Corman/Poe

THE PREMATURE BURIAL-1962-Ray Milland is Guy Carrell, a doctor with a fear of being buried alive and haunted by terrifying dreams. His understanding new wife Emily (Hazel Court) tries to help him. Unfortunately it seems she may have bitten over more than she can chew. A song makes him cranky, he doesn't like flowers and spends most of his time in a mausoleum which he has rigged with gadgets to make sure he's not buried alive. His sister (Heather Angel) hands around suspiciously. His friend Dr. Archer (Richard Ney) tries to help while experimenting with dead frogs. Guy has a strange dream where he's locked in his mausoleum and almost drinks a cup of maggots. Eventually Emily brings Guy back to normalcy and he burns down the mausoleum but there seems to be a plot against him when he suffers a seizure and is buried alive anyway! He's freed from his dirty grave by two grave robbers (one is Dick Miller) and becomes a sunken eyed revenge seeking ghoul who electrocutes his father in law (Alan Napier).

THE PREMATURE BURIAL started out for some reason being made by director Roger Corman for Pathe' studios instead of AIP. (He had already made THE HOUSE OF USHER and THE PIT AND THE PENDULEM for them) He wanted to cast the star of those previous two Poe adaptations, Vincent Price in the lead but he was under contract to AIP so Corman got Academy Award winner Ray Milland to fill in. He does a good job but doesn't have the intensity Price often brought to his roles. Still despite the dumb resolution it's a good entry into the “Poe series”. Charles Beaumont was a co-screenwriter. Corman was busy in '62. He made this, the usually overlooked THE INTRUDER, the kind of remake of TOWER OF LONDON and TALES OF TERROR.

 

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