Burial Ground – 88 Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

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: June 19th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 85 Minutes 13 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region Free (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK)

"When they arrive to spend the weekend in a large country villa, the guests are expecting a chance to unwind and make merry. Unfortunately, their host has neglected to mention that there are zombies in the basement. They're feeling peckish too..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (4K UHD), 4.25/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "4K Restoration From the Best Surviving Element (35mm Blow-up Interpositive)".

Burial Ground comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 61.1 GB

Feature: 60.8 GB

Considering the limitations of the best available source materials, this new 4K transfer looks fantastic. The source has been cleaned up, the grain remains intact, and the image always looks organic. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, image clarity, contrast, and black levels are strong throughout, and compression is solid. That said, this new 4K transfer is a marked improvement over all of Burial Grounds previous releases.

Burial Ground comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.9 GB

Feature: 20.7 GB

The Blu-ray uses the same source as the 4K UHD does for its transfer.

Audio: 4.5/5 (LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio tracks are in great shape; there are no issues with distortion or background hiss. Also, dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, these two tracks are comparable; ambient sounds are well represented, and the score sounds robust. That said, tone-wise, these two tracks could not be further apart; the Italian-language track is more serious than the English-language track, which is unintentionally funny. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian-language track.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an archival audio commentary with Italian cinema experts Calum Waddell and John Martin, and an audio commentary with film critics Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth and Eugenio Ercolani.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian credits sequence (2 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), deleted scenes/trims (9 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with music from Burial Ground playing in the background), 35mm blow up print of Burial Ground titled “Grindhouse Version” (84 minutes 19 seconds, 1.66:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with film critic Mikel Koven titled What the Fuck?: The Films of Andrea Bianchi (26 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Pierpaolo De Sanctis CEO and founder of Four Flies Records who discusses Burial Grounds score titled Zombie and Melodies (27 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with Eugenio Ercolani titled The Borders of the Extreme (22 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Peter Bark at Villa Parisi titled Return to the Burial Ground (13 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival audio commentary with Calum Waddell and John Martin, and an audio commentary with Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth and Eugenio Ercolani.

Other extras include reversible cover art, a slipcase (limited to first pressing), A3 fold-out poster (limited to first pressing), and 40-page booklet (limited to first pressing) with cast & crew information, an essay titled Back From The Grave written by Daniel Burnett, and an essay titled Le Notti Del Terrore: Terror Night(s) Between Trash and Cult written by Martin Beine.

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 makes its way to 4K UHD via an exceptional release from 88 Films, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer