User Reviews

Most of the reviews and comments on "The Premature Burial" tend to dismiss this film as second rate. I don't agree. In fact I think it is as good or better than many of the other Roger Corman produced/directed Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.

The basis of the story is man's fear of death and more specifically of somehow being buried alive. Guy Carrell (Ray Milland) is one such person. He believes that his father was a victim of a premature burial and as such thinks that he will suffer the same fate. He goes so far as to construct a crypt that has many fail safe escape devices in case that he does suffer the same fate as his father.

Carrell marries the beautiful Emily Gault (Hazel Court) and with her help, tries to overcome his fears. Also involved in the mystery is Carrell's sinister sister Kate (Heather Angel), family friend Dr. Miles Archer (Richard Ney) and Emily's father Dr. Gault (Alan Napier). Guy begins to hear eerie sounds and is seemingly tormented by two grave diggers (John Dierkes, Dick Miller) that he encountered earlier. Are there plans afoot to drive poor Guy mad? Who in his household could be behind such a plan? Does he ultimately suffer the fate that he fears most?

Ray Milland was chosen to play the lead because Roger Corman was in a dispute with American International Pictures (AIP) at the time and decided to make the movie with another studio. Vincent Price who starred in most of Corman's Poe adaptations was under contract to AIP and therefore, could not play the lead. Ultimately the dispute was resolved and the picture was eventually released under the AIP banner.

Milland is surprisingly excellent in the lead. He conveys the building paranoia of Guy Carrell very convincingly. The lovely Hazel Court was a veteran of many films in her native England and nicely complements Milland and Heather Angel provides an air of mystery as Guy's sister/

Some useless trivia:

1. Ray Milland and Heather Angel had starred together some 25 years earlier in "Bulldog Drummond Escapes" (1937).

2. Miles Archer was the name of Sam Spade's partner who was murdered at the beginning of "The Maltese Falcon" (1941).

3. Alan Napier achieved greater fame as Alfred the butler in the "Batman" TV series of the 60s.

Intensely gloomy it may be, but an impressive example how a determined cinematic stylist can make a real virtue of a low budget. This was the third of director Roger Corman's AIP chillers based on Poe stories, and the only one not to star Vincent Price. Here, Ray Milland is the protagonist whose family history of catalepsy makes him fear burial alive.

Entirely shot on the sound stage, Corman and his regular art director Danial Haller have created a wonderfully expressionist garden of gnarled trees and shrubs wreathed with dry ice. Even the interior of Milland's mansion seems like a grave, notably in the scene where Hazel Court and Richard Bull take tea in a drawing room with wood-panelled walls, dark green wallpaper, with the dead tree pressing oppressively against the windows.

A number of other directorial touches make even this relatively minor Corman effort a winner. Court's shadow passing phantom-like over the sleeping Milland. The sudden shock moments when the sinister gravediggers Sweeny and Moe appear. And the blue-suffused dream-sequence in which Milland hallucinates the fate he fears most is quite masterfully shot, cut and scored (Ronald Stein).

A dark, dank little gem.

I think this is a very underrated little horror film even among Roger Corman's own directorial output. This stems, perhaps, from the fact that Ray Milland steps in for Vincent Price here, making it the odd one out among the series of Corman's Poe adaptations.

Ray Milland must have seemed a rather offbeat choice at the time given his reputation of being one of Hollywood's most charming and debonair leading man. In hindsight, however, he gives the role of the paranoid and cataleptic Guy Correll a wounded vulnerability which Vincent Price would have had trouble in bringing out (without resorting to camp). This is evident when one compares two similar roles played by Price in PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961), in which he overdid the fainting bit, and his later, admirably subdued performance in THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964). To his credit, Milland - who was at his best in such light but sophisticated comedies as EASY LIVING (1939), ARISE, MY LOVE (1940), THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR (1942) and KITTY (1945) - did not consider such roles as being beneath him and consequently gave them his all. As a matter of fact, he considered his subsequent role for Corman, that of Dr. James Xavier in X – THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES (1963), to be his second best after his Oscar-winning turn for Billy Wilder in THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)! I sure would like to get a chance to see Ray Milland in his three other notable 'horror' films: THE UNINVITED (1944), ALIAS NICK BEAL (1949) and (directing himself) PANIC IN YEAR ZERO (1962).

