Customer Reviews

Living Dead at Manchester Morg [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am so glad i got this GREAT!!!zombie flick on DVD.this movie is just as great as anything FULCI or ROMERO ever made.this is one of my very FAVORITE!!zombie movies,it has everything i look for in a zombie flick.VERY VERY SPOOKY/VERY ARTISTIC(especialy some of the camera work!!)DECENT ACTING/ABSOLUTELY SUPERB DIRECTING/& A DECENT AMOUNT OF BLOOD & GORE(not alot but with everything else above going for it id say it was the perfect amount!!)anyway if you are a true ZOMBIE fan & or euro/italian horror fan in genral then your going to love this flick & if your not one or the other but your looking for a spooky little horror movie then rent or buy im sure you won't be discruntled!!!!!! LIKE I SAID THIS IS A REAL ZOMBIE FLICK!!!!!! ONE OF THE BEST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you've watched your Romero and Fulci Zombie films to death and you're wanting something just as good, but different, check this little nasty out. A Spanish film inspired by Night of the Living Dead that came out before Dawn of the Dead started the carnivorous Zombie craze. This is one of the few genuinely creepy Zombie films. Night of the Living Dead and Zombie were the only other two that I found creepy. Dawn and Day of the dead were superior films, but I would never say they were creepy. The story is ambiguous in a true European way, and the cinematography is gorgeous and nightmarish at the same time. Also the Zombies are truly chilling. The gore sequences are well done and the acting is top notch.

I try to do a lot of research before I purchase a DVD.
I encountered this title on the web on a horror movie buff's top 10 list. I did some reading and found the general consensus is this movie is quite good. So I purchased it from Amazon.
I was not disappointed.
It was very well-done. Tight, cool, good plot, etc. I totally enjoyed it.
Some reviews say the gore is excessive, but it is not really that bad. Night of the Living Dead is a lot more grisly, in my opinion.
Definately a good film.

One of the greatest horror films ever! I would put this next to anything Romero or Argento has done. It has the best atmosphere I have ever seen in a film, fantastic scenery, great little plot and very good characters. So the dubbing isn't the best in the world, but who cares, buy this DVD if you like old fashioned horror, where the atmosphere is as important as the things that the characters are saying.

Jorg Grau's 'Let Sleeping Corpses Lie' or 'The Living Dead at the Manchster Morgue' as it was called in the UK, is one of my favourite zombie flicks of all time. Despite being a late entry European copy of Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead' this film stands head and shoulders above most zombie films. It is nicely plotted and beautifully put together - Grau succeeds admirably in making the pictureque English countryside around Windermere appear eerie and haunting, and his tampering with 'zombie lore' (shooting in the head makes no difference, the only way to kill the living dead is to set them on fire - what's more they pass on the 'affliction' by putting the blood of the living onto the eyes of other corpses) merely makes it more unique and interesting. Nice final twist and some great early gore effects from Gianetto De Rossi (who went on to work for Fulci in most of his horror films). All round, a top class, low budget, horror film. Anchorbay's uncut version is a must see.

I'm pretty much in agreement with most of the reviews posted here, so I'd just like to add a comment or two of my own.

First, to those who've wanted to own this movie for years, this Anchor Bay release is definitely the one to buy. Not only is this the original, uncut version of "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" but it has also been digitally remastered so the picture and sound are GREAT (on both VHS and DVD). You won't be getting a faded, cheap looking film to video transfer -- trust me on this. In case you're wondering, the VHS version is in 1.85 to 1 widescreen ratio and includes all the same extras (director interview, original trailer, etc.) as the DVD version. The only difference, of course, is that with DVD you can access these extras instantly. With the VHS version, you have to fast forward to the end of the movie before you can sample the extras.

That being said, let me make caution all those zombie movie fans out there who've never heard of this film before but are intrigued by the other reviews. No doubt scores of you are salivating right now at the prospect of a zombie movie that's almost good as "Dawn of the Dead" (as some have suggested).

Please note the following: this is NOT a wall-to-wall zombie/action flick like "Dawn of the Dead" or or even the parody "Return of the Living Dead". In fact, (SPOILER ALERT) I counted maybe only seven or eight zombies in the *whole* movie, and there are never more than three zombies on screen at one time! You *won't* find scenes depicting hundreds (or even dozens) of zombies taking over a city, surrounding a shopping mall, or even invading a farm house. This is a more subtle horror film that's far more interested in evoking a spooky atmosphere and creating a sense of dread than piling on the body count. (If you saw the 70s vampire film "Let's Scare Jessica to Death", then maybe you have an idea what I'm talking about.)

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" isn't a good horror film. It is. I just don't want anyone who's never seen this movie to buy this thinking they're getting "Dawn of the Dead Part II". You're not. If survival horror action and gore is what you're looking for, you're better off waiting for the "Resident Evil" movie.

