right afterwards. And we were
arguing back and forth about who should

the DP. And I really wanted Steve to do
it. Did you get him involved then

right in the early stages of pre
-production so you could talk about the

draining of the red out of the picture?

Yes. Yes, he was.

I had talked about, you know, Steve and
I had talked about what I wanted to do

with the visual of this picture well
before he even was assured of doing the

film. But, you know, we knew we were
going to make it happen, and with Brian

Frankish being the production manager
and my first AD on the show,

and Brian and Steve and I, the three of
us are really good friends, so we knew

we pretty much could make this happen.

Black and white.

Was it actually shot on Super 8, the
black and white?

Yeah, it was.

You know, the idea was that the really
brutal, bloody violence, like, you know,

the stabbing, so that we could have it
there because it was black and white.

You didn't see the blood.

Now, do you think you were intending the
audience to be distracted from the

reveal of the victim because they were
being surprised by the fact that it was

Melody Anderson who was doing the
stabbing? Right. All you wanted to do

that it was Melody that was doing the
stabbing. It didn't matter who the

was in there so that we'd see the rest
of it later.

And they just wanted, you know, it's
Dobbs.

See, there's the girl getting hit in the
face with the rock.

And all of this stuff was much more
graphic than... Was this stuff that was

afterwards?

It was shot at the same time we did the
scenes, but we actually shot it on Super

8 when we did it.

Okay, so it wasn't as bloody because it
was in black and white, so you could

push it a little further. Right, and we
could push it a little further.

Now, what about this strange setup
you've got here of several screens of

different sizes?

Yeah, the pictures.

We had talked about this from the
beginning of how we were going to do

the set decorator and the production
designer and the art director, and we

together, and I just said, I want these
beams of light going off in different

directions. I want different size
screens.

You don't want it to be a little bit of
a fantasy land. It has no relationship

to reality.

And it's just Dobbs' chess game.

Yeah. I mean, this whole thing, the
whole story is Dobbs' puppet show.

I mean, that's what it all is supposed
to be.

Which is why the reordering and the
stuff that was done to the picture I

objected to because it took away from,
and even seeing Melody Anderson in that

scene. Because at that point, if it was
Dobbs' puppet show, Dobbs was

manipulating the audience instead of the
characters on screen.

Right.

Oh, Janet. Hey.

My masterpiece.

I love his speech here.

Yeah, I was going to say, for saying he
was on medication and very unwell, he

really seems to be entering into the
spirit of his character.

Oh, he was, you know, Jack was all into
this. I mean, he was...

We had a lot of fun making this picture.
There were certain things that were a

problem. We had one person who was
brought in by the production company to

of oversee some stuff who had a bit of a
drinking problem.

because it was supposed to take care of
some stuff that was never taken care of,

and we almost had a tragic accident one
day because something was not done

right, and so there was a little bit of
upset about that.

Tragic accident, as in someone got hurt?

Almost got hurt.

Nobody actually did get hurt, but there
was a road that was supposed to be

closed.

And we were all set up in the middle of
the road, and we had all these people in

the middle of the road, and suddenly a
car comes around the curve at 60 miles

hour. It was a kind of deserted road,
but we thought it was closed. And doo

-doop, and just pounds on his horn.
Everybody had to run out of the road,

goes by, and doo -doop, and it ended up
this person had never called the police

to close the road.

When Melody gets shot here, that shot,
where her hand goes up to her ear was

because one of the squibs went right up
towards her face.

And that was real. She basically
couldn't hear the rest of the day.

But she was great. She incorporated it
right into the character.

Unfortunately,

she's so wired up here in this scene
that she looks like she's gained weight,

and it was only because the way the
costume had to be done with the blood

and everything.

There's another one. I really love that.

We shot Dobbs and the bullet goes right
through the screen at the same time and

blood spews out the back.

There was not much that was accidental
on this picture. Everything was pretty

planned out. I mean, every camera move,
everything.

It's just, you know, the whole pacing,
and there was stuff added in that I

wouldn't have left in the picture. There
was stuff taken out that I wish was

still in the picture.

I know that you mentioned the death with
the tubes up the nose.

It seemed like that character wouldn't
be the kind of character that would be

targeted by the village people. No, he
was already one of the people. Exactly.

He was one of them at the very
beginning. I mean, you know, that was

idea. He was part of the puppet show. He
shouldn't have been.

He was killed a long time ago. Yeah,
that makes sense. He wouldn't have been

killed like that either. I mean, I think
that death is absolutely ludicrous.

This

is

a nice scene.

Bury me?

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I think, you know, had the picture
kept the order that it was supposed to

have and the tone that it was supposed
to have, this really would have been

extremely moving.

