MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: BURIAL GROUND (1980) (Severin Films 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Review)

BURIAL GROUND (1980)

Label: Severin Films

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 85 Minutes 13 Seconds

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono, Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.66:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)

Director: Andrea Bianchi

Cast: Mariangela Giordano. Peter Bark, Karin Well, Simone Matioli, Roberto Caporali, Antoinette Antinori, Raimondo Barbieri, Gian Luigi Chirizzi

Italian sleaze maestro Andrea Bianchi (Strip Nude For Your Killer) directed this notorious sex-drizzled gutmuncher, one of numerous post Dawn of the Dead Italian zombie flicks following Lucio Fulci's Zombie, this one most notorious for a particularly wild incestuous tit-chomping scene. aIt takes place an a countryside estate where a professor of archaeology (Raimondo Barbieri, Sono fotogenico) is excavating an Etruscan tomb on the property when he unintentionally unleashes a horde of undead zombies who spill forth from the subterranean catacombs. Meanwhile, three couples newly arrived at the mansion for a weekend getaway are quite unaware of the impending doom; among them we have couples Janet (Karin Well, Countdown to Esmeralda Bay) and Mark (Gian Luigi Chirizzi, The Nun and the Devil), Leslie (Antonella Antinori, Maya) and James (Simone Mattioli, The Other Hell), Evelyn (Mariangela Giordano, Patrick Still Lives) and George (Roberto Caporali, Brothers Till We Die), and Evelyn's creepy twelve year old son, Michael, played by the odd-looking 20-something Peter Bark.

The frisky couples engage in a day of relaxation, good food and satisfying sexual activity on the mansion grounds, though Evelyn's son is none too pleased with his mother's romantic endeavors, creepily so, for it seems this mother/son are bit too familiar with one another. It's not long before the couples find themselves amidst a Estrucean zombie onslaught, with the flesh-ripping, gut-chomping, tool using undead laying siege to the mansion. The undead here use scythes and battering rams, and team-up and work together to get at the living, who are holed up in the mansion.

The Etruscan zombies here are pretty obviously influenced by Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979), they're clay faced and dripping with maggots and worms, even some of the kills are straight from the Zombie playbook, including a Fulci-esque eye-trauma gag involving a shard of glass. Not all the gut-munching carnage is staged all that well though, but it's still quite a tasty ‘80s splatter platter, enhanced with a musty atmosphere of death and horny houseguests, with a moody mixed score from Elsio Mancuso (Django the Bastard) and Berto Pisano (Strip Nude for Your Killer).

Burial Ground might not be top-tier cinema but it is a wonderfully trashy and lunatic undead flick chock full of bloody 80's gore, nudity, and some shocking moments of incestual mother/son bonding, and at just 85-minutes long it's fast-moving, and never falls into a lull.

Audio/Video: Burial Ground (1980) arrives on region-free 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from Severin Films in 2160p UHD widescreen (1.66:1) with Dolby Vision/HDR10 color-grading. The source is in great shape, or at least has been restored to that state, with better depth and clarity throughout. I do believe this was originally shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm, so the grain is naturally coarse looking and finer details can be a bit fuzzy, but the 4K image has very nice texturing throughout. Colors are also very pleasing, while this is a very earth-toned production primaries look great, the greens of the forest and grass stand out, and when the gut-munching starts the blood and guts have a nice vibrancy to them. The black levels are deep and inky with terrific contrast.

Audio comes by way of English or Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The tracks are clean and free of distortion, the screams, gut-munching and score are well-balanced and sound terrific. I preferred the English track just because that's how I have always watched this movie, but the Italian track is solid as well.

Extras on the UHD include an Audio Commentary With Critics Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth And Eugenio Ercolani; a second Audio Commentary With Italian Cinema Experts Calum Waddell And John Martin, plus the 4-min Theatrical Trailer. The Blu-ray features those three extras, plus the 16-min Villa Parisi: Legacy Of Terror – Location Featurette, a terrific featurette exploring the many films and TV projects shot there, including Nightmare Castle, Beyond The Darkness, Bay Of Blood, Hatchet For The Honeymoon, Blood For Dracula, and Patrick Still Lives. In the 14-min Return To The Burial Ground – Interview With Actor Peter Bark At Villa Parisi feature the actor at the infamous locations talking about the making of the movie; 8-min Peter Still Lives – Festival Q&A With Peter Bark is a fun Q&A where he talks about the infamous nipple-biting scenes, and features a clip of him disco dancing, 9-min Just For The Money – Interview With Actor Simone Mattioli who talks about the making of the film, fond memories of working with bark, and how he accepted the role just for the money, and how one of the effects crew were later convicted of murder; 9-min The Smell Of Death – Interviews With Producer Gabriele Crisanti And Actress Mariangela Giordano; both talk about the film, making it, notes about casting and Giordano noting how peculiar Bark's face was but that he was good in the role. Disc extras are buttoned-up with 10-min of Deleted/Extended Material which do not have dialogue but are accompanied by score.

The 2-disc UHD/BD release arrives in a dual-hubbed black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster, which honestly I have never been a fan of, but thankfully I am a fan of the artwork used for the Limited Edition Slipcover, which looks great, and has embossed title lettering on the front and both spines.

Special Features:
Disc 1: UHD
- Audio Commentary With Critics Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth And Eugenio Ercolani
- Audio Commentary With Italian Cinema Experts Calum Waddell And John Martin
- Theatrical Trailer (3:44)
Disc 2: Blu-ray
- Audio Commentary With Critics Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth And Eugenio Ercolani
- Audio Commentary With Italian Cinema Experts Calum Waddell And John Martin
- Villa Parisi: Legacy Of Terror – Location Featurette (15:47)
- Return To The Burial Ground – Interview With Actor Peter Bark At Villa Parisi (13:50)
- Peter Still Lives – Festival Q&A With Peter Bark (7:56)
- Just For The Money – Interview With Actor Simone Mattioli (8:59)
- The Smell Of Death – Interviews With Producer Gabriele Crisanti And Actress Mariangela Giordano (9:22)
- Deleted/Extended Material (10:24)
- Theatrical Trailer (3:44)

Severin's UHD of Burial Ground (1980) is fantastic, easily the best this sex-drizzled, gory undead flick has ever looked on home video, plus it's chock full of tasty extras, making it a must-own 4K upgrade of this sleazy Italian zombie flick.

Screenshots from the Severin Films Blu-ray: