Premature Burial (1962)

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Charles Beaumont (writer)
Edgar Allan Poe (story)

Release Date:

7 March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Within the Coffin I Lie...ALIVE!

Plot:

Emily Gault arrives at the Carrell mansion determined to rekindle an old relationship with Guy Carrell...

Plot Keywords:

Fear | Buried Alive | Obsession | Revenge | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Guy Carrell
Hazel Court	...	Emily Gault
Richard Ney	...	Miles Archer
Heather Angel	...	Kate Carrell
Alan Napier	...	Dr. Gideon Gault
John Dierkes	...	Sweeney
Dick Miller	...	Mole
Clive Halliday	...	Judson
Brendan Dillon	...	Minister

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:M | Finland:(Banned) (1963) | USA:Unrated | Norway:16 (1962)

Filming Locations:

Producers Studios - 5330 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Roger Corman started this film outside of American International Pictures. Since Vincent Price had been signed to an exclusive contract with AIP, Corman chose Ray Milland for the lead role. American International would acquire the production just as principal photography began.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kate tells Guy that it's time for his medicine, she’s holding the tray in her hands. In the next shot it's gone, and it is nowhere to be seen when the three of them leave the crypt.

Quotes:

Guy Carrell: Can you possibly conceive it. The unendurable oppression of the lungs, the stifling fumes of the earth, the rigid embrace of the coffin, the blackness of absolute night and the silence, like an overwhelming sea.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Film '72: (2008-09-23)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Molly Malone

A very interesting movie.

This is the only film in Corman's Poe cycle without Vincent Price. He chose instead Ray Milland as the man haunted by fear of being buried alive. In fact Milland portrays the protagonist more "seriously" than Price would have, or more "realisticaly". This is a good film for those who like the subject. Some critics have talked about films filled with fascination with death, quoting some times "Obsession" by Brian de Palma, for example. But if there is a "necrophiliac" film ever, this is "Premature Burial". Loosely based in Edgar Allan Poe's unfilmable tale, it has a magnificent plot and many hints and blinks. It is a disturbing film, too. Its atmosphere is perfectly gloomy. Milland seems genuinely tormented by his fears, and he delivers some modified Poe lines with intensity. I think that this picture is in the better half of the Poe cycle, and has a particular quality of its own.