“The Burial” Movie Review

 

“The Burial”

Movie Review

 

The Burial, a 2023 film written and directed by Michael Escalante with Faith Kearns, Aaron Pyle, Vernon Taylor, and Spencer Weitzel, with the following plot: A guy is shown crying alone in the opening scene of The Burial, with a weapon prominently displayed in front of the camera. You anticipate seeing a body or someone reaching for a weapon when the camera pans down. Instead, it gets closer to him and we can see that he is holding his phone.

 

The scene switches to an apartment where Brian (Vernon Taylor) and Molly (Faith Kearns) are having breakfast when a phone call comes through. Molly can't help but follow, eavesdrop, and ask who it was when Brian goes to another room to answer it. That was the man we first saw in the opening scene—his estranged brother Keith, who is portrayed by Spencer Weitzel. Brian must see him immediately and unaccompanied. Naturally, Molly insists Brian bring her along as well.

 

The Burial's first act aggressively plays up the unhealthy relationship feelings. What stood out between Keith and his family members? Why does he now require his brother's assistance? Does Molly have cause to believe Brian is being unfaithful if she is watching his every step with such vigilance? Is she just a control freak or is she paranoid?

With the extremely low budget of the movie, the director's only real tools are questions and suspicions, which he skillfully employs to keep the audience engaged. Now that some of the questions have been addressed, more continue to arise. And when we learn the reason Keith called, which ought to be The Burial's most crucial question, that merely raises more inquiries.

As befits a movie called The Burial, Keith has shot Lenny and wants to assist with the body's disposal. Nevertheless, as the brothers dispute, the body begins to move and eventually attacks Keith. Brian intervenes by hitting the creature in the head with a rock. From this point on, things only get trickier with signs that something supernatural might be at play. especially when Lenny resurfaces alive and exhibits a wealth of knowledge that he shouldn't. All four members of the cast give standout performances. Yet what really elevates The Burial and keeps our attention while Lenny sits telling what initially seems to be a meaningless, rambling story is Pyle's terrifying acting. Is he a ghost seeking vengeance, the kind of highly resilient psychopath for which the genre is renowned, or is he something else from the afterlife? Okay, so it might not be that difficult to guess, but he sells the uncertainty up until the point where the reveal is necessary for the plot. And if anyone survives, that results in a very tense final scene.

With the possible exception of a few of the outside night sequences that are so dark that nothing can be seen, The Burial looks and sounds fantastic. Give due credit to the film's basic yet eerie score, which was written by the same filmmaker with the help of the cinematographer Sean E. Zilke and the actress Ashlee Vaughn. The Burial has seen far too many movies with comparable budgets and stories that couldn't get past their constraints.

WATCH THE REVIEW VIDEO FOR MORE...