Buried Alive

Well after taking on a oil puking dragon I realized I haven't done a CIEIR in a while so I will not dissappoint.  This one I have personal history with as it was one of the few movies I have seen during my childhood.  Like most of them, it was in glimpses and in this case I seen a man who I would now know as Tim Matheson screaming in a coffin. That image plus the title of the movie burned into my head for a long time.  Very few people have heard of Buried Alive however it has had a great history behind the scenes.  It was directed by Frank Darabont who was famous for works such as adapting Three of Stephen Kings stories and just recently created The Walking Dead.  So he is no stranger to coffins.  It also had an all star cast ranging from Otter from Animal House (The Aforementioned Matheson above.), Jennifer Jason Leigh of Ridgmount High Fame,  Willam Atherton whom you may know as Dick Thornburg of Die Hard or Walter "Dickless" Peck of Ghostbusters fame. (With apologies to him in advance I am sure he is a nice guy and real life and probably sick of the dick jokes.) and The late Hoyt Axton whom I know from another movie I will get to soon, Gremlins. 

The story begins with Clint Goodman (Matheson), a contractor who seems to have a good life.  A man whom through years of hard work in both New York City and the unnamed small town he lives in now; earned him a house he built with his bare hands and a construction company. He is also good friends and fishing buddies with the local Sheriff Sam Eberly (Axton).  However not all is well in his little world as his ungrateful bit---- excuse me, his loving wife, Joanna is resentful to him constantly for the peaceful life they have now.....wait why is that a bad thing!?  Anyway to make matters even worse Joanna is having an affair with local Doctor Cort Van Owen (Atherton) Who convinces her to kill him via poisoning so they could collect not only his life insurance but as well as the right to sell his company for a 1.5 million dollars.  Joanna does the deed and Clint is killed. Huh give Peck some credit, at least he intentionally tried to kill somebody this time.  However due to her eagerness to leave the town, as well as collect the money, she makes sure they don't autopsy him.  This comes back to bite them for it turns out Clint survived his attempted poisoning and digs his way out.  Upon collecting himself and finding out what happened, Clint decides that instead of simply shooting her and Cort he decides to enact a complicated scheme to get even with his wive and her lover.

Now for the fun part, Could It Exist In Real Life?

First let's start with the poison.  The fish itself is not named, but the way Cort describes it is that it's both a delicacy but also deadly if not done right.  The only delicacy in the world that is known for that is Fugu, a Japanese delicacy derived from what is commonly known as the Puffer Fish. As pointed out, if not prepared right, the fish can poison the consumer and it is one of the most deadliest poisons in the world. One of which has no known cure.  While it has no cure it can be worn off given the right amount of time and dosage.  As proven when Joanna carelessly only put a small amount in Clints wine.  He suffered the symptoms and went into cardiac arrest. He was alive for now but just clinically dead and paralyzed.  But because of the small dosage it wore off the night he was buried.  How he came back to life is another story.

And this story is rather simple.  Studies have shown a rare phenomena known as the Lazarus Syndrome, in which a person who is clinically dead spontaneously comes back to life when the heart just starts beating through mysterious circumstances.  Many Doctors have tried to invoke the syndrome over the years through the use of Adrenaline shots and defibrillators.  To this day no one knows why LS even happens.

Last but not least there is the aspect of being Buried Alive.  According to  Todayiknow.com  a human being can survive 2 hours being buried alive in a coffin because of the Oxygen being stored so long as they don't panic.  The site also said that if one were buried alive in a cheap flimsy coffin, much like the water damaged one Clint was placed in.  They could easily break out of it.  However I must stress that you do not try this at home.  You could kill yourself.  I don't care if you are a licensed stunt guy or an illusionist or even if you are just some adrenaline junkie looking for the next extreme. DO NOT DO THIS STUPID THING!!! However if you do find yourself in a situation where you are buried alive, make sure you have a cellphone with a good battery and signal reach.  It could save your life.

As usual debate, argue and let me know what I miss.  Stay Tuned For More.