Wednesday, February 27, 2019

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE: MANCHESTER ZOMBIES




Let me start off by talking about a small company called Cheezy Flicks. I have several titles from them at the moment so expect to see this first paragraph on each review. If you read it once you can skip that paragraph. When I first heard of Cheezy Flicks it wasn’t in the nicest of terms. I heard the company put out substandard versions of movies for incredibly low prices. To say my expectations were low is an understatement. But I believe in giving a company a fair shake. I’m glad I did. To be honest the movies I’ve seen released by the company have gone from great to mediocre versions but here is the thing. For movie fans with low to zero budgets Cheezy provides a solid offering that is affordable. In addition to that they strive to give you the best version they possibly can. They also have picked up titles that few if any studios would bother with, low budget movies to be sure, but pure fun movies and in some cases movies that are actually quite good. An example is LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE. One big name site is selling used copies of the movie for $36.00. Cheezy has it for $6. And it’s a really good edition of the film too. So if you’re looking to pick up DVDs at rock bottom prices new and can deal with a movies that can be a little blurry at time (not their fault but that of the film makers when these old films were made) then by all mean’s give Cheezy Flicks a try. They’re a small company but deserve your business. Enough said.

That being said let’s get on to my review of this film. Also known as THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE what we have here is a Spanish-Italian zombie film that takes place in England. George (Ray Lovelock) is on vacation from his antique shop when his motorcycle is accidentally hit by Edna (Cristina Galbo). Trying to get to his vacation spot he hitches a ride with her planning to come back for the bike later.

Edna pleads with him to take her to her destination first and then finish with her sending someone to get the car later. Following the directions she remembers they end up at a dead end and George sets out to ask someone for help. He encounters a farmer and two men from the Ministry of Agriculture trying an experimental device to get rid of bugs using ultra-sonic radiation. Unfortunately the device also brings the dead back to life. The first we see of this is when a dead man attacks Edna back at the car. The farmer tells her that by the description it would be local who fell into the river after hanging himself but it couldn’t be because he is dead.

Taking the directions they head for her sister Katie’s house. There her husband, a photographer, has been trying to break her of her addiction to heroin. While he’s out shooting pictures the same walking dead man attacks her and follows her, killing her husband. Running for her life she runs into the road and George and Edna. They contact the police and the lead inspector (Arthur Kennedy) suspects they are the ones behind the death of the death of Katie’s husband. He sends her to a local hospital, Manchester, which also serves as the morgue. It is there that they find the babies born since the machine on the farm started have been affected as well.

With the police not helping find the real killer and only themselves to get to the truth, George and Edna set about following clues they have to go on. Taking the film from Katie’s husband’s camera they have it developed and see the man who actually killed him. Going to the nearby graveyard they find a half-eaten meal and following the sound of footsteps locate the real killer. But by now he isn’t alone.

The movie works well on many levels and provides some truly creepy moments. Unlike many zombie movies to come from Italy they amount of gore here is handled quite well and more realistically than in most. Yes, it does have that semi-dayglow red look to it but less than most. In addition to that the effects are nicely done here with more low key makeup on the risen dead than one would expect. The combination of makeup, atmosphere and story all combine to make a well-made zombie film.

Cheezy Flicks was able to get hold of a great copy of this film to press here. The picture is clean and more than acceptable and makes it that much more enjoyable. The extras are pretty much non-existent but that’s fine. This is about having a decent copy of the movie and nothing more. There are several trailers included of other Cheezy Flicks releases and they might make viewers decided to pick those up as well. This one is going for just $6 so my suggestion, if you enjoy a good horror film, is to pick a copy up.

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