31 Nights of Halloween, Burial Ground

October 30, 2012

Burial Ground: Italian

(1981, 85mins, Horror)

Introduction:
The most famous unknown Zombie film!

Never would I thought I would review the classic Burial Ground. In a way it is a honor or maybe its not ;)

Sex, Zombie, Sex, more sex. Italian zombies and Italian sex!

Part 1: My first viewing

Years ago a group of my friends and I went to B-movie festivals late at night. Once every month we would go and watch 4-6 films. It would go way into the next morning, luckily usually it wasn't a school night so it was cool with all the parents. The reason we went was because some films got so bad, they became extremely funny and had a ton of blood like,

Zombie Holocaust

Prom Night

Blood Feast

Silent Night, Deadly Night

and More!

Burial Ground is one of my favorites that I saw there. And to see this and many films at a theater is a experience I will never forget, simply the greatest! Burial Ground left us all talking about that damn kid.

James: "You look just like a little whore, but I like that in a girl".

Part 2: Story

Burial Ground is a film by Andrea Bianchi. It stars mostly unknowns except two people. The beautiful Mariangela Giordano (The Mother) who is a Queen in the world of B-movies. And Peter Bark (The Son) who is a 25 years old guy playing a child. It's extremely creepy on screen, for all the wrong reasons. I'm not even 25 yet and the fact they used him as the "child" blows my mind, just look at his face. I read the reason they used him was because of the Italian laws at the time. Do to all the sex, children could not be used in films. In fact this film might seem to have a ton of sex but it really doesn't. During this time a ton of horror films had a lot more sex. But its the son that really makes this film a classic B, we will talk more on that later.

In the start of the film a scientist is studying the "undead" and during this time finds the undead. The zombies kill him and the film cuts to a group of couples coming to stay at the castle. It's that fast.

Oh and everyone just happens to be horny at the start.

10 mins into the film we get the first sex scene where Michael (the son) peeks into. It is shot extremely weird, with a shadow getting bigger and bigger on a door till you see its him. The shot last a good minute which is way too long. Somethings happen happen and then another sex scene outside comes up. In the grass a zombie pops up from the ground, which is really cool. In fact not all but some of the zombies look really good. The makeup is pretty fantastic with maggots crawling all over. This really stands out in this film as the only good thing. I would like to note this happens about 20 mins into the film, so the film dives directly into zombies right away. Which I believe is do to the weak storyline, I guess they figured they needed to keep the viewers attention so they add two sex scenes and started the film with zombies. And it does work, it did on me.

But...
Lets be honest here the story goes nowhere and not much gets accomplished in the film.

Mark: "You're getting a raise out of me alright, but it has nothing to do with money".
Part 3: Peter Bark (The Son)

I wanted to talk about him. Really not sure how but his IMDB page had a very good-straight to the point Bio so lets use that.

Mini Biography

Peter Bark was a supremely creepy and unnerving Italian midget thespian who bore an uncanny resemblance to a diminutive Dario Argento. He was reportedly born in 1955. Peter achieved his greatest enduring schlock cinema cult popularity with his unforgettably freaky and disturbing portrayal of Michael, a bratty, annoying and unhinged little boy who has an unhealthy Oedipal and incestuous relationship with his overly doting mother in the deliciously cheesy Italian zombie splatter cult classic "Burial Ground." Alas, Bark's regrettably sparse other movie roles were uncredited bit parts and he subsequently never became the major celluloid star he deserved to be. However,
despite this unfortunate tragedy Peter Bark nonetheless remains a much beloved figure amongst hardcore aficionados of choice trashy early 80's Italian fright feature fare.
IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders

That really says it perfect!

Part 4: Son and Mother
1st Scene

After stopping a rush of zombies into the castle, Michael sits with his mother on a sofa. Michael and his mother begin to make out with the classic porn moaning this film seems to use a lot of. Michael starts to touch his mother on her chest and says how he misses her breast like when he was younger. He begins to put his hand up her dress. The mother finally snaps out of it and slaps him across the face. Michael then runs away saying,

Michael: [after making sexual advances on his mother] "What's wrong? I'm your son!"

He runs into Leslie, one of the girls who came to the house. She at this point is a zombie, clearly she is ( anyone with half a brain can see that) but Michael is so dumb he doesn't see it. Leslie gets closer and closer.

The film cuts to the remaining group of people which to me becomes a classic laughable moment in any zombie film. The group decides to let the zombies in because as they say, we can stay out of reach because they're slow.

Guess what was NOT a good idea?

2nd Scene

The mother finds Michael getting eaten by Leslie (No shit Michael couldn't tell?). She runs over to him and begins to cry, during this time Leslie the zombie sits there eating his flesh and not caring about her. First time I've seen a zombie gave up a juicy human.

We cut back to the group regretting the decision as they run away from the zombies.

3rd and most famous scene!

The group runs into the mother covered in blood crying about her son. A few more minutes go by in the film and the gang seems to run around in a circle, why they just don't take off is beyond me. They find a monastery near the castle and enter. And guess what, the monks are all...

Zombies!

Some leave and enter another damn building. This is where the movie ends. I will not tell you anything so you can watch it for yourself but it is stupid. Thou to end the Mother-Son weird relationship

Michael comes walking in. The mother runs toward her stupid zombie son. Everyone yells No he's dead! She apparently doesn't see it, like Mother like Son. She holds him rubbing up on him. She allows his hands to pull out her left breast. She says, "go ahead, just like when you where younger". He begins to suck on it, then bites down pulling the nipple off the breast!

Yeah some crazy shit.

Part 4: Wrap up.

This film is part of the many Sex/Zombie films that came out during this time. Mostly done by Italians, the voice dubbing is part of all the things that make these films funny. I think this is the very first "Smart zombie" films ever made. The zombies do work together and also use weapons. It's the reason, along with the famous mother and son scene, I picked this film. It's a staple in the history of Zombie films and one I think you should see. I mean if all the moaning they used for the women sound like someone having sex isn't enough, then what is anymore!!!