This DVD collects the entire run of webisodes that appeared on FearNet into this short film. The story behind the film may well be more entertaining than the result. This film suffers the same shortcomings of another such experiment that I reviewed earlier.
Five teens, Rick (Bram Hoover), Curtis (J.R. May), Wylie (Natalie Wachen), Becca (Greyson Chadwick), and Sage (Nikki McKenzie), are kidnapped by an unknown assailant and when they awaken they’ve been put in five coffin-sized boxes and appear to be buried alive.
In each coffin are objects that give clues to their assailant’s identity as well allow some of them to communicate with another victim. Meanwhile, Sage’s girlfriend Melanie (Brit Morgan) and Melanie’s brother Travis (Jeff Blum) are attempting to find Sage as well as the others.
It seems the kidnapper has set up a website with live feeds of each of his victims and is in email contact with Melanie via Sage’s cell phone taunting her to find Sage before it’s too late. It seems that our five kids tormented another kid named Tommy (Augusto Aguilar) and all of this is tied to those past events.
Buried Alive was Sony’s foray into original content for the web. The show was on sites like FearNet, YouTube, etc. in short episodes. The episodes have been edited together to form this 65-minute film.
A similar experiment was attempted with a film called “When Evil Calls” from the UK that was made to be delivered to your cell phone. On the small screen or web, the episodic nature of the product might not be so obvious but when it’s all edited together the seams start to show.
My main problem with Buried Alive was that the mystery wasn’t really too hard to figure out. It’s not that you’ve got a lot of choices when it comes to whom the killer really is. I’ve never really gotten into webcasting and don’t really understand the thrills of filming your every move and thought and posting it online.
The conceit seems to be a bit much as Melanie stares goofily into her webcam and babbles on about how she needs to find Sage. The acting is so-so, with Melanie being the worst offender as she and her brother go “Scooby Doo” to try and solve the mystery by themselves – jinkies!
Each of our victims has an elaborate way that they’ll me their fate. It appears that clues were hidden throughout the webisodes that lead to a more interactive experience online and this is lost when the object is to set down and watch the film.
Buried Alive is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary with producer Jay Michael, director Paul Etheridge, Brit Morgan, and Jeff Blum. There are also 23 minutes of deleted scenes and the 27-minute “Making Buried Alive.” Finally there are previews for other Sony DVDs.
Buried Alive is a more successful experiment than When Evil Calls in that it relies more on suspense than the goofball comedy of the other film. There is some suspense but the editing together of the webisodes tends to make it obvious and predictable. Even so it may offer some entertainment value.
Buried Alive is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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