DVD Reviews

Drive-In Discs Vol. 3: I Bury The Living/The Hand

Elite Entertainment has dusted off some of those old black and white "B" movies and re-creates an evening at the drive-in with this series of DVDs.

It's not just the movies that made it the drive-in fun but the atmosphere that included the food and bonus features that made it a whole night's worth of entertainment.

Feature #1: I Bury The Living is where a newly appointed cemetery chairman discovers that by inserting a black pin into a wall-sized map of the cemetery, he can cause the deaths of the plot's owner.

Feature #2: The Hand starts off during World War II, where British soldiers are captured by the Japanese and tortured. This is followed by their hands being cut off. Years later, a killer terrorizes London by cutting the hands off his victims.

The movies themselves are about average for the time as far as entertainment value is considered, but the whole drive-in atmosphere created on the DVD is worth the price of admission alone.

The DVD runs like a drive-in program. You are treated to advertisements, previews and short subjects (Gumby!) before the first main feature, I Bury The Living. Then there's an intermission. At this point, you are urged to go to the concession stand to get something to eat. This is followed by more ads for the drive-in, another short and a movie preview. The second feature, The Hand, immediately starts to play afterwards.

The content, including both movie and extras has been enhanced for 16X9 TVs and the picture quality varies. Both of the movies have been in the public domain for so long that not much has been done as far as remastering them. The prints are quite faded and damaged. The extras look a lot better as most of them are in color.

A cool feature called "Distorto" sound has also been included on the DVD. The soundtrack to the movie is only sent to the front left channel while other sounds emanate from the remaining channels including engines running, crickets chirping and background chatter. The original soundtrack minus the background noises is also included.

This is a fun two and half-hours or so of nostalgic madness and is sure to bring back some memories. Check out these discs if you have a chance and head back to the drive-in all over again.

Review By Harley Solomon