I don't know if I would have ever wanted anyone besides D'Amato handling this one.

Fox and I viewed this one under the alias "Buried Alive".*How many name changes do the movies go through?!* More than twisted central charcters intertwined in a fucked up atmosphere with more than a good share of f*cked up (and equally gory) deaths accented with a copious amount of skin. Mix in some awesome(and ridiculously bad) dialogue, music from Goblin, you name it. This one has something for everyone. Makes for some good eatin', folks!

Then there's Franca Stoppi.(Iris) God, I would pull that woman's hair*cough, cough*I mean she turn's in a riveting performance.

Don't sleep people.

** Bit 'o' Tivia: "Joe D'Amato" was the name given him in the states. I think his real name is Aristide Massaccesi. Remember it.

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While a lot of the alternate titles for these horror movies have little to do with the actual movie, calling this one "Buried Alive" is probably the furthest reaching I've ever seen. Only at the very, very end is there any sort of reference to someone possibly becoming buried alive, but it doesn't actually happen. That title is merely a reference to the poorly done, pointless 'jump scare' at the tail end of the movie.

Nonetheless, this movie is almost a smorgasbord of depravity. Incest (sort of), cannibalism, necrophilia, this flick really isn't for the light-hearted. Some of the most noticeable scenes:

>>Man-boy Frank being pleasured by his Mother-Figure Iris as he stares at his dead wife.

>>Iris offering Frank her bosom to suckle on after his wife dies, calling him her little boy. Later on she convinces him to marry her. Apparently this whole relationship led to other films using the perverse mother/son incest, including one of my favorites Burial Ground.

>>An incredibly adorable yet stomach churning scene where Iris chops the head off a girl to melt her in acid. Iris finishes the job and then plops down on her knees, a huge smile on her face as if to say, "Isn't this just fun, you and me doing this together?"

My favorite scene, however, is just after said girl has been melted and disposed of. Iris walks into the kitchen, covered in blood and a myriad of other bodily fluids, briefly washes her hands in the sink, prepares a few bowls of stew for Frank and herself, then digs in like a rabid animal.

Damn. Why Frank didn't marry this woman, I can't figure out. What more can you ask for?

Great score by Goblin, and some ok direction by Mr. Tomato make it a pretty worthwhile trip. I like how the girl they burn in the furnace shrivels up and jumps around as her juices begin to cook and her muscles contract; there is obvious attention to small details such as this that really add to the film. That ending annoyed the hell out of me though, and it brought it down a few points.

If you love sleaze and gore, there's plenty to be found in this one. Despite abandoning the genre and concentrating on pornography such as the classy "Jurassic Pork", D'Amato had the potential for making interesting splatter films with strange subtexts. If you can find this cheap, I say go for it and buy it.

What kind of dance was that girl doing in the club, anyway? "Hey guys, I have this new dance, it's called the Seizure, you should totally try it." She must've taken lessons from Elaine.

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