I BURY THE LIVING (1958)

I liked this movie until the final scene.

Richard Boone stars as Robert Kraft, the newly appointed director of Immortal Hills cemetery. Quite by accident, Kraft learns that arbitrarily changing the status of plots from empty to occupied on the graveyard's map causes the plots' owners to die within minutes.  It later occurs to him that changing the status of plots from occupied to empty will bring the deceased occupants back to life.

In the original script, the dead folks do not appreciate being roused from their eternal sleep. They surround Kraft's office but rather than storming it, wait patiently outside for his exit. Kraft is so terrified, he has a heart attack and dies. The closing shot depicted him joining the zombies outside as Kraft was now one of them.

But the film doesn't end that way. Instead, we get a ridiculous conclusion with a non-supernatural explanation of the eerie events at the cemetery. It's a contrived cop-out that ruins what had been an effective psychological thriller with decent performances, stunning visuals, and plenty of atmosphere. I don't know why they changed the ending, but it was a very bad move.

Another problem is that even at 77 minutes, the film too long. There are numerous talky scenes of Kraft desperately trying to convince his colleagues, and later the police, of his newfound ability. I BURY THE LIVING might have worked better as a half-hour episode of The Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Item: Theodore Bikel co-stars Andy McKee, the cemetery's caretaker of 40 years. With his good-natured optimism, Andy is the Yang to Kraft's Yin.

Item: The maps keeps growing in size, symbolizing Kraft's all-consuming obsession with it.

Item: Director Albert Band was the father of Charles Band, founder and president of Full Moon Pictures.