Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

After the surprise, slow burn success of Night of the Living Dead, the early 1970s saw a mini wave of living dead films "inspired" (ie: in most cases, flat out ripped off) by the Romero classic.  This first wave was an interesting time for the Zombie movie subgenre, as it showcased a particular blueprint set forth by Night of the Living Dead, before ushering in a second, bloodier wave in the late 70s and early 80s after Romero again put his stamp on the scene with Dawn of the Dead. 


That first wave saw a few US titles like Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Deathdream, and House of Seven Corpses.  Across the Atlantic though, standouts included Amando De Ossorio's Blind Dead four pack, Jean Rollin's  Les Démoniaques (released as Curse of the Living Dead in the States), Jess Franco's A Virgin Among The Living Dead and, of course, Jorge Grau's Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (known in the UK as The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue and, curiously, in the US as Don't Open The Window).

The plot of Sleeping Corpses follows George (Ray Lovelock, looking the spitting image of Barry Gibb), an antique dealer leaving the congestion and pollution of Manchester for a holiday in the English countryside.  Almost as soon as his trip begins though, Edna (Crisitina Galbo) quite literally runs into him and the begrudged pair set out traveling together.  Even though George has a time-sensitive meeting in Windermere with friends, he reluctantly decides to accompany Edna to her drug-addicted sister's house in South Gate, before can borrow her car to get himself to his destination. 

Ray Lovelock, as George, is just trying to stay alive.

It's not long into their journey when the pair meets a dead end and George asks some workers from the Department of Agriculture for directions.  This is where Sleeping Corpses stands out from its maggot-faced peers; much like Romero's films, Jorge Grau goes for a "message" here about a pollution (briefly hinted at in the film's opening segment) and the effects of technology on the environment.  The DOA are using a new, experimental machine to kill insects in fields . . . with the use of radiation.  Ever the hippie, George immediately grills the DOA on possible side effects to the land itself. 

George realizes that Edna is more than a woman.

The film's first zombie appears shortly after; a soaking wet suicide victim who rises from the river and tries to attack Edna.  This is where Sleeping Corpses really starts to take off!  The make-up by Italian legend Giannetto De Rossi (Zombie, The Beyond, Rambo III) is actually pretty impressive here -- especially considering some of the on-screen zombies of the time -- with the character quite literally sopping wet the entire time he's on-screen.  However, what sets Grau's zombies apart from Romero's is, as evidenced by the wet cat, they seem to have the ability to think. 

Knock, Knock sucka!  Open up!

In a later scene where George, Edna, and a beat cop named Craig are trapped in the mausoleum of a local cemetery, our wet friend manages to revive two freshly dead, not-yet-buried, companions . . . by rubbing his bloody fingertips over their eyelids.  It's also here where the film's first real gore occurs as the trio rip into a poor soul's stomach cavity and disembowel him for a quick snack! 


Also along for the ride is Academy Award nominee Arthur Kennedy, as a fascist police sergeant who believes Edna's sister is responsible for the murder of her husband (who's actually done in by our drip of a friend).  The Sergeant immediately takes a disliking to George and Edna of course, bluntly stating "You're all the same, the lot of you...with your long hair and your faggot clothes.  Drugs, sex, and every sort of filth!"  Of course, he also implicates the pair in the gory disembowelment, labeling them as devil worshippers!  Kennedy's appearance really elevates the film above a sort of standard "a bunch of unknowns trapped by zombies" and also creates an outright villain as The Sergeant and George have a continuous back and forth in their scenes together.  George represents the defiant, authority-questioning counterculture and The Sergeant embodies their iron-fisted oppressors with Conservative values.

This zombie ponders how to mend a broken heart.

Later in the film, several more living dead are revived once the action turns a nearby mortuary and what is perhaps the standout gore effect in Sleeping Corpses occurs; a telephone operator is ambushed from behind by the zombies and has one of her breasts torn off!  It's pretty gnarly and, true to the gore that De Rossi would later wow fans with in Lucio Fulci's films, is top notch! 

This zombie has a case of Night (of the Living Dead) fever.

Perhaps aping a bit too much from pre-Dawn of the Dead Romero, the film contains a rather downbeat ending, but manages to elicit one final, revenge-soaked cheer from the viewer before the credits roll.  


All in all, it's an incredible entry in the Zombie movie subgenre and was certainly a worthy film that I'd read about before tracking down a bootleg VHS (ripped from the old, uncut Japanese laserdisc).  It's currently available on from the fine folks at Blue Undergound as Let Sleeping Corpses Lie on DVD, as The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue as a 2-disc DVD (with more special features and the Manchester Morgue title card), and also on Blu-ray as The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue.  Highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet!

The Blind Dead: Some of the Coolest Zombies Ever

Seriously...would you LOOK at these dudes?

If you're into zombie movies, chances are that you've seen these guys before.  If not, you're about to read up on a cool little film series that you probably haven't heard of...

Between 1971 and 1975, Spanish director Amando de Ossorio wrote and directed four creepy little films featuring some of the most original zombies ever put on film.  Of course, I'm referring to the titular Blind Dead (or Knights Templar) featured in Tombs of the Blind Dead, Return of the Evil Dead (aka:  Return of the Blind Dead), The Ghost Galleon (aka: Horror of the Zombies), and Night of the Seagulls (aka:  Night of the Death Cult). 

