Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

This week I was in the mood for something different and chose a zombie movie with a lot of titles. The one IMDB uses is:

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974).

It is also known as The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (misleading title), Don't Open the Window (fair enough but pointless title) and Don't Disturb the Sleeping Dead (spot on).

This Spanish-Italian production was shot in Italy and England and directed by Jorge Grau, with an international cast of whom most are Italian.

Minor Spoilers ahead!

A young antique dealer, George, closes up his shop and heads north. While stopping for gas, a young woman, Edna, accidentally rams his motorcycle and bends the wheel. As a way to make amends she agrees to take him to his location as she is on her way to visit her sister. They are soon lost and stop for directions and while George is talking to a farmer, a zombie attacks Edna. Some scientists are busy on the farmers field testing a new machine that uses some kind of radiation waves to eliminate pests and the movie makes no attempts to hide that this machine is indeed the reason why the dead are waking back up with murder in their red pitiless eyes. What follows is a desperate struggle for George and Edna to not only survive but to put a stop to the horror. A task made extra difficult since the police, led by an old fashioned sergeant is convinced that George and Edna, fueled by drugs and satanism are the murderers.

Synopsis and Spoilers over.

I have in my time seen more than my fair share of zombie movies. From the stars of the genre like Dawn of the Dead (Original and remake), to obscure low budget flicks I can't even remember the names of. But what I haven't seen before is a movie quite like Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. It almost achieves an intimate Hammer Horror feel while still using all the grisly gore only a group of hungry zombies can achieve.

The actors are all good, the plot is good and the atmosphere is a cut above what many can do. The soundtrack or should I say soundscape is great but grating on headphone users. It is hard to describe, maybe electronic whine is correct, but it did make my ears hurt after a while. That said, I wouldn't be without it either as it fits perfectly with the scientific resurrection of the dead and the dread of new, poorly tested technology .

In fact, the only thing I really disliked is the police sergeant. He is completely unprofessional, and lets his prejudices lead him around instead of actually doing his job. Now, I'm sure this is the intent of both script and director, but he goes too far and becomes more of a caricature of the conservative bully snarling at everything he sees as the moral decay of society, like men with long hair. Still, since the character fit the movie well enough, is it worth complaining about?

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, to horror fans I do. It is solidly a 70's horror movie so if that isn't your cup of tea, move along, but for everything else... It's not quite a must see, but not far from it. All in all I really liked Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. Non horror fans should give it a wide berth though. There is nothing there for you.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have great week!

 

The Return of the Living Dead

Last week I talked about The Blob, and I hinted at another 80's horror classic. Well here we are, and today's topic is the original The Return of the Living Dead and it's two sequels. I learned that there are a couple of new additions to the franchise made in 2005, but I have never seen them, so I'm ignoring them.

The original TRotLD was created as a homage/sequel/spoof of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, but when they wrote the script, back in the seventies, they didn't know that Romero was in fact already working on his own sequel, Dawn of the Dead. That's why he didn't want to direct TRotLD.

In fact, the story uses Night of the Living Dead as a plot point, stating that the film was based on a real event, and that's why zombies are real.

The common thread of the trilogy is that a chemical, 2-4-5 Trioxin, can resurrect the dead. It can also turn living people into zombies if they inhale it. The zombies, however, are pretty interesting from a horror history point of view. As far as I can tell, this is where the idea that zombies shamble around and moan “Brains” comes from. In previous movies, including Romero's classic, the undead said nothing and ate everything, particularly the entrails. In TRotLD they only really care about brains. Whats also noteworthy, is the fact that the zombies can both talk and use tools if they choose to. Further more, a shot to the head is not guaranteed to put them down.

The first TRotLD (1985), is a horror comedy. It's silly and messy, but it has fun with itself, and that's important, as it adds a certain charm to the movie. I can't talk about the plot too much,without running into spoiler territory, suffice to say that the chemical is accidentally released and the dead rise. Chaos follows. All things considered, this is actually a good movie.

TRotLD 2 (1988), is a bit unbalanced. It's more of a comedy than the original, and in my opinion it tries too hard and fails a bit to deliver. It both follows and ignores to first film, which is weird. But it's biggest flaw, is one of the main characters: Jesse. He is the typical 80's heroic know-it-all kid, and man is he annoying. Further more, where the first film's characters weren't exactly amazing, they had personalities. Here they are completely one dimensional, to the point of being suicidally dumb. It also recycles jokes from the original, but without updating them. It's more of a “Hey, here's that joke you liked again. Isn't it funny?” No, it isn't. It's almost as if it tries to be mainstream and kid friendly. But it's still a bloody zombie film. Good choice.

If you're only going to watch one entry in the franchise, watch the original and skip this.

TRotLD 3 (1993) is a very different creature from it's predecessors. There is no comedy to be seen here. It's a dark, cruel horror piece, through and through. It has more in common with Resident Evil or 28 Days Later than its own franchise. Again, I won't spoil anything, just be warned that it's nothing like what came before.

For me, it's a bit of a mixed bag. It has it's moments, but it's not terribly good.

Ultimately, The Return of the Living Dead can stand tall as a formative part of Horror Cinema. All the movies have moments that make you face palm in disbelief over how stupid some characters are, but in the end it's definitely worth it. If you are a horror fan, and you haven't seen these, correct that oversight at the first possible opportunity.

That's that. Until next time, have a great week and stay away from zombies and weird military containers.

Zombie Fairy Tales

A couple of weeks ago, BookBub informed me that a book called Zombie Fairy Tales: TheComplete Collection was on sale.

My first reaction was: Really, it's zombie fairy tales now? But I also remembered how much I enjoyed both Pride, Prejudice & Zombies, as well as it's prequel Dawn of the Dreadfuls. So I decided that a dollar wasn't too much of gamble and I picked it up.

I can without hyperbole state that it is a fantastic book, really amazing. Kevin Richey has done an incredible job seamlessly weaving together all the different fairy tales into one open, shared world and then unleashing the zombies in the mix.

I'm by no means a stranger to zombie fiction, but I found things in this book that were new and interesting to me. What really caught my fancy though, was how so many of these over-familiar stories like Cinderella, Pinocchio, Red Riding Hood, Beauty and The Beast etc. are combined with characters like Bluebeard, The Headless Horseman and Countess Bathory, and it just works. Then when you add zombies and plague to the mix, all hell breaks loose.

When I say all hell, I truly mean it. This is the goriest book I've read in years. Even though it doesn't dwell too much on the grisly carnage, there's something gruesome on almost every page. If that's a problem for you, stay far away from Zombie Fairy Tales.

But to be fair, the gore is necessary. If Mr. Richey had left it out, the book would have been too dry and dull. Besides, the original versions of the classic fairy tales were brutal, sometimes in the extreme.

The way in which all these characters live (and die) in one shared world is wonderful. This means that as the book progresses, the story becomes more convoluted without ever becoming complicated. Each chapter is sort of stand alone, but most characters show up more frequently as the book continues, but never just for show. There's always a reason.

I really can't explain too much more without running into spoiler territory, but if any of what I just said sounds interesting, please read this book. You won't be sorry.

That's all he wrote for this time, so until we see each other again, have a great week!