As for the film itself, I admit that having just watched PIT AND THE PENDULUM, PREMATURE BURIAL and (fairly recently) HOUSE OF USHER (1960) in quick succession, the repetition in the story-lines (catalepsy and premature entombment), not to mention in the art direction (recycled sets), does tend to get rather tiresome. Nevertheless, PREMATURE BURIAL, while perhaps not among Corman's best work, is engaging enough to repay repeated viewings (this has been my third time round).

The wealthy cataleptic painter Guy Carrell (Ray Milland) believes that he overheard his father, who also had catalepsy, crying in the crypt of his family when he was a kid and is obsessed by the fear of being buried alive. He leaves his fiancée Emily Gault (Hazel Court) and lives alone with his sister Kate Carrell (Heather Angel) in the family manor. However Emily seeks him out and convinces Guy to marry her, despite the disapproval of Kate, promising that she would never bury him without the certainty of his death by her friend, Dr. Miles Archer (Richard Ney), and her father Dr. Gideon Gault (Alan Napier).

After the wedding, Guy does not travel in honeymoon to Venice, as he had promised to Emily, and builds a crypt with safety devices to avoid that he is trapped alive inside. However Emily and Miles convince him to demolish the building. Guy has nightmares and visions with the gravediggers and weird events happen in the mansion. He decides to prove that is cured of his fear and opens his father grave, but someone has moved his skeleton and Guy is diagnosed of heart attack. However he is catatonic indeed and is buried alive as he has always feared. Will be the end of Guy? Who might have caused the shock on Guy?

"Premature Burial" is a creepy tale of paranoid obsession and madness, with good scenarios and locations and good acting. Ray Milland is a great actor but does seem to be miscast for the role of Guy Carrell that should be of an insane man instead of so dramatic. The conclusion is disappointing with the overprotective Kate disclosing the mystery after killing her insane brother. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available on VHS / DVD / Blu-Ray

Guy Carrell suffers with catalepsy, a condition that makes him appear dead, a condition that heightens his primal fear, that if being buried alive.

A wonderfully macabre tale from Edgar Allan Poe, Directed by Roger Corman, horror fans are probably more aware of some of his other titles, such as The Pit and The Pendulum.

It's a well paced film, the pace quickens as the story develops, it features some fine horror moments, the thought of being buried alive is a true primal fear for many, and they didn't hold back.

I loved the way the newly married couple were taking a stroll, collecting flowers from The Graveyard, no wonder he got a little tetchy.

It's a very nicely made film, you'll instantly be aware of the strong production values, great sets and costumes, it holds up well.

First time round, it surprised me seeing Ray Milland cast as the leading man, a role that would probably have gone to Vincent Price had be been available, but Milland was a fine actor, not known for horror, but he definitely adds some Star quality.

7/10.

Premature Burial is not Roger Corman's best filmed Poe adaptation, Masque of the Red Death is my favourite, but I did prefer it over the interesting but uneven Tales of Terror. It could have been a little longer, and not all of it is what you call surprising. However, it is well worth a look. It is well shot and I loved the Gothic atmosphere of the sets. The music really haunts your mind, at its best in Milland's hallucination dream sequence. The script is very literate and maintains interest, with Alan Napier getting the best lines, Milland showing his wife and friend around his tomb and the story has some fine moments especially with the dream sequence, Court's shadow and with the grave-diggers helped by a genuinely creepy atmosphere that Corman evokes wonderfully. Corman does direct assuredly. I was impressed by the performances also. Ray Milland is going to have inevitable comparisons to Vincent Price, who for me gave pitch-perfect performances in the rest of Corman's Poe adaptations(all but this one), but he deserves to be judged on his own merits, and I think he does give an understated and vulnerable performance that proved most effective. Hazel Court is also terrific, and Alan Napier relishes some of the best lines of the film. The rest of the cast do solidly in their roles also. In conclusion, a very under-appreciated Corman film that shouldn't be dismissed because it doesn't have Price in it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe cycle ranges among the most essential moments ever in Horror cinema, some of the adaptations such as "Pit And The Pendulum" (1961), "The Masque of the Red Death" (1964) or (the actually Lovecraft-inspired) "The Haunted Palace" (1963) being among the greatest Gothic Horror films ever brought to screen. The brilliance of these films lies in the creepy Poe-themed stories, Corman's outstanding talent for eerie Gothic atmosphere, and, not least, the leading performances by Horror-deity Vincent Price.

