TheLivingDeadatManchesterMorgue

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) (1974)

The movie opens up with a guy leaving the city on his motorcycle and heading out to the country. Later we find out his name is George when a harried young woman named Edna manages to run over his bike at a filling station. The now stranded George more or less forces her to take him to his destination, but he would have been better off walking I think. Edna convinces George to drop her off at her sister’s house and just take her car to where he is going. But when they arrive at the house they find Edna’s brother-in-law dead and Edna screaming about a man chasing her. Now the audience knows something is up, but the police immediately blame George and Edna, especially the inspector who seems to hate them because they are hippies. The feeling is mutual as George doesn’t trust the cops either, which leads to some misunderstandings. Eventually George figures out that a machine used to kill insects is bringing the dead back to life with murder on their addled minds. But will anyone believe him?

If you haven’t seen this movie don’t feel bad because you aren’t alone. But really until Blue Underground put this out on DVD not many people knew about it and that is a damn shame. This is a great little zombie flick that for some reason has flown under the radar. Remember now this movie was made in 1974, which is before Dawn of the Dead and Fulci’s zombie flicks. The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue is more of a contemporary with The Blind Dead movies. Which makes the story all that much more interesting. I kind of touched on it but in addition to making the authority figures (primarily the police Inspector) useless and incompetent the movie also has an interesting environmental twist to it. On more than one occasion the George character rants about the environment and how we are screwing it up. Also if you actually pay attention to the opening of the movie you will see shot after shot of pollution pouring into the air. Of course the most obvious example of this is the machine that sends radiation into the surrounding environment and causes the dead to rise. Other than the Romero flicks I don’t see many zombie movies with this much subtext, and like the Romero zombie movies I really love this one.

Now of course we have to talk about the zombies. The dead here are pretty fresh so you don’t get any elaborate makeup effects on them. But what we do get are some fantastic kills with my two favorites being the policeman in the graveyard and an unfortunate nurse towards the end of the movie. But they aren’t the only kills scattered throughout the movie, which does a wonderful job delivering on the red stuff. In addition to the effects the movie is shot beautifully and creates a real sense of dread from about 15 minutes in when the first zombie shows up. You aren’t going to find a better-made movie than the Living Dead at Manchester Morgue.

For this review I watched the recent Blu-Ray release from Blue Underground. I know that some other reviewers have complained about the transfers on some of the earlier releases, but this movie looks great. The picture is noticeably better from my DVD and again as I’ve said in earlier Blu-Ray reviews I’m not that picky. So when I notice there is something there. This disc also carries over the great special features from the DVD release, which includes 2 different interviews with the director Jorge Grau, one with star Ray Lovelock (George), and another with the man responsible for the special effects. Whether you get the Blu-Ray or the DVD from Blue Underground you need to check these special features out.

I’ve been debating with myself here on the rating to give this movie. When I first started reviewing movies I gave out quite a few 4 star ratings. But as I’ve gone on I’ve become more selective and want to reserve that perfect rating for a truly perfect movie. Then again I love The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue and you know it is every bit as good as my all time favorite movie Dawn of the Dead (1978) so yeah it gets the classic treatment. I highly recommend The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue.

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer