Buried Alive is a 1990 American made-for-television horror thriller film directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Atherton and Hoyt Axton. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and has often been overlooked in Darabont's directorial catalogue due to the success of his later films. Plot Clint Goodman is a successful contractor who lives with his wife Joanna. Joanna has been having an affair with local doctor Cortland van Owen. They conspire to kill Clint and sell his company and house, to move to Beverly Hills and buy a clinic. Cortland gives Joanna poison, taken from a tropical fish. While having dinner with Clint, Joanna begins to have a change of heart but still spikes his wine with some of the poison. After drinking the poisoned wine, Clint has a heart attack and seems to die, but while his body is at the morgue, he shows signs of life. However, Joanna instructs that Clint be given a quick funeral, skipping the embalming process and choosing a cheap, water-damaged casket for him. Clint, surviving the diluted poisoning, wakes up, buried alive. After breaking through the coffin and escaping his grave, he returns to his house and learns the truth about his wife and Cortland. He hides in the basement to recuperate and overhears that Joanna was pregnant, and that she and Cortland had his child aborted secretly. The next morning, Clint's friend Sheriff Sam Eberly discovers that Clint's grave has been disturbed and the body is missing. Joanna finds the home's bathroom floor covered with mud. She frantically calls Cortland but gets his answering machine. She is startled by Clint's dog, Duke. Just as she's about to shoot the dog, Clint, disguised in a welding mask, appears from behind the open basement door. Surprised, Joanna falls in the basement, knocking herself unconscious, and Clint locks her inside. Meanwhile, Cortland loads a syringe with more fish poison. Arriving at Clint's house, he is unable to locate Joanna but finds the money in a suitcase on the bed, which he takes. Searching for Joanna, Cortland enters the basement. Believing Cortland to be the masked figure, Joanna knocks him unconscious, causing him to drop the syringe. She then takes the money and tries to escape, but Clint locks them both inside. As Cortland regains consciousness, Joanna realizes her mistake. In the house, Clint knocks out walls and moves furniture