"Premature Burial" of 1962 treats an eponymous subject that is as essentially 'Poe' as it gets - being buried alive, or more precisely, the terror of being buried alive.While I did have high expectations for this film, it had been lying on my DVD shelf for a long while before I finally saw it, the only reason for delaying the viewing being the lack of Vincent Price in this film. Ray Milland, who plays the lead here, was a fantastic actor, but simply not quite as fantastic as Vincent Price (who happens to be my all-time favorite actor). Price simply was one of the greatest actors who ever lived, and the Poe-adaptations are arguably the ultimate highlights of his career. The only flaw of this film, is therefore not really a flaw, but the greatness of Corman's other Poe-adaptations: The fact that the other films had Vincent Price, and this one doesn't. As great as Milland is - and he IS great - every fan of the other films will see that Price could have been greater in some scenes. Vincent Price had a unique quality of being likable sinister. Price played dozens of Horror villains and murderous madmen, yet one always somehow had to like them (the one notable exception being his entirely diabolical eponymous role in Michael Reeves' 1968 masterpiece "Witchfinder General"). Ray Milland is a great actor, but he doesn't share this unique talent for being macabre, creepy, even scary, and yet somehow likable at the same time. Actually, his character here is not villainous, and yet he is somewhat unlikable.

This being said, "Premature Burial" is still and wonderful Gothic Horror experience, which once again proves that Corman is a true master of creepy greatness and beautifully eerie atmosphere. Ray Milland plays Guy Carrell, a man living in paralyzing fear of being interred alive. The beautiful Emily (Hazel Court) nonetheless falls for him and becomes his wife. Once they are married, however, his obsessions become worse and worse... The setting in an eerie mansion near a foggy cemetery is perfect for a Gothic Horror film like this one, and, apart from the usual atmosphere donors such as foggy grounds, Corman includes many morbid set-pieces, such as a demented live-in mausoleum. The fact that Milland's leading character is a painter of very morbid pictures also helps the film's creepiness. The stunning Hazel Court is, as always, absolutely wonderful in the female lead.

Overall, "Premature Burial" isn't quite as essential as films like "House of Usher" (1960), "Pit and the Pendulum" (1961), "The Haunted Palace" (1963) or "The Masque of the Red Death" (1964), but it is still a fantastic Gothic Horror that no genre-lover can afford to miss. The true genius of this film manifests in that it creates a uniquely claustrophobic atmosphere - which actually makes the viewer afraid of being buried prematurely!

... the film includes a wedding at night in a thunderstorm, and the fog never seems to lift around the estate of protagonist (???) Guy Carrell (Ray Milland). And then there is the fact that there are bats in the basement of the Carrell estate and yet there seems to be no opening for them to get in and out AND this morbid basement has a laboratory for medical research in it.

The film opens as three doctors are doing a bit of grave robbing in the interest of research. This being 19th century England, it is a socially two tiered affair. The doctors are all standing around,one even smoking a cigar, as the hired peasants do the actual digging. They hit the coffin, they lift the lid which has nail marks on the inside of it, and then a horrified scream by the hired peasants. There is a look of paralyzed terror on the dead man's face indicating he was buried alive only to "wake up" in his coffin.

Well, this reignites a fear in Guy, one of the doctors at the scene, who always believed his father was buried alive, that he will have an attack of catalepsy, which his father was prone to, and be buried alive too. He stops practicing medicine and retreats to his study, requiring drugs even to sleep. You can do that if you are wealthy, I guess. But never fear, his lady love, Emily, says she still wants to marry him and that this bizarre obsession of his is no impediment to their happiness.

This is a feature of Corman's early work. There is a leading character who was once normal, but suddenly has a turn to a bizarre mental or physical illness, and yet there is still a wildly attractive member of the opposite sex who is quite set on marrying them. Of course, Guy should have reservations too. After all, his father-in-law was one of his fellow grave robbers (Alan Napier).

