The Premature Burial is a 1962 horror movie directed by Roger Corman starring Ray Miland, Heather Angel and Hazel Court. It was the third in the series of eight Poe-themed pictures, which Corman directed for American International.
Plot[]
Set in the early dark Victorian era, the film tells the story of Guy Carrell, a wealthy British aristocrat who lives with his sister Kate and is consumed with the fear of being buried alive. This fear erupted, when he found out that his father had died this way. Because of this he thinks he shoul not marry his fiancee Emily, but she is prepared to marry him anyway.Kate is worried regarding this marriage, because she doesn´t trust Emily.
After the marriage Guy is haunted by strange ilusions. He sees the illusion of seeing the two gravediggers, who unearthed his father so that he could be taken to the family´s graveyard, their music, when they unearthed him, and the strange event of the cat who had been locked away.
Additionally to his fear of dying that way, he also begins to have a premoniton that someone intends to kill him. When he opened the tomb of his father in his home one day, his father´s corpse falls on him, which puts him in an epileptic state. Everyone think he is dead and is therefore buried.
By observing those who buried him, he comes to the conclusion that his fiancee must have been behind it all, together with her father, a doctor and therefore an expert in human health, and the two men who unearthed his father and who also buried him. He also comes to the conclusion that they must have done this, because they wanted his money.
When those two unearth him so that her father can use him for study later, he takes revenge. He kills both gravediggers, the father of Emily and then buries her alive. A friend of his, who knew of his problems and knows Emily, tries to save her but to no avail. He fights him in desperation and, when Guy is about to kill him, his sister kills his own brother to stop him.
It turns out his conclusions were correct. Her sister finds the key to her father´s tomb around Emily´s neck and explains it all to him. He also tells him that she used what he told her about his problems in order to succeed in her plans. In the end, she killed him to free him from his fear and pain because of what happened. She also cryingly wished she could have found the proof of her evil intentions earlier. He believes everything she says, takes her away form his corpse and both walk away, guilt ridden, from the place.
Cast[]
- Ray Milland as Guy Carrell
- Heather Angel as Kate Carrell
- Richard Ney as Miles Archer
- Hazel Court as Emily Gault
- Alan Napier as Dr. Gideon Gault
- John Dierkes as Sweeney
- Dick Miller as Mole
- Clive Halliday as Judson
- Brendan Dillon as Minister
Production[]
- Francis Ford Coppola helped in the movie
- Roger Corman made other seven successful adaptaions of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Mostly Vincent Price had the main role. In this movie he also wanted Price but American Intenation Pictures insited, that Ray Milland should have the main role and he therefore had no choice but to relent.
