Burial Ground - Night of Terror (1980)

Party Poopers From The Grave...

An archaeologist w/ the world's biggest beard accidentally unleashes a hellish horde of zombies in potato-sack nightshirts. The undead mob heads toward a rural mansion where a group of six (3 guys and 3 gals) travelers have gathered to meet w/ the hairy archaeologist. Unbeknownst to them, their host has already fallen prey to the flesh-eating throng. While they're waiting, the group pairs off in order to partake of some carnal funny business. Oh no! The hungry zombies have arrived to crash the party, and they really know how to put a damper on things! From here, the movie turns from soft-core shag-a-thon into a zombie shred-fest! Our heroes are picked off and gobbled up in nasty ways. Intestines and other assorted organs shoot and squirt around, causing no small cramp in the style of our amorous adventurers. BURIAL GROUND is a messy, ugly movie w/ mega-nudity (at the beginning) and oceans of bloody gore! I liked the story and overall atmosphere of inescapable doom. No happy-sappy ending here! Watch for 25yo Peter Bark as the 10yo "kid" who is a little too close to his mum. He's creepier than the zombies! Highly recommended... August 10, 2008

All hail Peter Bark the greatest actor of all time!

Before I start the review, I wanna say anyone who plans on buying this movie I highy state you buy the Zombie Pack, Vol. 2 You get Burial Ground and 2 other movies for the price of one. Actually it's cheaper to buy the set than any of the movies on their own.

Burial Ground is one of those movies that are so bad, but so damn fun; can a movie this bad really be so entertaining? Well one thing I can say for sure is yes. Burial Ground has so much going against it that all that makes this movie a cult classic and easily gives it the so bad it's good status. To be honest this just might be the ultimate so bad its good flick or at the very least top 5.

You name it Burial Ground has it;

Incoherent plot? Yes.

Characters that do the dumbest things? Yes

Characters who say stupid things? Yes.

Very bizarre and weird situations? Yes

Nudity? Yes

Gore? Yes

The clear star of this movie is Peter Bark; forget De Niro and Brando, Peter Bark is the greatest actor ever! First up Peter Bark is a little person who looks like a mini-Dario Argento and was clearly in his late 20s at least, but he's playing a pre-teen child! People often talk about actors being robbed for Oscars. How Peter Bark has never won one is beyond me. He deserves a lifetime achievement award for sure.

Burial Ground is also one of the strangest movies I have seen. Michael played by the brilliant Peter Bark really loves his mother if you catch my drift. There's even a scene where he feels his mother up and even begins to slide his hand up a certain region. That scene is bound to not only creep the viewer out, but also makes for such a funny moment you might have a heart attack from laughter.

The screenplay by Piero Regnoli is brilliantly bad; it's amazing how somebody can write such a terrible screenplay that due to that it becomes a freaking classic of a screenplay. There is no sense of character development or any logic. It's just a bunch of stupid people getting killed by silly looking zombies.

The first 20-minutes not a whole lot really happens in the way of action, but what it lacks in action it makes up for in a nude scene 10-min by a very gorgeous woman. Don't worry besides that we get some really funny moments. Here are some highlights.

As one character is about to be intimate with a woman he says, "You look just like a little whore, but I like that in a girl."

Maybe one day I'll give that line a try. Hey it worked wonders for he guy in the movie, but wait there's more.

One guy is taking photos of a woman and he says, "You're getting a raise out of me alright, but it has nothing to do with money."

Come on how classic is that line? Pure brilliance!

One of my favorite lines comes from Peter Bark, he sees a cloth and smells it than runs over to his mother and says, "Mother, this cloth smells of death."

When it comes to horror I pride myself on knowing the genre and my best knowledge though is American and Italian horror. Andrea Bianchi was the director, but I don't know a lot of his work. The only other film I have seen by him is the Giallo Strip Nude For Your Killer; based off that film he seemed to have some directing skills, but that movie was one of the more sleazy Giallos with more focus on nudity and sex rather than suspense and tension. But there were some suspenseful moments, but Burial Ground clearly shows this guy as somebody with such little talent that it makes him an excellent filmmaker, if that makes any sense.

The one thing I'll give Burial Ground credit for is there really are no slow moments; the first 20-minutes have some nudity, some really silly dialogue that it very much holds your interest, than once about the 20-min mark hits the next hour as plenty of action to keep you from being bored. One of the biggest highlights of the movie is the famous nipple scene, which has to be seen to be believed!

I highly recommend this movie to fans of trashy European cinema; no doubt this movie falls under the so bad its good category. This is some of the most fun you can have with a movie and it's got the greatest actor of all time Peter Bark! All hail the power of Peter Bark!

I don't know maybe it's me, but Karin Well who plays Janet looks exactly like Paris Hilton. March 29, 2008

Get Ready For A Night Of Terror...And Laughs!

Once again I have found a movie from my era,
the 1980's, that I skipped the first time around
(When it first showed up on VHS in 1986, my
friends and I skipped it because of it's chessy
cover and no pix on the back, in fact we didn't
even know it was from 1981 or Italian, which could
have changed our minds about picking it up).

Now I've seen it in all it's chessy greatness. This
movie does stick-out from the barrage of Italian
80's cinema, but not neccessarly for the right
reasons. This film, about a group of socialites
on a retreat to a professor's castle that gets
overrun by a bunch of awakened & hungry
zombies, will make you feel like you forgot
to take out your copies of Zombi 2 or
say City Of The Living Dead, but does have
unique charms all it's own. One that stuck out to
me was the musical score. Instead of the usual
"Goblin-like" music these films usually have, Ground's seemed like it was
from the late 50's/early 60's. Very strange at first, but
then it adds to it's charm. Of course the cast, notably
Peter Bark, add to the fun. Y'know, I was fully prepared
for seeing a 25 year old man play a youngster through
various forums noting it, but when I finally saw him,
to me he didn't seem all that out of place...in other words,
I think the little bugger actually pulled it off!

I should also say, this film has decent zombies. Be it they
look like extras from "Tombs Of The Blind Dead", but they look
pretty good, minus of course shots where you can clearly see
the makeup end and actor begin, and what's up with those
black lips behind those gnarly teeth? Gorehounds of the 80's will
appreciate the level shown here. It's not a massive splatterfest,
but get's the job done. Decent ending too.

Overall, if you haven't seen it while you have seen other
great 80's Italian Horror, see it to fill your knowledge
on it's greats. It doesn't take itself too seriously, in fact
parts are unintentionally hilarious, but you'll have a
good time nonetheless. February 21, 2008

Great Film

This is a great movie to add to any Zombie fan's collection. I got this film not expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. Get it and enjoy. January 16, 2008

OVERRATED Euro Trash

This movie was supposed to be so gory, so scary, such good make-up. I didn't see any of that. I saw poor acting (expected though), more dialouge than action,& funny looking NOT scary zombies. I bought this based on reviews that said it was cheesy, fun, zombie lovers dream come true kinda flick, boy were those reviews WRONG! I love crappy, cheesy, gory, funny/scary zombie flicks. This however was STUPID. Yeah big deal, a woman gets her nipple chewed off by a midget who plays the role of her perverse son. The special effects were anything but special. IT was OK at best. Nothing I'd watch again. September 10, 2007

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