When I first heard about the movie BURIED, written by Chris Sparling, the concept blew me away. An American imprisoned by Iraqi terrorists, attempting to escape from a buried coffin. It would still be impressive if this movie cut away in flashbacks like 127 HOURS, but it doesn’t. The full 90 minutes are in the coffin—no cutaways! We are in there, buried, with him. It’s the ultimate contained thriller. I wondered how the hell the director could pull it off. How would you maintain tension for 90 minutes? How the heck would you have enough story to make it work?
Let’s have a look at the script…
INT. UNKNOWN ROOM – NIGHT
Darkness. Silence. After a long beat, we hear movement, confined and contained.
We then hear the sound of a man, PAUL CONROY, groaning, making confused attempts at words. We hear his movement; short, abrupt shifting, ending almost immediately with the sound of his body banging against wood.
He groans, pained from a head injury. His mouth is muzzled, his hands tied. After attempting to sit up, he immediately bangs his head against something. It’s terribly warm and his breaths are labored.
Something is very wrong, and he doesn’t need to see to know that.
With great difficulty, and while still sitting in complete darkness, Paul soon wriggles his hands free and removes the muzzle from his mouth.
He attempts to move to his left and right, only to find that he is confined on those sides, as well. He frantically shifts about, only to discover, by touch, that he is encased in something.
PAUL: What…? What is this?
His words become almost unintelligible as he flails about, though fear is understood in his every utterance.
After a beat, he lights his Zippo cigarette lighter.
We see that he is lying in an old fashioned, wooden coffin. Realizing the same, Paul is struck by an overwhelming, instant panic.
He screams aloud, but his voice is captured by the coffin walls.
PAUL: Oh my God! Help me!! Help me!!
In-credible concept! Talk about the first page selling the script! Dude is buried, air running out, phone battery running out, Iraqi’s want a million dollar ransom and he desperately tries to find help before his oxygen gives out.
The following scene are his Iraqi torturer’s attempting to get him to make a propaganda video, threatening the life of his co-worker:
Several seconds later, the picture downloads and an image appears on the display of Paul’s cell phone. It’s of a woman- bound and gagged, a gun pressed against the side of her head.
PAUL: Oh no. No, no, no!
Paul frantically dials the number to reach Jabir. As soon as the phone connects, Paul frantically begins his plea.
JABIR: Video make?
PAUL: Let her go. Please. Please don’t hurt her.
The Woman is heard in the background of Jabir’s phone, crying muffled words through her muzzled mouth.
JABIR: We shoot her if you no make video.
PAUL: No! No, please no shoot. No shoot her.
JABIR: You get money. American million.
PAUL: I will, I promise. Just don’t shoot her. She’s a mother, she’s got two kids.
JABIR: Two kids?
PAUL: Yes. She has two kids.
JABIR: I have five. Now only two. You make video. Now!!
PAUL: Wait…
JABIR: No wait!! I give three seconds.
PAUL: I can’t read the paper.
JABIR: Three…
PAUL: No. Wait!
JABIR: Two…
PAUL: I don’t know what you want me to say!
JABIR: One.
PAUL: Okay! Okay, I’ll make the video. Just, please, don’t shoot.
Jabir does not fire his gun. Paul attempts to catch his breath.
JABIR: You have three minutes to send video.
Jabir hangs up, ending the call. Paul reaches for the balled-up piece of paper that has the ransom script written on it. It takes some trouble for him to grab it, but he is soon able to. Placing the glow-stick next to the paper…
He presses the record button.
PAUL (speaking at the phone): My name is Paul Conroy. I’m an American citizen from Hastings, Michigan. I’m a civilian truck driver for Crestin, Roland and Thomas. I’ve been taken hostage somewhere in Iraq…and I need one million dollars by nine o’clock tonight, Baghdad time, or else I’ll be left to die in this coffin I’m buried in. I’ve been told that if the money is paid, I will be let go. If it’s not, I will die in here. These threats are real and will be followed through on.
One million by 9 o’clock or he’ll be left to die in the coffin. SERIES ticking clock, trapped in a small space, facing sure death…this is the formula for contained thrillers from Lifeboat to the more recent Speed or Panic Room or 127 Hours.
Here’s a passage that illustrates the Spielberg Principle of Action: Action conflict = a series or progression of smaller conflicts. Hero runs and runs from a giant boulder, leaps for a rope, can’t reach it, leaps, can’t reach it, boulder about to crush him, leaps and grabs it, the boulder rushing by, lifting himself up to find…a pit of snakes! Hero is in the middle of a pit of snakes!
