193) The Premature Burial (1962)

"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."

Director

Roger Corman

Cast
Ray Milland - Guy Carrell
Heather Angel - Kate Carrell
Hazel Court - Emily Gault
Alan Napier - Dr. Gideon Gault
Richard Ney - Miles Archer
John Dierkes - Sweeney
Dick Miller - Mole

Roger Corman's third Edgar Allan Poe movie, "The Premature Burial," which follows "House of Usher" (1960) and "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1961), is the first of two Corman movies that star veteran actor Ray Milland.  

Milland also plays Dr. Xavier in Corman's popular sci-fi movie, "X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes" (1963). C'mon...who hasn't heard of it? 

"Premature Burial" is also the first and only one of these Poe movies not to star Vincent Price. Bummer!  

In this movie, Milland plays wealthy aristocrat, Guy Carrell who mopes around his huge estate worrying about being buried alive. It's a fear that consumes his mind like a worm. 

He and his fiancée Emily Gault (Hazel Court) are going to marry soon. Before they do, Guy tells Emily that he, like his father, has a rare disease that can make people appear dead. So, they're relationship is off to a good start as far as communication goes. 

He shows Emily the family crypt and tells her that when was a kid, he swore he could clearly hear his dad screaming from inside his tomb. 

Emily doesn't know what to think about all this. Guy's sister, Katie (Heather Angel), doesn't think he really heard their father from the tomb all those years ago. She thinks it was his all in his mind, fueled by his deep fear of being buried alive. 

Regardless, Emily is eager to marry Guy despite his inordinate fear. 

And so, they do. 

During the wedding reception, Emily plays the tune "Molly Malone" on the piano. For some reason, this drives Guy into some kind of panic, which makes him pass out. 

Afterwards, his fear of being buried alive worsens. Guy's fear pushes him to build his burial vault with various devices to ensure he won't be buried alive. It's even equipped with a poisonous mixture that he can use as a final resort in case the other safety measures fail. 

This fearful fixation has Emily worried. His colleague, Miles Archer (Richard Ney) is also worried about Guy. And Guy is worried about himself.

So, he takes a walk along the moors with Emily where he hears someone whistling "Molly Malone" off in a distance. Terrified, he passes out again.

While he's passed out, he has a nightmare where he's
buried alive in his vault, and none of his preventative measures are working, 

When Guy wakes up and asks Emily if she heard the whistling, Emily insists she didn't hear anything. 

Well, she can't take this incessant fear of his. It's getting out of hand. She gives Guy an ultimatum. Either he gets over this out-of-control fear or she's walking. 

Much to her surprise, it works. 

Guy takes his super safe burial vault apart and comes back down to earth. 

And then Miles has to chime in and encourages Guy to open his father's tomb to see for himself that he was not buried alive. 

It turns out that doing this was a terrible idea. Seeing his father's remains causes Guy to pass out again...and not wake up this time. Do you see where this is going?

Emily's father, Dr. Gideon Gault (Alan Napier) examines Guy, and believes he died from a heart attack.

He can't move or speak, but he isn't dead. They just think he is. The audience can hear his thoughts as he hopes and prays someone figures out he's alive. 

Emily chooses to have Guy buried in the cemetery outside of his estate. 

Guy now finds his worst nightmare coming true. He's able to move his eyes. Since his casket has a window over his face, Guy prays in his head that someone notices his eyes moving as they lower him into his grave. But they don't. 

Shortly after he's buried, grave robbers dig up his body just as he is able to regain mobility. 

Now, back from the dead (figuratively speaking), Guy takes revenge on those who buried him alive. 

Like the previous Poe movies, "The Premature Burial" maintains a grand impressive, elegant,

Ray Milland in "The Premature Burial."

yet low budget Victorian era style, seen in his previous Poe movies that I find entertaining and amusing to watch. Its atmosphere and style remind me of Hammer Horror movies from the U.K. 

This movie comes across drier than it does horrific compared to the Poe movies before it. However, the fear factor picks up midway. Ray Milland is a fantastic actor with a lot of respected titles under his belt. I still miss Vincent Price in this picture. 

Milland plays a sympathetic character wonderfully well. When the horror finally turns on, he doesn't quite hit the frightening mark. He tries, but his performance in the scary half of the movie leans into the side of awkward. He has to carry the horror on his shoulders with his characters consuming fear of being buried alive. Milland has to bring the audience the fear and terror they came to see through his own expressions. And he works it, but doesn't quite make it there for me. 

But I still enjoyed watching this and found it worthwhile and entertaining. 

There's one line that cracked me up. I don't know if it was intended to be funny, but it had me in hysterics. 

In that scene, Emily asks her dad if he's enjoying himself during the wedding reception. 

He replies, "I never enjoy myself. I merely experience greater and lesser degrees of tedium, that's all." 

If I were Emily, I'd be sorry for asking. 

It's worth pointing out that Alan Napier is the same Alan Napier who famously played Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, in the TV series "Batman."

Despite its mild weaknesses, and slight underperformance, Corman maintains his haunting style with Poe's continuing theme of being buried alive. It's a theme seen in the previous movies, and other Poe tales. Watching "The Premature Burial" makes me anxious to get to his next movie in the series - "Tales of Terror."