Burial Ground - Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1981
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Writer: Piero Regnoli
Cast: Karin Well, Gianluigi Chirizzi, Simone Mattioli, Antonella Antinori, Roberto Caporali, Pietro Barzocchini, Claudio Zucchet, Anna Valente, Raimondo Barbieri, Mariangela Giordano

Release Date: October 25th, 2016
Approximate running time: 85 Minutes 12 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, Dolby Digital Mono Italian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.98

"Mariangela Giordano (of SATAN’S BABY DOLL and MALABIMBA fame) stars in the splatter classic about a cursed country estate besieged by horny houseguests, undead Etruscans and the unusual relationship between a mother (Giordano) and her mega-creepy young son (disturbingly portrayed by diminutive adult actor Peter Bark) that will trigger perhaps the most jaw-dropping scenes in grindhouse history.” – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 4/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "New restored 2k scan with full shot by shot color correction".

Burial Ground comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 23.2 GB

Feature: 16.8 GB

This release’s transfer improves upon all previous releases in every way. Colors look more vibrant, shadow detail is greatly improved, and the grain remains intact.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono English), 3.75/5 (Dolby Digital Mono Italian)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a Dolby Digital mono mix in Italian. Both audio mixes are in great shape. Dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range wise, the film’s score and more ambient sounds are well represented throughout this audio mix. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), deleted/extended scene/shots (10 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a locations featurette titled Villa Parisi: Legacy of Terror (15 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with  actor Simone Mattioli Just for the Money (8 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with producer Gabriele Crisanti and actress Mariangela Giordano titled The Smell of Death (9 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a Q & A with actor Peter Bark titled Peter Still Lives (7 minute 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an Easter Egg - opening / closing Italian credits for Burial Ground (2 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), reversible cover art, and a slipcover (limited to the first 3,000 copies).

Summary:

The Burial Ground was directed by Andrea Bianchi, whose other notable films include: Cry of a Prostitute, Strip Nude for Your Killer, Naughty Teen, and Malabimba: The Malicious Whore. The screenplay for Burial Ground was written by Piero Regnoli, a prolific screenwriter and director in his own right, whose filmography covers just about every genre. Some of his more notable credits include, as a director, The Playgirls and the Vampire; and as a screenwriter, I Vampiri, Navajo Joe, Patrick Still Lives, and Nightmare City. Other key collaborators on Burial Ground include special effects master Gino De Rossi (City of the Living Dead) and composer Berto Pisano (Giallo a Venezia).

Over the years, zombies in cinema have taken on many shapes and forms. Initially, they started off as slow, shambling brain-eating machines, but as they evolved, their mobility greatly improved, making them an even more formidable foe. And by the time that the Italians latched onto the zombie bandwagon, George A. Romero had already made the definitive zombie film with Dawn of the Dead. In the wake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, Italian cinema would spend the next three years flooding the market with its own brand of zombies. With Lucio Fulci’s Zombie being the film that ignited the fuss and Andrea Bianchi’s Burial Ground being a clear example that this film cycle was on its last legs.

Content-wise, Burial Ground sticks with the essentials of the genre and does not attempt to bring anything new to the table. In most instances, such a by the book approach would spell disaster. Fortunately, the main creative force behind Burial Ground, Andrea Bianchi, is far from a conventional filmmaker, and the end result is something that far exceeds expectations.

From a production standpoint, the narrative, like its zombies, moves at a snail-like pace. And when it comes to creating moments of shock, Burial Ground often comes up short in this regard. With an overwhelming amount of what occurs in the burial ground, the viewer is left more bewildered than frightened. Surprisingly, the moments of gore are oddly effective, even if they do come off at times as crudely executed.

The area that is hardest to gauge is performance. The characters are all one-dimensional caricatures, and the dialog they speak is often unintentionally humorous. Basically, the actors are not much more than props. Notable cast members include Mariangela Giordano (Satan’s Baby Doll) in the role of Evelyn, an overbearing mother that coddles her son Michael, and Pietro Barzocchini (Peter Bark) in the role of Michael. And without a doubt, the scenes that they share together are the moments that linger on in your brain, and they are also tied into the incestuous themes that run throughout Andrea Bianchi’s filmography.

Through the years and their many incarnations, there is no denying the lasting durability of the zombie. And every now and then, a film like Burial Ground comes along and flips this genre on its head!

Burial Ground gets a definitive release from Severin Films, highly recommend.

Written by Michael Den Boer