Only now does it occur to me... THE PREMATURE BURIAL

Only now does it occur to me... that while the clear centerpiece of Roger Corman's THE PREMATURE BURIAL is the ridiculous scene where the gleefully nutty Ray Milland shows off his custom-made precautions against being buried alive in his extensively pimped-out tomb:

The 'ole "tools in the collapsible coffin."


The 'ole "hidden foodstuffs and secret passsageways."


The 'ole "surprise rope ladder and self-congratulatory raised eyebrow."

the hidden gem of the film is a small bit whereupon Milland imagines that a gravedigger, played by a young Dick Miller, has come to bury him alive!

Somehow, young Dick Miller looks exactly like old Dick Miller.

As someone who grew up watching Miller in stuff like THE TERMINATOR, EERIE INDIANA, GREMLINS, and every other Joe Dante movie under the sun, it's a joy to return to his Roger Corman roots and see the 'ole back catalogue.  

As for the movie– it's decent.  Not nearly as good as the other (Vincent Price)/Edgar Allan Poe films that came out of American International, but a fine spooky time.  I do, however, highly recommend the Milland/Corman collaboration X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, which will hopefully be the subject of a forthcoming review!

2014 HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN

1.  FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 2: TEXAS BLOOD MONEY (1999, Scott Spiegel)

2.  MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935, Tod Browning)

3.  FULL MOON HIGH (1981, Larry Cohen)

4.  EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS (2002, Ellory Elkayem)

5.  MASTERS OF HORROR: WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM (2007, Tom Holland)

6.  STEPHEN KING ON SONS OF ANARCHY (2010, Bill Gierhart)

7.  THE INITIATION (1984, Larry Stewart)
8.  MUTANTS (2008, Amir Valinia)
9.  JAWS 2 (1978, Jeannot Szwarc)
10. ...