The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974)

 

After spending the last few weeks living in the realm of vampires and more recently killer dolls, it was time to fall back into my comfort zone, Zombies. With that in mind, I decided to go back a few years to the 1974 classic, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (AKA Let Sleeping Corpses Lie). A film, like Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead that helped shape my love of zombies during my formidable years.

Plot/ Brought about by the use of a new, radiation emitting device intended to destroy insect's nervous systems, the dead are brought back to life due to the jump start the radiation provides to their nervous systems. After the murder of a woman's estranged husband, police suspect the woman, her sister and a relative stranger (who was only along because the sister had run into his motorcycle only hours prior) of involvement in the murder, and as the bodies begin to accumulate the police chief becomes more and more convinced of their involvement.

To me, Director Jorge Grau created an underrated masterpiece with this film. Yes, at times the pacing is a bit slow, but the atmosphere more than makes up for that. The acting is solid top-to-bottom and the script does a great job at developing the characters. For some, the lack of zombies could cause some dislike, yet, the zombies created are much more detailed and provide a tremendous amount of believability. There are some great moments and some outstanding effects, and it is clear to me that it helped shaped the zombie genre as we know it today. The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue is an enjoyable and entertaining film and one that is a MUST see for horror and zombie fans everywhere!

vote it up!