Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

The 1971 giallo "What Have You Done to Solange?" was the film that first turned me on to the abundant charms of Spanish actress Christine Galbo, and I just had to have more. In "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie," an Italian/Spanish coproduction from 1974 directed by Jorge Grau, Galbo plays a redhead but is still oh-so gorgeous. In this one, she accidentally wrecks the motorcycle of vacationing antiques dealer Ray Lovelock in the English countryside, and before long, both of them are playing defense against the horde of reanimated corpses that has been brought to inadvertent life by an experimental, ultrasonic farming device. In one of the DVD's many extras, Grau freely admits, during an interview, the picture's debt to George A. Romero's seminal "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), and this debt is not only obvious with reference to the gut-munching zombies on display here (a fairly ugly, creepy, intelligent and fast-moving bunch, I must say), but also to the film's doubly ironic ending. Galbo is as pretty and appealing as I remembered from "Solange," and American star on the downslide Arthur Kennedy manages to score as a bigoted police officer who's convinced that Galbo and Lovelock are responsible for all the gruesome carnage. The film also features gorgeous photography, some well-done gross-out scenes, a tightly plotted story and better-than-average acting. Some of the action sequences unfortunately take place during the dark of night and in gloomy underground crypts, severely limiting the viewer's visibility, but the film on the whole is a gas, especially during its frenetic final half hour. And yes, I think I will be needing another dose of Christine Galbo very shortly....

This is an outstanding zombie film that instead of going straight for the jugular, piles on the atmosphere and tension...and then goes for the jugular.

Slightly annoying antiques dealer/hippy George leaves the polluted and overcrowded city and heads for the countryside on his motorbike, where he intends to spend the weekend watching the grass grow in the back garden of his cottage. His weekend is ruined when Cristinia Galbo reverses her car into his bike, wrecking it, so the least she can do is give him a ride to his cottage. Cristina soon finds that George is a bit of a gobby smartarse who might have a point, talking as he is about how the powers that be are destroying the Earth. George finds out the Cristina is a neurotic flake who doesn't even know where her sister's house is.

George ends up leaving Cristina in the car to go and ask a farmer for directions. It's at the farm he discovers an experimental machine that is being used for destroying insects and parasites (haven't these folk heard of the food chain?), which he lectures the scientists about in his strangely Zippy-from-Rainbow-like voice. It's about this time that a strange man dripping with water tries to attack Cristina, but when George and the farmer get back to the car, the man is gone. It's weird however how the description of the man reminds the farmer of Old Guthrie, a tramp who drowned in the area recently.

It's dark by the time George and Cristina get to her sister's house. It turns out Cristina's sister is a junky just about to be taken to rehab, and while trying to sneak a fix in the shed she's attacked by Guthrie, which leads to the death of her husband Martin. Enter the cops, especially hard-ass Irish cop Arthur Kennedy, and if there's one thing he hates more than dead bodies, it's hippies! He doesn't buy the story of walking corpses and arrests Cristina's sister after he finds out she's a junky. How are George and Cristina going to prove her innocence?

It takes ages for the first full on zombie attack to occur, but you won't be caring. Every scene in the film is just filled with atmosphere. Martin is killed right in front of his automatic camera that keeps flashing upon the scene of a waterfall. His house is adorned with pictures of his wife having withdrawl symptoms. The local pub has a scabby live owl perched in the hallway. When the zombies do rise up, there aren't that many of them but the sheer terror of the victims comes through live and clear. The zombie rules haven't truly been written in stone either - these zombies are super strong, can take a shot to the head, but really don't like being set on fire.

Grau doesn't skimp on the gore either, especially when zombies rise up in the hospital and attack the receptionist. Best of all is Arthur Kennedy's performance as the copper. He hates George so much that he will not listen to anything he's saying at all, even if it could save lives. This leads to several shocks near the end of the film, as well as the ambiguous ending.

I must admit this is one film I did rush out and buy when it appeared on DVD, and have watched it many a time. It's a good one! The only thing it lacks in comparison to the later Italian zombie film is cheese.

This clever horror movie deals about a couple (Ray Lovelock, Cristina Galbo) afflicted by stalking, vicious Zombies (Jose Lifante, Fernando Hilbeck,Joaquin Hinojosa and many others) relieved by ultrasonic radiation caused by agricultural experimentation. Meanwhile a grumpy Police Inspector (Arthur Kennedy) is investigating the strange events.

