Jorge Grau's zombie masterpiece. Starring: Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy and Cristina Galbó. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie has a whole host of alternative titles including:The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
Don't Open the Window
The Living Dead
Breakfast at Manchester Morgue
Breakfast with the Dead
Brunch with the Dead
Weekend with the Dead
Invasion der Zombies
Da dove vieni?
Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti
No profanar el sueño de los muertos
Non profanare il sonno dei morti
Das Leichenhaus der Lebenden Toten
Levende Doden in het Lijkenhuis
Massacre des Morts-Vivants
Dejen que los Muertos Duerman
Zombi 3 - Da dove vieni?
Fin de semana para los muertos (shooting title)
The film opens with George (Lovelock), an antique dealer shutting up shop and setting off on a trip to the Peak District for the weekend. Cruising through the inner city streets on his motorcycle, a sequence which demonstrates Grau's underlying subtext regarding the effects of pollution, something which becomes increasingly prominent throughout the story. He makes a brief pit stop at a petrol station, unfortunately his motorcycle gets damaged by Edna (Galbó) accidentally reversing her Mini in to it. Edna is on her way to visit her troubled sister. George acting like a complete jerk somehow manages to persuade Edna in to giving him a lift to his destination, or rather he ends up driving and she sits nervously in the passenger seat. Forming an unlikely duo they set off bladdering through the countryside in a Mini Cooper.
Stopping to ask for directions George encounters a group of scientists testing out an experimental agricultural machine designed to kill insects using ultrasonic radiation. Unbeknown to them it also causes the deceased to rise up and roam around, soon enough Edna is attacked by the freshly reanimated town drunk. The sequence is overtly atmospheric, built through the use of photography and backed by an eerie soundtrack, something that reoccurs whenever a zombie is present on-screen. I also love the contact lenses used for the zombie's eyes. Shaken, she tells George what happened who denies any possibility of a dead person returning to life. However when Katie's (Edna's sister) husband is killed by the same stumbling cadaver that attacked Edna the Police begin an investigation. The Inspector (Kennedy) initially believes Katie is responsible for her husband's death due to her addiction to heroin, he also has an incredible distaste for George reinforced by one of the most memorable lines in the film "You're all the same, the lot of you, with your long hair and faggot clothes".
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie sits next to Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) for professionalism when making an undead themed picture. The story remains believable and the characters aren't cliche teenagers waiting to add to the body count. The soundtrack has an authentic haunting and sorrowful quality to it.
The first half of this film is considerably slow paced however it is time spent on character development and setting up for the second half where more zombies join the legion and in doing so, the gore factor intensifies. This film also predates Fulci's Zombi 2 (1979), which Giannetto De Rossi would later work on, not surprising as he gave Grau's zombies such a terrific visage.
0 Yorumlar