In this case, it’s fire ants and fire…
INT. COFFIN – LATER
Darkness once again. Paul slowly awakens. He feels pain, piercing his skin. He screams and writhes around, slapping his own body like a madman.
This continues in darkness until he finally lights his Zippo lighter, seeing that his body is covered by dozens of fire ants. The ants through climb en masse through the space between the coffin walls and its cover, all making their way toward him.
Paul wantonly swats at the ants, scraping them off himself as he does.
We see that he inadvertently knocks the cell phone down toward his feet as he tussles about.
He then unscrews his flask and dumps its contents onto the area from which the ants are invading. It seems to divert them. Paul places the alcohol flask on the ground, but does not screw the cap on very securely. He then lights the candle and places it on the floor of the coffin. With the fire ant situation seemingly handled, Paul takes a moment to feel around his body for any that may be remaining. Save for the many red bite marks scattered around his face and neck, he is okay.
It’s then that Paul thinks of something. He looks for the phone, but he does not see it anywhere near him. He then sees that it is near his feet.
He makes several attempts to grab the phone with his feet, but he is unable to do so.
His next efforts involve repositioning himself in the coffin so that he completely turns to face the opposite end. Struggling through each move, Paul painstakingly begins to turn himself. While turning, however, he unintentionally kicks over the candle and flask.
Unbeknownst to him, a small stream of alcohol slowly makes its way from the flask and toward the flame of the candle, threatening to set the coffin ablaze. Inch by inch, the flammable spirit gets closer.
Still in the midst of his attempt at turning his body position around, Paul looks back and sees the alcohol nearing the flame. In a panic, he attempts to reach over and move the candle. But, because he was still midway through his repositioning, he now finds himself stuck in the middle of the coffin. He can’t budge either way.
Desperately straining every muscle in his body, he extends his arm backward toward the candle, hoping to move it away from the spilled alcohol. He still can’t reach it, yet he tries with all his might.
He tries blowing at the candle, but his head is too far away and his breath is not strong enough to do much more than cause the candle to flicker.
With the alcohol now mere inches away from the flame, Paul reaches for his shoe. His odd positioning makes reaching his foot almost impossible. He struggles to undo the laces and remove it from his foot.
With his face beet red from the force of his strain, Paul finally removes his shoe and throws it blindly behind himself. The trail of alcohol is just about to come into contact with the flame. Fortunately, the shoe bounces off the side of the coffin and knocks over the candle, knocking out the flame in the process.
Paul breaths an enormous sigh of relief as he sits in darkness.
Last but not least, the crushing final scene and twist. Spoiler alert!: Don’t read this if you haven’t seen the movie. Pretty devastating ending:
We hear Dan yelling to people who are with him. A great deal of commotion and action is heard through the phone.
DAN: Move! Move! Let’s go.
PAUL: Brenner?
DAN: Paul? Paul?
PAUL: It’s me.
DAN: We’re here!
Dan yells to one of the soldiers who are with him.
DAN (CONT’D): Corporal, get your men over here!
Dan gets back on the phone with Paul
DAN (CONT’D): He brought us right to you. (to the soldiers) Start digging! Let’s go, let’s go!
Meanwhile, the sand inside the coffin has almost reached the very top. It continues to pour in from the crack, seemingly faster than ever.
Paul struggles to keep his head above the sand, giving him only a few inches between his face and the top of the coffin.
PAUL: You have to hurry. It’s almost full.
DAN: Just hang in there!
PAUL: Hurry! Please!
DAN(to the soldiers) Dig! Dig! Dig!
Paul fights to keep his head above the sand.
PAUL: I can’t…are you close?
DAN: We’re almost there, Paul. We’re almost there! (to the soldiers) Faster! (to Paul) We’re almost there. We’re right above you.
The level of sand grows even higher. Paul spits away falling sand that threatens to suffocate him.
PAUL: I can’t hear you! Where are you?
DAN: We’re almost there.
A SOLDIER is heard OFF-SCREEN in the b.g. of Dan’s phone.
SOLDIER (O.S.)There it is!
DAN(to the soldiers) Keep digging!!
PAUL: Hurry! Please!!!
DAN: We see the coffin! Just hang in there!!
Paul coughs out sand. He has a mere inch left above his head. The flame of the candle is extinguished by the falling sand.
PAUL: Hurry! Where are you? I don’t hear you? Please hurry!!!
The Soldier is again heard OFF-SCREEN in the b.g. Of Dan’s phone.
SOLDIER: It’s clear!
DAN(to the soldier) Open it!
They open the coffin and find a man– but it’s not Dan. Wrong coffin! Crusher! Incredibly impressive movie.