It is reminiscent of also a moving scene
in a movie that Bob Clark did in the

70s called Dead of Night or Death Dream
where a kid comes back from Vietnam and

he's already dead and then at the end he
actually, his mother helps him bury

himself.

Melody was scared to death. I mean,
she's lying in that grave, and when she

to, you know, cover herself with the
dirt, I mean, basically there was just

about long enough to get scissors in
there before she came bursting out from

underneath, you know. And the
juxtaposition of the big band music, da

-da, you know, against this.

And the fact that clearly the big band
music is very important to Dobbs and his

whole process, but he had to put it on
before he actually does his work. Right,

you know, here he is doing his makeup.

And going back and forth with the music
from this kind of eerie, kind of

classic, gothic horror music, you know,
horror film music.

Duke Ellington never expected that.

Probably not.

This was a production nightmare,
actually, this scene, because suddenly

realized that there was prosthetic
makeup that had to be done on the entire

for one scene.

And it was like an assembly line in
makeup.

And I must admit that I wasn't that
happy with, you know, with what

looked like. And we couldn't take things
as far as we really wanted to take it.

What, would you have had them cracking
up a bit more? Yeah, I just think that,

you know, we could have been a lot more.

I mean, see, Robert Englund, I think if
everybody kind of looked as good as he

did. But it's a pretty creepy scene.

Yes, it is.

Do you think at this point we're
supposed to start realizing that maybe

of them, seeing as they're not attacking
him? But they do start to attack him in

a minute.

See, if the film had had its tone that
it had, the murders weren't out of any

reason. It was Dobbs having a good time
with his puppets. I mean, all of the

other murders were just murders, but
they had to die violent deaths in order

be reanimated.

But there was no...

purposeness to it.

So this is the same.

Everybody's just around him, and now
they're going to kill him, if they were

going to kill him.

But they're not.

It's all being done as part of Dobbs'
puppet show.

I mean, Dobbs got what he wanted, which
was just for Dobbs to be killed

violently so that he could reanimate
himself, so that he would no longer get

sick.

An ending now popularized by the Sixth
Sense.

Did you ever shoot the reverse shot here
of Dove saying his final line?

Oh, I'm sure we did.

And I don't remember how this sequence
was ended in

my cut. I think I stayed on Dan's hands
because... Because of the great look on

his face.

Yeah. Yeah, I think the reaction was
probably better than seeing Dobbs

saying it.

And I think it would have been very
anticlimactic to go back and forth. I

it would have taken away from the
strangeness of it. The fact that he's

to a very freakish realization.

Come, Dan.

Let me fix those for you.

Did you keep track of how the film did
when it came out? I didn't really.

You know, I wasn't the only one that was
not happy with the final version of the

film. Also, the studio, Avco Embassy,
was not...

that they had to distribute a film that
wasn't really the film that they wanted

to do. And I think that pretty much on
the American release of the film, I

know what happened foreign, but on the
American release of the film, it was

kind of dumped on the market. There
wasn't a lot of advertising done. There

wasn't a lot of promotion done. I wasn't
involved in the promotion of the film

at all. I didn't want to be. I actually
was already making Vice Squad.

So looking back, any more thoughts on
the making of this picture?

No, you know...

Dead and Buried was a really interesting
picture to make, and I just wish that

it could have ended up as the picture
that we initially intended to make.

For a long time I was so angry about the
changes and what was done with it, I

just wanted to disown the picture for a
long time.

And it isn't until recently when
everything's been happening with...

several of my old movies, and I, you
know, especially Deathline, and I've

to so many festivals and things, and
then, you know, the big thing at Lincoln

Center when Deathline was honored at
Lincoln Center, that people started

to me more and more and more about Dead
and Buried, and I just actually started

looking at it again and saying, you know
what, as much as I've wanted to disown

it, there's something very special about
this movie.

And I think that what we're trying to do
with the original film does still come

through.

I just wish that it still had the flow
that it had.

I mean, there was a place in the middle
of the film where they put in a lot of

this violent stuff and moved stuff
around to make the middle move what they

thought was better. I wanted it to be
slow, and I wanted it to make the

uneasy and just kind of punctuate it
with... It laughs, then punctuated with

gore. So that when you realized what
this whole thing was about, that it was

this man who decided to use real human
beings, take their lives away from

them, and reanimate them as his puppets,
of how really awful and

frightening this really was.

And that's what I think the film was
about. The film was about Dobbs.

And the film was about Dobbs being a
puppeteer. And I think that's what

attracted me to making the film. And
that's the film that I wanted to make.

Okay. Thank you very much, Gary Sherman.

Thank you.