By Melissa Antoinette Garza
BURIAL GROUND (1981) begins with a Professor (Raimondo Barbieri) who brings back some really pissed off zombies that hate both regular sex and weird freaky sex alike. Either that or the zombies will kill anything and everyone just happens to be fucking. I’ll let you decide which but bear in mind, this is an Italian film.
Oh how I love Italian Horror!
The same genius professor who accidentally cursed everyone with death, also was nice enough to call a party at his mansion before doing it.
Among the group is Janet (Karin Well) a woman who instantly suspects something is wrong, has nightmares, wants to leave, but is married to Dipshit Mark (Gianluigi Chirizzi) who tells her that things are fine. Things are NOT fine. There are zombies wandering around and some strange kid is trying to screw his mom. Things are NOT fine, Mark!
Let me properly introduce Michael (Pietro Barzocchini). Michael is the most compelling character in this entire film, but he’s a strange dude. At the time the actor was 26 years old, but Michael is played as someone very young. He’s young enough for his mom Evelyn (Mariangela Giordano)to check up on him before bed which is fine. Great! That’s normal. When she leaves and he opens his eyes as wide as possible – a bit less normal.
It gets worse. The boy has serious problems which are made even more clear when he and his mom have a hot-and-heavy, make-out session and he caresses her breast and then goes lower. Evelyn stops him, but not as quickly as a mother should. All the more disturbing is that he calls her “mama” – I don’t know why that puts me off more. Just call her mother like a normal pervert! The term mama makes it so much worse on every level, but kudos because I’m certain that was the point.
The third couple Leslie (Antonella Antinori) and James (Simone Mattioli) are having fun sexing it up before the insanity ensues. Leslie even puts on some lingerie that fits her stunningly, but she just so happened to find. Maybe it’s lost in translation, but James’s dirty talk needs some serious work! After she dolls herself up, he not only seems initially unimpressed, but the most she gets from him is that he kind of likes that she looks like a whore. Come now! The 1980s electronic GIRL TALK DATE LINE game guys had better skills.
Soon, Mark finds out that Janet was right because they get attacked by zombies that also control electricity and cause paranormal activity like bulbs exploding. It’s complicated. Jesus makes water into wine. Other zombies make light bulbs explode. I don’t know all the rules.
These are some of the greatest looking zombies ever! I love their style, the way they move and the way they attack. Filled with amazing visuals, this film is effective on all fronts. The sex, gore and especially the pace are topnotch. This is among my top 5 favorite zombie films of all time. It’s under-recognized, under-appreciated, but absolutely fabulous on all counts.
I still have my bootleg copy of BURIAL GROUND (1981) from before its official release. I typically keep the bootlegs that I buy even after I acquire the legit copies. Generally, the fake copies use the OG posters or old VHS covers and those definitely hold a special place in my heart.
Currently, this is both free on YOUTUBE and on AMAZON PRIME. It’s definitely one to own though it does make one back-cover claim about being the next RHPS, which just simply isn’t true. Still it’s fan-fucking-tastic.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
