It’s still controversial to call Lucio Fulci a
genius. Despite contributions such as ‘The Beyond’, Fulci’s work is rather uneven,
and many consider him to be nothing more that a cheap schlock merchant.
While overrated hacks may have their admirers, no one emulates a talentless man. In
its own putrid way, 'Burial Ground' may be the ultimate testament to
Fulci’s gift. Director Andrea Bianchi desperately wanted to be Fulci. Unfortunately, no
wait, fortunately, he never made it to the big time, and save for this film his
cannon seems to consist entirely of cheap soft core porn. Actually, I might as
well scratch the “save for this film” line. Heavy nudity or not, this is one of
the sleaziest pieces of garbage I’ve ever seen. Hell, garage-shot pornography
might be morally uplifting after viewing this thing.
Plot and character are virtually non-existent, and what is there
is damn repellant. Mostly, the whole screenplay is just a pitiful framework to hang cheap
set pieces on. (Including a DIRECT plagiarization
of Fulci’s eyeball
scene from ‘Zombie’) Then of course, there is the character of the hideous
oedipal gnome Michael. The less said about him the better, so let me just add
that the little turd could not have been conceived by a healthy mind. The writer
and director obviously had some disgusting ‘Silence of the Lambs’ type
misogynistic sexual maladjustment.
Since this film is just basically 90 minutes of dopes running away
from zombies, let's cut to the only thing that matters, the gore and special
effects. Well the effects in this film seemed to have cost, in total, 49 cents.
Thankfully, since the film was lit with what appear to be birthday cake candles
the director found in his kitchen drawer, your eyes aren’t all that assailed by
the ass-crapery! Save for perhaps one or two instances of actual effective
makeup jobs, the zombies all seem to be wearing one of three styles of mask, all
of which are ill-fitting and tied in a knot at the back! Oh yes, there’s
unconvincing exploding papier-m