Gory, gruesome , and ghastly cannibal feast in which the stumbling flesh-eating stiffs are reanimated by means of radioactive waves and can be only destroyed by fire. Unrelenting shock-feast laced with touches of ecological denounce. Army of Zombies appearance roaming the countryside , graveyard and some people besieged inside a hospital deliver the goods , enough to be interesting. Jorge Grau's first great success is compelling directed with startling visual content . This frightening movie is plenty of thrills, chills, body-count executed by the eerie Zombies and photographed in glimmer color with lurid images and phenomenal results. This is a classic Zombie film where the intrigue,tension, suspense appears threatening and lurking in the foggy outdoors and every room, and corridors from a hospital. At the time considered the plus ultra of disturbing movie is less stomach-churning by nowadays's standards, yet its fundamental power to thrill remains undiminished. Agreeable performance by Cristina Gabo who made various Giallo and Horror movies as ¨The boarding school¨ , ¨What have you done to Solange¨, ¨The killer must strike again¨. This genuinely frightening story with correct utilization of images-shock is well photographed by Francisco Sempere in location of England : Manchester, Derbyshires , Italy : Cinecitta studios and Madrid . Creepie and eerie musical score by Sorgini. Jorge Grau who also made another good terror film titled 'Ceremonia Sangrienta' creates a rare Zombie thriller that manages to be both scary and skilfully made, deserving its cult status . Rating: Good, this is one more imaginative horror pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style . An average budget horror movie that still packs a punch for those who like to be terrorized out their wits.

On the video nasties list as simply The Living Dead (it has several other titles), I watched a version called Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, it is pretty difficult to see why this was on the list to begin with. Yes it has some gory moments, but nothing that is close to the opening of people as, say, The Boogeyman (1980), which was dropped from the DPP's (Director of Public Prosecution) list of films that were prosecuted and eventually banned. But then again, there are many strange entries on the list, as we will discover over this project.

The Living Dead begins with the serendipitous meeting of George (Ray Lovelock) and Edna (Christina Galbo) at an isolated garage. Two individuals traveling up north from "that London". Already condemned when they arrive in a small village, what with their hippie looks, they would most certainly be crazy drug-addled satanists. But something more sinister is occurring, as the living come back from the dead to eat the living.

Well, of course it's a zombie flick! It's implied in the title! It's not the greatest of films by a long shot. But it is a well-made film. The "message" is ecological; the culprit behind this macabre situation is an experimental machine from the department of agriculture, that emits radiation to combat insects etc for crops. Damn you government, with your ill-conceived ideas of progression!! The film does also produce a pretty amusing line from 'The Inspector', Arthur Kennedy; "I wish the dead could come back to life. Because then I could kill you again".

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First of all, don't scoff at a 9 out of 10 rating for this film!

Trying to say it doesn't stand up to, say, Titanic, for "quality" is ridiculous...by just rating it within the horror genre, this is a superior effort.

Anchor Bay has released this film recently on DVD with a very informative interview with director Jorge Grau (since released twice on Blue Underground, the 2nd of its releases transferred in HD under the alternate title The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue). He does admit this film was made because he was asked to do something comparative to Night Of The Living Dead. Fortunately he did something more by actually caring about the project and the result is a film that still terrifies after all these years. For being made in 1974, that's a feat indeed.

The film wastes no time in getting to the fun, and with just the right amount of setup about society's excesses whether it be pollution or morals, and then going further with the 1950s style of saying good 'ole radiation (our fault again) is stirring up trouble. Even though it was made around the same time and may only be a coincidence, the scene where babies are rebelling brings to mind Larry Cohen's film It's Alive!

Aside from a familiar face in actor Arthur Kennedy (who was deliciously grizzled in his behavior), the use of not-so-familiar faces really lets you sit back and absorb the story and thrills. It was actually nice to see a lead actor like Ray Lovelock look, as Kennedy's character exclaimed, a "long-haired hippie" instead of the squeaky clean GQ faces of today's heroes. These characters were very real, very believable, and you did care what happened to them.

Not many films date well, but this one could have easily taken place now as 1974. The locations, atmosphere, and overall look of this film is gorgeous. The acting is very competent, the score accents the mood well, and I was very pleased with the uncompromising ending. What I was probably the most pleased with was the fact that it doesn't feel the need to distract you with heavy cussing and lots of nudity (as in films like Dan O'Bannon's Return Of The Living Dead).

It also does not alienate the "over 35 crowd" like myself by pandering to MTV age boppers, the cast is mature and the characters more involved with their fate instead of being concerned with fashion and scoring some to get wasted (like the recent Idle Hands, don't get me started on THAT one). Most horror films these days just don't leave you feeling very satisfied, and I was ready to watch this one again!

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is probably the most overlooked and underrated zombie film ever, and do yourself a favor by giving this one a look. Don't try to compare it with others, don't try to dissect the logic. It pays off with it's genuinely creepy mood and you'll find yourself watching it more often than most of any recent favorites you might have.