In 1998, I first discovered the original film, Tombs and the first sequel, Return via Anchor Bay's long OOP double feature release.  The original film is presented in its native Spanish language with English subtitles, while the sequel is dubbed into English. While I haven't watched this disc in forever, I can't recall whether the films as presented are uncut.  The disc itself has had mixed reviews over the years, as it the image quality is a bit weak and the lack of extras -- though the inclusion of Return of the Evil Dead could be considered an extra right?) turned a lot of fans off.  However, at the time, this was the only way to see these films in the digital age!  If you're a completist, search out this disc.

This disc is worth searching for...

After falling in love with the Blind Dead, I next collected the other two sequels via VHS copies from conventions over the next several years, which were more than fine for me as far as I was concerned. 



Your basic "official" bootleg release.

Not too long after picking up those VHS copies, however, I came across one of those multi-movie sets called Horror Rises From The Grave.  This is your basic bootleg release of films perceived to be in public domain (or not...the companies usually don't care either way) and in poor presentations usually just VHS transfers.  Included in this set is Zombie Flesh Eaters -- which is NOT to be confused with Lucio Fulci's Zombie.  In this case, it's a VHS transfer of The Ghost Galleon/Horror of the Zombies.  Also included in this set are a letterboxed version of House By The Cemetery (reportedly lifted from one of Anchor Bay's original releases) and two other cheaply released pictures. 

Finally, in 2005, Blue Underground announced an incredible boxset that would include all four Blind Dead films in their original, uncut forms.  Extras included trailers, photo galleries, alternate footage, a book, and even a bonus disc focusing on Amando de Ossario!

THIS is how you do a box set!

Included in this awesome set -- inside a tiny, friggin' coffin no less! -- is the following:

• Tombs of the Blind Dead
• 97 minute Original Spanish version
• 82 minute US Theatrical Edit (dubbed)
• Return of the Evil Dead
• 91 minute Original Spanish version
• 87 minute US Theatrical Edit (dubbed)
• The Ghost Galleon
• Original 90 minute Spanish version
• Night of the Seagulls
• Original 88 minute Spanish version
• Amando de Ossorio:  Director (bonus disc)
• The Last Templar (2001 documentary)

When it was first released, this set was pretty expensive and I've seen it vary in price on the secondary market.  The films themselves were released individually around the same time, However, I recently saw that Blue Underground released another set of them together....

 

...not sure of the extras included, though I'm sure it's just the movie discs and nothing new.  This looks to be more affordable than the coffin, so if you're looking for them, give this set a try!

Now, with all that out of the way, let's get into each a film a bit, shall we?

Tombs of the Blind Dead introduces the Knights Templar who, in the 13th century, practiced some black magic and witchcraft...human sacrifice, etc.  They were condemned, executed and had crows peck the eyes out of their rotting corpses.  Flash-forward to modern day Portugal and a group of travelers stumble into the Templars' resting place -- a creepy and rotting old graveyard.  Naturally, this brings the Templars back from the dead to seek out their new victims.  The coolest and most original element is that they're obviously blind, so they hear their prey...even the faint sound of a pounding heartbeat will bring the Templars out!  Another standout feature in this film -- and in all of the films actually -- is that they ride their horses in slow-motion!  To be honest, when the slow-mo is combined with the echoed sounds of their horses' hooves, it's creepy as Hell!

Also worth noting is the look of the Templars themselves . . . rotting robes, hollowed out skeletal faces with cool facial hair, and creepy skeletal hands reaching out like the arms of a T-Rex!  Why hasn't a toy company like NECA released at least one action figure based on these guys yet?!

While not necessarily a direct sequl, Return of the Evil Dead focuses on a small village celebrating the 500th anniversary of the defeat of the Templars.  Of course, the celebration is cut short when a handful of Templars show up and completely massacre the village!  While this first sequel reuses quite a bit of footage from Tombs, it's still a great film and worthy sequel, adding in elements of Night of the Living Dead even!

In The Ghost Galleon, a boat full of models disappears in the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle -- actually the appearance of the titular Ghost Galleon, which happens to be carrying buried treasure as well as travel coffins for the Templars!  Back on the mainland, associates of the missing models form a search party and soon find themselves aboard the Ghost Galleon, where they inadvertantly wake up the Templars.  This sequel is probably the cheapest-looking of the series, displaying some painful special effects such as toy boats floating in a bath tub!  However, the Blind Dead themselves are in fine form here and do not disappoint!

Finally, in Night of the Seagulls, the Templars become local legends of sorts to a coastal fishing village.  Every seven years, they return for seven nights to re-enact their human sacrificial rituals.  In return for their safety, a small cult of Blind Dead worshippers kidnap nubile, young ladies to offer up as sacrifices -- which the Templars happily accept of course!

Even if you might be turned off by having to read subtitles, I cannot recommend these movies enough!  Yes, they might be a little slow in spots, but when they finally deliver the goods, they do so in spades!