Rent The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1974)

Why hadn't I heard about this zombie flick before? - The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue review by RP

Why hadn't I heard about this zombie flick before? It's probably not the first zombie film you might think of (that's if you've heard of it at all) but it is a rather good example of its genre, slow and atmospheric, reasonably well scripted, and a few classic shambling, entrail eating zombies. And although there's not much gore, what there is nicely gruesome :)

Made in 1974 - so its about 40 years old. The sequences under the opening titles show shots of 1970s Manchester and assorted residents in clothes of the day, but other than the lead character's over-long hair and 1970s dress sense and a few cars of the period it doesn't seem outdated. That's because, despite the title, there isn't much of Manchester in it - it's set in fictional Southgate, supposedly a village in the Lake District.

This is a Spanish-Italian production so the fact that it's set in England is a bit unusual. I assume the non-English actors' lines were dubbed in post production...

The story goes like this: George is on his way to Windermere on his Norton (without a helmet) when Edna in her mini damages his bike. They team up and head for her destination of Southgate, where it turns out that an experimental agricultural insect-killing machine using 'ultra sonic radiation' is waking the dead. There are assorted encounters with zombies, no-one believes them (of course), they are suspected by a cop with a bad US-Irish accent of being drug crazed murdering hippies, and there is a final zombie sequence in a hospital with a final (fairly obvious) twist at the end.

For me, the most fascinating thing is the filming locations - it was mostly shot in and around Castleton in the Peak District with a bit of Dovedale thrown in, all places that I know well and recognise. For more info on this look here:

It seems it's a cult classic and I can see why - well worth a watch. 4/5 stars.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie - The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue review by NP

George A. Romero’s ‘Night of the Living Dead (1968)’ ushered in a whole new wave of zombie-flavoured horror films, and many of them rose to stumble from the grave in the early '70s. This is an Italian/Spanish project, which has been released in a variety of strangely jokey titles including ‘Don’t Open the Window’ and ‘Let Sleeping Corpses Lie’.

Ray Lovelock plays hero George, initally in a very difficult-to-like manner not atypical of films of this time. He's especially mean to Edna (Christine Galbo) who admittedly makes a very bad impression of him to begin with. Llumbered with each other's company, they nevertheless become close as gruesome things start to occur.

Jorge Grau directs this twisted, turning story very effectively, making good use of the British location - especially at the beginning - although the police force isn't portrayed in a very sympathetic light. Filmed in Rome and Madrid, with extensive footage shot in Manchester there is the genuine feeling that things are going to get a lot more bloody as the 95 minutes roll on. Giuliano Sorgini also deserves a mention for his highly sinister score.