Dead & Buried
A sheriff investigates a string of brutal incidents in a coastal town where the dead do not stay dead for long. The film mixes eerie Americana, mystery plotting and mortuary horror into one of the most elegant and surprising genre pieces of the early 1980s.
Film details
| Original / alt title | Dead & Buried |
| Year | 1981 |
| Director | Gary Sherman |
| Country | USA |
| Runtime | Approx. 94 min |
| Main cast | James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Robert Englund |
UK status
Appeared on the DPP list but was later dropped.
Passed 18 uncut.
Why it caused controversy
UK censorship / Video Nasties history
A quick status check first, followed by the film’s censorship timeline. A DPP prosecution was an obscenity case against a particular video publication — it was not automatically the same thing as a permanent nationwide “ban”.
Detailed censorship timeline & facts
FACTS & TRIVIA
- The screenplay is credited to Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon, key genre writers of the period.
- Stan Winston provided special makeup effects.
- Jack Albertson gives the film a memorable performance in one of its most important roles.
- Robert Englund appears before A Nightmare on Elm Street made him world-famous.
- The film is often praised for disguising its mystery while sustaining a dreamlike small-town mood.
- Many modern viewers discover it as a hidden gem rather than through censorship history.
- Its tone is more eerie and atmospheric than exploitative, which makes it stand out in the archive.
Distributor / VHS label
Archive cover shown is the user-supplied scan. UK distributor / VHS-label attribution varies by edition and is not asserted here without a verified sleeve imprint.
Trailer
Open a search for the original theatrical / VHS-era trailer. This keeps the archive linking to publicly available trailer sources rather than hosting copyrighted film footage.
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