Anchor Bay delivers the best and most anticipated horror DVD of the year. Never released on home video in the US (except in an atrocious edited low-budget EP VHS version called "The Living Dead"), Grau's super-fun 1974 zombie flick finally receives the definitive presentation it has aways deserved! Originally released theatrically in the States in an edited version called "Don't Open the Window", this DVD is the original UNCUT version and instantly makes the old (and once Very Valuable) Japanese laserdisc completely obsolete since that version pixelated the brief nudity. Anchor Bay's DVD is absolutely exceptional.

If you're a zombie film fan or european horror buff, you probably already love this film. If you've never seen it, just go ahead and buy it --- you will NOT be disappointed! It's kind of a rip-off of NOTLD, but it has it's own unique twists, it's in glorious color and delivers some very shocking gore moments. Plus, the zombies are quite unique -- my favorite is the post-autopsy one who's got his chest stitched closed all the way down his torso. All in all, a very entertaining zombie film...not as ridiculous as the later Fulci films, but also not as grim as Romero's seminal classic. The film is presented here in a practically flawless print at 1.85:1.

Also on the DVD are a short (and amusing) introduction by Grau (who hopes we have a "bad time" watching the film) plus a separate 20-minute interview with him. He goes into detail about how the film came to be, how he picked the cast, and what he thinks of horror film audiences. He comes off as a very cool, intelligent and nice guy. Too bad he left the business after only a few films. Besides that, the DVD features one TV spot (for "Window") which isn't very thrilling, some "Window" radio spots (much better!), plus a photo and poster gallery of the different artwork and posters from the various release versions of the film around the world. Very cool! Buy it Now!!!

I can only say that this is a frightening movie... And it's so real...! George an Edna are thrown into bizarre situations when they accidentally met at a gas station and later she is attacked by a beggar WHO HAD DIED A WEEK AGO... Pay attention to the cript-scene...

If zombies existed and formed their own Zombie Actors' Guild, this is the kind of film they would be fighting (in their patently clumsy way) to appear in. When I started watching Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, I didn't really know it was a zombie movie; then, by the time it was over, I had it ranked in my personal top three zombie films of all time. This film is living proof that you can't judge a zombie film by its number of zombies. It's all about atmosphere, a fact which most European filmmakers have always known, and that's why a film with less than a dozen zombies plays much better than some sweeping epic about a zombie apocalypse. And I must say this is a thoroughly European film, as it's an Italian-Spanish coproduction featuring a Spanish director (Jorge Grau) and a British cast (and filmed in Britain). It also goes by many names, including Don't Open the Window, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, No profanar el sueño de los muertos, and Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti.

When you think about it, letting sleeping corpses lie isn't really the problem here; I daresay every single character is wholly in favor of doing just that. The problem consists of keeping sleeping corpses from rising all on their own. Either way, the last thing George (Ray Lovelock) expected to be dealing with on his weekend trip to the country was zombies. Unfortunately for him, a red-headed stranger named Edna (Christine Galbo) accidentally runs over his motorcycle. He insists that she take him to his destination, but they end up checking on her sister first. Along the way, Edna is attacked by a decidedly abnormal man, although no one believes her. Neither do they believe her sister when she claims this same man murdered her husband. Having arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time, George finds himself basically trapped in town as the hippie-hating police sergeant's main suspect. His attempt to extricate himself from the situation indirectly leads to him finding ample proof that Edna was telling the truth all along, though. Not only is the murderer a zombie, he's engaged in waking up some undead friends to join the fun. Not surprisingly, the gruff sergeant isn't buying such a seemingly cock and bull story of corpses coming to life and feeding on human bodies. George and Edna are pretty much on their own when it comes to trying to survive the whole, unbelievable situation.

The source of the zombie outbreak is actually rather interesting, as it's a far cry from some wacked-out virus or alien infestation. The whole storyline is well above average, for that matter, holding together quite well as it forges its own path through the zombie genre. And the ending? Well, I can't think of any way to improve it, really. It's well-nigh perfect. Additionally, lest my fellow gorehounds despair, there are some excellent scenes of blood and gore as the film proceeds -- both in terms of what the zombies do to their victims as well as what their victims do to them as they frantically try to escape the horror all around them.

This 1974 film inevitably draws comparisons to George Romero's immensely influential Night of the Living Dead. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure which film is the better of the two -- although, if I had to choose which of them to watch over again, it would be Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. That's how impressed I was with this film.

First Of All I would like to say to those who compare this movie to Luci Fulci ,and George Romero. I respect some of your opinions but you cannot compare one movie to this director ,and one to the other because these directors all have there individual talent! This movies is not even inspired by night of the living dead. In My opinion it is more artistic, Creative, and completely diffrent than most zombie movies. I truly recommend this movie It Really creeped me out, The musie was Creepy and the zombies were very strange. Enjoy The Individual Talent Of This Director I Highly Recommend This Movie.