Dead and Buried

Establishing shots of a bleak, colourless Atlantic seaboard fishing town, and the presence of Alien scriptwriter Dan O'Bannon on the credits, combine to make one expect a more adult-aimed variation on Carpenter's The Fog. Unfortunately a series of progressively grisly murders intervenes, suggesting a mere overtime-earner for the chaps at SFX; but after some irritating meanderings, the film picks up momentum and, via a splendidly staged confrontation in a Mabuse-style lab, progresses to a 'surprise' climax which, even if anticipated, must still rank a close second to the false ending of Carrie. Gruesome almost to a fault, but not quite, it emerges as an efficient shocker.