After their marriage, Guy's obsession only deepens since several events just reinforce his belief that it would be so easy to be buried alive. He builds an elaborate tomb with all kinds of escape mechanisms in case he is "buried alive". Then he moves into the tomb and spends his time painting macabre images. Emily argues with him that he basically is already buried alive, living in his tomb, so what is he so afraid of?

How will this all work out? Watch and find out. With Heather Angel as Guy's older sister who spends all of her time hovering over Guy and spying disapprovingly on Emily. What is she up to? Richard Ney is Guy's old friend who is interested in the study of the mind and its influence on the body, a new science 150 years ago.

Notice that Ray Milland and Alan Napier played in-laws before. In "The Uninvited" it is insinuated that Napier's character will eventually marry Milland's sister. Don't watch this and be scared of being buried alive. After all, today, they'd embalm you and that would be that...oh, my.

Also with one of the funniest lines in cinema history when taken out of context: "Frog, please, Justin".

"The Premature Burial" was Poe's only story with a happy ending, as the tormented narrator decides to write off "bugaboo tales, like this one," and stay on the sunny side. Might he have also said "no more mediocre movies?"

Ray Milland made his great contribution to shlock movie culture with this hilariously grouchy performance in "Frogs," he does what he can here but it does tend to underline how important the presence of Vincent Price was to these Poe films. Poe's interesting tale ( the title phobia was already a horror cliché by the time he got to it) is turned into a rather overwrought revenge saga with too much phony smoke. Though Floyd "David's dad" Crosby does his usual excellent work.

All in all it's an O.K. time if you like this sort of thing.

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.

A wealthy artist , Ray Milland , suffers paranoia about being buried alive and causing his worst fears to come true . Soon after , he marries a beautiful woman : Hazel Court , but his horrible nightmares go on haunting him and things go wrong . As he devises a peculiar tomb , complete with a variety of exits should avoid his worst dreams come true .

This is a nicely macabre Edgar Allan Poe rendition with thrills , chills , plot twists and gloomy Gothic atmosphere , though it seems too serious , at times. This is Roger Corman's only Edgar Poe-derived movie without Vincent Price , being well starred by Ray Milland . Although lacking Price's hammy and playful performance style , however Ray MIlland -who subsequently played Corman's The Man with X Ray Eyes- gives a fine acting as the Englishman's worst fears come true when he is buried alive . As Corman made a generally breathtaking Poe cycle in which Vincent Price lead in most of the other outings in the series. The movie does have its sinister and creepy moments , notably Milland proudly showing relatives and friends about a especial tomb he has designed for himself , including several exits to escape from death . Ray Milland is well accompanied by a good main and support cast as Hazel Court , Heather Angel , Richard Ney and brief appearances from Alan Napier , John Dierkes and Dick Miller who is Corman's fetish secondary actor .

It displays a thrilling and frightening musical score by Ronald Stein . As well as colorful and foggy cinematography by Floyd Crosby , Corman's regular cameraman . Produced in medium budget by Gene Corman, Roger's brother , the picture was competently directed by Roger Corman . This great producer and director has made lots of movies of all kinds of genres , outstanding in Poe cycle and other Terror films, such as : Frankenstein unbound, Masque of the Red Death , Tomb of Ligeia , The Haunted Palace , The Raven, The Terror , Tales of Terrror , Tower of London, The Pit and the Pendulum , The Fall of the House of Usher , A Bucket of Blood , among others . Rating : 7 , Notable . The motion picture will appeal to Ray Milland fans .

An artist (Ray Milland) grows distant from his new wife (Hazel Court) as an irrational horror of premature burial consumes him.

The story of this film's creation is almost as interesting as the film itself. This film was the first one Roger Corman made after "The Intruder" flopped. While today "Intruder" is considered one of the highlights of his career, its failure at the time convinced Corman to stay with horror -- much to our benefit.

Also of interest, Corman went to Pathe, rather than American International Pictures, in order to make this film. Thus, he had to cast Ray Milland rather than Vincent Price, who was under contract with AIP. Sam Arkoff, the head of AIP, was furious, and purchased the film back from Pathe (threatening to pull lab work from them) before it was made -- but after Milland was cast.

Thus, we have only one of the two AIP Poe films without Price (the other is "Murders in the Rue Morgue", which also did not have Corman). Is this a blessing or a curse? Well, among horror fans, Vincent Price is probably the single greatest figure in history. However, in general, Milland is probably the better actor. So what we have here is a film that is probably less campy, less overly dramatic than it would have been with Price. This makes the tone somewhat different from the others in the series, but perhaps not in a bad way.

Mike Mayo says "Corman makes the fullest possible use of a few richly decorated and fog-shrouded Gothic sets" and calls the story "a cracking good yarn." I completely agree on the sets. While the scenery is minimal (we rarely venture out of a single-room mausoleum), it works by being elaborate. The many-layered escape plan scene really is the highlight of the film.

Like Mayo, Howard Maxford points out that we witness "the studio dry-ice machine working overtime." Indeed, if you remember nothing else about the outdoor scenes, you will recall the seemingly endless amounts of fog drifting by. Perhaps a bit too much?

Overall, the story is well-told, well-paced, well-acted and builds up as it goes. Maybe the premise is a bit far-fetched, because even the severest case of catalepsy would require breathing, but it serves as a great plot device and I can handle that.

Bonus: the legendary Dick Miller appears in a cameo role.

Ray Milland stars in this Roger Corman directed version of the Edgar Allan Poe story as a wealthy man with a morbid and all-consuming fear of death and being buried alive welcomes his beautiful fiancée(Hazel Court) to his castle. Happy at first, his fears soon return, and after falling into a cataleptic state, learns that being buried alive wasn't the only thing he should have been watching out for...

Oddly dull and slow film has some atmosphere but feels flat, and doesn't make an effective use of its source material. Was filmed earlier as a good episode of the Boris Karloff hosted series "Thriller", with the same title and premise! A misfire in the Corman produced Poe adaptations of this period.

Of all the great Roger Corman's movies based on Edgar Allan Poe's stories this one has maybe left in the shadow of those starring Vincent Price. In a way this one stays a little closer to the spirit of Poe, thanks to Ray Milland's well crafted and more serious acting style. He isn't as grand and hammy as Price and adds a bit more heavier drama in his portrayal of a perfect gentleman and a manically paranoid mind. And if you want to see Milland go for one better in a Corman film, see 'X -The Man with the X-Ray Eyes'.

Once again Corman has succeeded to make his film seem fancier and more expensive than it really was. I've always admired the production values in these films. In spite of repeating many of the same themes and tricks over again they always deliver fun and good value. The tight and atmospheric sets nicely express and support the sense of paranoia, madness and give a feeling of altered state of consciousness. Although, a kind of a comic book version of Poe it is, it does give me the same joy and occasional light creeps than the original stories. The theme of getting buried alive and the following madness is of course repeated many times during these films and stories. But as it is here the actual main theme and motive for the character, the treatment it gets is to my mind the most dramatic and probably the best.

"The Premature Burial", the third film in Roger Corman's wildly successful Poe series, is disappointing in comparison with the excellent previous entries, "House of Usher" and "Pit and the Pendulum". While there are some great moments, there are some big time problems with the film itself.

Ray Milland plays Guy Farrell, a medical student (that's a laugh)who has the fear of being buried alive, like his father was. If you can't guess what's going to happen next, you must have been buried prematurely. Originally, Vincent Price was cast. Corman was going to release this film through his Filmgroup distribution company with Pathe Labs financing the film. AIP then locked Price into a contract and Corman was forced to use Milland, sadly miscast. (Ironically, AIP did release the final product when Filmgroup dissolved and Pathe Labs' position was bought out.)

A big problem with this film is the pacing. It is excruciating slow at times, especially for a film that runs only 81 minutes. With gothic horror, pacing is important. Like "Masque of the Red Death", unless you can tolerate a slow paced film, you're going to hate it. The sets are not as impressive this time around as in most entries and the script is too static to really work as horror.

But it's still an interesting experiment and one could do a lot worse than "The Premature Burial". Floyd Crosby's cinematography is still tops of its' kind (best seen in letterboxed format, eventually MGM will release the DVD)and Corman is able to film a few really effective moments (especially the burials). It's not the best Poe film (that honor goes to "House of Usher"), but it's not the worst ("The Oblong Box" receives that honor, a non-Corman Poe film). I think that Corman fans will appreciate it more than regular moviegoers. Worth a look.

*** out of 4 stars